Three Reasons God Requires Certain Things
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It isn’t unusual for a youngster to ask his parent why something is required of him. It is also not unusual for the parent to reply, "It’s because I said so." While is it always proper for a young person to respect the authority of his parents, it is also proper for a parent to be more specific about why certain requirements are made of the children.
This is because that when a child becomes an adult, it will no longer be the parent’s authority that keeps his behavior and character in check. Instead, it will be his understanding of right and wrong, and his willingness to abide by those-standards, based on the understanding of them provided by his parents’ instruction when he was young.
With that in mind, our Heavenly Father at 1 Timothy chapter one not only had given some instruction, but also through the apostle Paul had given us some reasons why.
At verse five, the apostle wrote that the end, or purpose, of the commandment was charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. Charity, in the King James text of scripture, is what we would call love. People unfortunately attach their love and affections to many things that shouldn’t be loved.
Paul warned the Colossians about inordinate affections, while John warned us not to love the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life that characterizes the sinful world. A pure heart will never love such things.
A good conscience is the second purpose given for Divine command. All of us are born with conscience, but only those who have been educated strictly from the Word of God on what the difference in right and wrong really is can trust their conscience. Many, you see, have a conscience that doesn’t bother them because either they don’t know that it should, or because they have never paid attention to it.
Faith unfeigned, or unpretended, or genuine, is the third purpose. Our faith is ideally our response to God’s Word, and it is genuine when we respond in love to that which God expects of us. If you ever wondered why God requires certain things, here then are three good reasons; charity out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned.