"Wanting To Obey"

"Now He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: For we walk by faith, not by sight: We are confident, I say willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him." (2 Corinthians 5:5-9) As I was thinking about the for to start today's post, I could not help but think about the reason why we want to obey for us; I have been sharing a lot about obeying for God, and because of the Love that He has shown us; but sometimes I think we need to know what the cost is involved for us. Part of walking by faith involves the desire of our heart to be with the Lord in glory; which also requires the full-on belief that is where you will soon be! This is what "earnest of the Spirit" is all about!!! The word is 'Arrabon': a word transferred by the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians from the Phoenicians meaning earnest money, pledge. Something which stands for part of the price and paid beforehand to confirm the bargain. It is used in the New Testament only in the figurative sense, and is spoken of the Holy Spirit which God has given to believers in this present life to assure them of their future and eternal inheritance. If you look at Romans 8:1 carefully, you will notice that the word 'in' is not given, as in to 'walk in the Spirit'; but the word is 'after'; which, if you really think about it, is the response we have to us being given the earnest of the Spirit: we desire the Holy Spirit to fill us, guide us and secure us!!!! "For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8:2-4)