| Be! - article by Joel Hempel Have you noticed how many “be” commands are present in Scripture? There are 74, to be exact. If you add up all of the be commands along with all other commands, there are a total of 1050 should-dos and should-not-dos in the New Testament alone.1 One might think that, given these commands were established over 2000 years ago, many of them would be antiquated. Actually, no! You might find a few that don’t apply today, but you still have a thousand to deal with. Christianity is not for wimps. It takes strength, courage, and perseverance. Those 1050 God-given commands are in the Bible for good reason. They are intended to make our lives go more easily, as well as the lives of others. Because when you and I are faithful to God’s Word, everyone around us benefits from who we are as Christians. Unfortunately, there is one big problem with those 1050 biblical commands. The demand is impossible to meet. We fail repeatedly! But failure is not all bad. Failure to keep God’s Law leads to God’s Grace. Failure is evidence that we need what only the Holy Spirit provides – forgiveness and help. Follow the bes. They will always lead you to the honey. Is that too syrupy for you? Maybe. But taste and see that the Lord is good.2 Our Lord would never lay 1050 commands on us and then leave us to our best intentions and feeble willpower. First, Jesus makes it “easy” for us because of our inability to memorize 1050 commands. He summarizes all should-dos and should-not-dos into one word: Love. Love like Jesus.3 Secondly, he sent the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to be what each of us needs at different times of our lives.4 The Spirit of God reminds us of our Lord’s sacrifice on the cross, our forgiveness, and our purpose in His church. Yes, God expects us to measure ourselves against the two summarizing love commandments. But for our lives to be transformed through submission to God’s commands, our faith needs to be well established by His grace. God wants us to keep our focus on His love for us, because it is His mercy that empowers us to change and grow in love. 1. I didn’t count all 1050 commands. You can read all of them at https://www.divinerevelations.info/1050/1050_nt_commands.pdf 2. Psalm 34:8 3. John 13:34-35; Matthew 22:37-40; Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 5:13-14. 4. John 14:15-26; Ephesians 1:11-14; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Galatians 5:16-26. | 
