Who Do You Love

"He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me." - Matthew 10:37-38

Last Thursday in Experiencing God, we studied the spiritual principal concerning the need to make Adjustments in our lives in response to God's call to join Him in His work. Hearing any teaching in a sterile or hypothetical environment is one thing, but living it is a horse of a different color!  By that I mean we may think we understand and accept a truth when we hear it but we won't “feel” the truth until we are exposed to it in life. 

Action by faith and taking some action requiring a disruption in your routine may seem reasonable, but what if the adjustment means that you must distance yourself from your friends and family.  From the familiar. 

"Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, 'Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.' And Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.'  Then another of His disciples said to Him, 'Lord, let me first go and bury my father.' But Jesus said to him, 'Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.'" - Matthew 8:19-22

When God makes His will for your life plain through experience you may well experience an inner conflict. For instance, your heart will be torn between your allegiance and devotion to people you care about and your love and obedience to God. THAT’S when you feel it. When you realize that you must choose one or the other. 

Very often, people will put pressure on you to choose them. You have to look them in the eye. Listen to their arguments about why you should choose them over God.  Now God will never put pressure on you to choose Him. He will speak to you by His Spirit and then the ball is in your court. You must make a choice. People will ask you or maybe guilt you into choosing them over God. They are essentially saying that you should love them more than you love God. They don't think of it that way. They are focused on themselves and that the cost your obedience to God will be that your relationship with them will be disrupted. That is where your struggle comes. It is a struggle of the heart. You may believe that you would choose God, and that is admirable, but you wont really know what you will do until the time, the test, comes. 

To choose well, which is to say to choose God, you must be spiritually prepared. In the Army we said that soldiers fight the way they train. My encouragement to you is to train well my friend. Prepare yourself for the spiritual battle that comes with saying yes to God. And when the battles comes you will be ready and found faithful to the One you love the most. 

“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” - Joshua 24:15

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone