“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel." Exodus 19:5-6

“We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. . . But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Hebrews 5:11,14

“Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place--unless you repent.” Revelation 2:5

Once someone is saved we each become an Israelite, a seed of Abraham, the chosen ones of God.  God created us so that we would proclaim His glory, and he chose the Israelites as the vehicle He would bless the world by.  As part of his covenant with His people, God called the Hebrew nation to obey his voice and commandments.  Now that we are part of his chosen, we are also called to keep his covenant by following his commandments. 

Some say that we should not look at the Old Testament law except to show the lost their need for a savior.  After we are saved the Law is no less important.  Jesus indeed came to fulfill the law and remove its necessity to salvation; however he did not say that we should throw the law out.  Instead he summed it up in the two great commandments to love God and our neighbors (Math 22:37-39), and called his followers to be holy (1 Pet 1:15).  We can find no better guidance to how to live holy than the law.

Unfortunately it is our nature to become lazy once we are safely in God’s love.  When we first get saved, we are zealous to learn and do everything for Jesus, our Lord.  Then over time our exuberance generally diminishes.  Then it becomes a work, though a work of love, to remain committed to God’s teaching.  Paul tells Timothy to exercise unto godliness (1 Tim 4:7-8).  These exercises are bible reading, prayer, scripture memorization, and meditation.  We should strive to do these things daily so that our relationship with God expands and becomes better each day, rather than becoming stagnant like a puddle of water.  It also allows us to be teachable and able to learn and expand our service to God.  Then we can also share with our fellow believers to expand our witness to the lost.

How has your exercising unto godliness been lately?  Our goal can always be to get closer to God because we will never reach God this side of heaven.  Whether we are newly saved, or a long time saint we still have work to do.