And he answered, “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” – Luke 10:27

With everything going on all around us—the pandemic, the election, the economy, the civil matters, the racial issues, and more—it’s no wonder that people are struggling to think about much outside of their present concerns.  Eternity, after we die, doesn’t seem as urgent when we are dealing with a very present problem, even as the threat of death looms all around us.  But it is.  And, no matter how persistent our troubles in life may be, God’s Word is even more consistent. 

In God’s Word, we find a familiar directive meant to guide our daily lives as it prepares us for eternity at the same time!  If we simply follow the directive in Luke 10:27, we not only set ourselves up for eternity with God, we also set ourselves up to receive God’s promises for today.  You see, by endeavoring to fulfill Luke 10:27, we must be obedient and faithful followers of Jesus Christ.  And by being faithful followers of Jesus Christ, we align ourselves up with the power of God that makes the crucial difference between a believer’s life versus a non-believer’s.

A young man brought up in the church explained the many years of difficulties he’d faced that eventually chipped away at his faith until he declared it essentially lost.  On one particular day while he was dealing with a fairly serious predicament, I asked him if he prayed.  Instead of outright saying no, he explained it this way:  “It seems that whenever I prayed, more things happened to me.  I had more trouble.”  It is an interesting trick of the devil to convince a believer (or anyone for that matter) that they are better off living outside of Christ.  So, I asked him this question:  “Are we not currently dealing with a serious problem?  Did your lost faith and abandonment of God keep you from experiencing this trouble?”  And because the answer is “No”, I went on to discuss this matter further:

We all face trouble in this life.  It is because we are born into sin and live in the world where Satan wreaks havoc.  The difference between those who have faith and those who do not is what is called the “God Factor”.  Although I did not coin this phrase no more than I wrote the words of scripture, I want to use this phrase to illuminate a key point for today.  God is the great differentiator that nobody should attempt to live without, especially believers.  We appropriate the God Factor by accessing the power of God for our daily lives based on the promises in scripture.  We just have to do our part.  If you are not a believer, the first step is to confess your faith in God.

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.  As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” – Romans 10:9-11 (NIV)

Again, we must do our part to activate the God Factor.  As we do our part, God fulfills his promises in His will and in His way.  Then we just have to TRUST GOD! 

There are promises throughout the scriptures that tell us what is required to activate the God Factor.  One of my favorites is Psalm 37:4:

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Ahh, the desires of your heart…who doesn’t pray earnestly hoping God answers their prayer?  Your part in obtaining that promised answer is to “take delight in the Lord”!  Do that first, then trust God to give you the desires of your heart!  (Just know that as a result of delighting in the Lord, your desires will be more for the things of God than for any selfish want!  It is an interesting transformation, which makes the promise even more precious.)  Another one is Psalm 84:11: 

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

Walk blamelessly first, then God will not withhold “no good thing”!  Oh, you must read all of Psalm 84 to see the significance of this verse!  The scriptures are filled with promise after promise that demonstrates the difference God makes in the life of the believer!  (The non-believer does not have this God Factor!  The non-believer will struggle through life in his or her own power and, in the end, their eternity will be entirely different!)  Yes, we must trust God to fulfill every one of his precious promises, and this should give us the confidence to move forward in faith.  So, if you are struggling with your faith right now, especially if it is because of present circumstances, I encourage you to consider the God Factor. 

We know our lives here on earth are just a small part of the time we have, and eternity will matter much more in the end.  If we heed the words of Luke 10:27, God’s two greatest commandments to love God and to love our neighbor, not only will we live lives pleasing to God, we will go a long way in preparing for eternity.  We will be in line to receive the precious promises of God on this side of heaven as well as what is promised in eternity.  My prayer is that everyone will be moved anew by God’s love, for it secured eternity for those of us who will prepare for it while living life today. 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. –John 3:16 (NIV)