‘Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief,
and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to
Jesus Christ. People do not really want
to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is
deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to
be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord’s primary obedience was to the
will of His Father, not to the needs of people— the saving of people was
the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to
the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my
love will waver and stumble. But if I
love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even
though people may treat me like a “doormat.”’ CHAMBERS
To follow Jesus means that I must abandon my
devotion to things that I have been devoted to.
Things that the rest of the world is devoted to .. things that make me
feel like I have value .. that make me feel good .. at peace .. secure … comfortable
… But if I commit to the ‘idea’ of being a Christian .. then I can cling to
those other things as well … I can have the best of both worlds! In Luke
18, a young man approached Jesus asking Him how the man could have eternal
life. He was pretty sure that he had it
figured out … he was doing all of the right things … but then Jesus told him to
sell all of his possessions and follow Him …. Jesus knew his heart and knew
that the young man depended upon his riches…. So much so that he left Jesus ..
sad … Why was he sad? Because he could
not define righteousness .. he could not have it both ways …
Contrast that with Peter, Andrew James and John in
Matthew
4:18-22. Jesus called them and they
immediately left what they knew .. and followed Him. They abandoned everything. Did they stop loving their family? No. But they obeyed the voice of God placing their
other devotions in their proper order … subordinate to the will of God.
I believe that is where most Christians falter in
their faith …. They are faced with a
choice … obey God or cling to what has always been my source of comfort and
assurance.
What is it for you? Family, friends, lifestyle … wealth …
possessions … your job …. your status … to
follow Jesus you must lay all of that down … so what does that mean … does that
mean that you must quit your job, sell everything you have and give it to the
poor … live on the streets … no … well maybe if that
is what God calls you to do … but it is a problem of the heart … God wants you
to be whole heartedly committed to Him … Love Him with ALL your heart (Matt
22:37)
When God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, God
never intended for Abraham to kill him … (Genesis
22:12) But through Abrahams actions, his heart was revealed .. His faith in
God was demonstrated. Why do you think
that is written in the Bible? Because it is a nice story .. no because it is a
principle that is central to our relationship with God. We must live our life
for God with reckless abandon .. trusting Him completely even when our common
sense is telling us that what we are doing makes no sense … Would God do that
to you? You bet … And though others may
question you .. think that you have lost all reason … you are walking next to
Jesus … and there is no better place to be …
Is your heart totally committed to Jesus? Do you still have your nets in your
hands? Lay those nets down and follow
Him … do it today ….
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)
No comments:
Post a Comment