Worship
Scripture
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” -Matthew 10:37-38 (ESV)
“Peter began to say to him, ‘See, we have left everything and followed you.’ Jesus said, ‘Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.'” -Mark 10:28-30 (ESV)
A Warning About Priorities
Warning: This devotional may be very offensive.
Our devotion to Jesus must be the highest and only priority in our lives as Christ followers.
“The greatest danger of idolatry comes not from what is bad, but from what is good – like love in family relationships. The greatest danger to the best comes from second best.” -David Guzik
Counting the Cost
In just a week and a half, I board another flight with a team of 12 in toe to the mountains in South Asia, where we will again share the gospel to entire villages who have never heard the name of Jesus. For some reason I have been pondering and considering, what if this costs me my very life? It’s not a fear of dying I consider but another level of being truly submitted and surrendered to Jesus in spite of any cost to me, my will, and even my family.
If Jesus truly has my heart, does He have permission and total access to rearrange my other and lesser affections to fall under His Lordship?
The Challenge to Cultural Christianity
I have been writing for the last few weeks on the American dream and the Great Commission. It grieves me to realize how so many believers in America (myself included) have succumbed to the “Great American Dream” and our entitlement for riches, comfort, retirement, and self-preservation. We have been duped and deceived because nowhere in Scripture do I see this lifestyle outlined for one who takes up her cross and follows Jesus. Nowhere in the world is this an ideology or worldview for our 70-80 years of living except for in America. Our churches have boarded us upon cruise ships and preached grace at the cost of us having zero obligation to the Great Commission. We store up our wealth and wait for retirement and think, “Then, I will serve Jesus.”
But what if God has another plan for us? What if He is asking you and me to lay down our retirement accounts, vacation time, sleep schedules, finances, business plans, time with our families and friends, free time, and vision maps for our lives and hand them over to Him? What if He wants to be the center of all of this to determine how it’s spent? What if He asked you to give it all away for His sake? Would He even do such a thing? Yes.
We live in a paradox as a disciple of Jesus. We only find our lives when we lose them. And that only comes through dying—daily. Resurrection life comes after we pick up our cross, die to our will, and follow Jesus—daily. When criminals, sentenced to death in Jesus’ days, picked up their crosses, they were meant for one thing: death. The cross has only ever meant one thing: death. But Jesus says we find life—true life—when we walk this road of ultimate surrender. And from this place of desperate endings, we walk in newness and the resurrection life of Christ. All things fall under His counsel, provision, and rulership. For human beings wanting to rule our lives, this is impossible, unless Jesus becomes the center, and love dictates our roads of faithfulness.
The Kingdom’s Upside-Down Nature
The gospel is offensive if we follow Jesus and His plan and His agenda and His purposes. This means we allow Him to be Lord over it all—everything that He has given us to love and steward. It all belongs to Him. Preachers all across our nation have preached that Jesus should be first in your life, then your spouse, then your children, then ministry. But where is that in Scripture? To set up a neat little hierarchical structure of priorities is just another form of law, where we check the boxes on our performance and time management. It requires little faith quite honestly, just a good perspective on our yearly planners.
If we really understand the reorganization of the life of Christ followers, we would see that Jesus is the center, and all things flow out of that. The Holy Spirit is one who determines, by His counsel, what we give our time, attention, affection, and resources to. It’s like the illustration of a wheel, where Jesus is the hub and every spoke that has been given to us is connected to the strongest part of the wheel, holding all things together. It moves in motion and it takes ground, but Jesus is the center. If Jesus is just another spoke, and we sit in the middle of that wheel, it’s no different than when the Hindus accept Christ to add Him as just another one of their gods. Church, we have to get this if we are going to be able to endure to the end. What will be required of your faith in the coming days, until Jesus returns, demands a reorganization of the mentality of following Jesus. There’s just no way around it.
An upside-down Kingdom, ruled by love, means an upside-down life centered in love, Himself.
“These people are called Christians. They hear the gospel, believe it, and are transformed by it. They are born again into an intimate love affair with the living God, and nothing can shake their confidence in Him. They are not bold in their own right or because they have tried hard. They are not the superstars of the Christian world. They are simply those who believe. They are childlike. They hear the voice of God, submit to it, and as a result become a unique race of people. They are God’s literal body on the earth, carrying out His revealed will where they go by the power of the Holy Spirit.
“They are in love, and it is obvious. It’s the thing that motivates them. They are compelled by love. They are free from seeking their own desires. They live to see people set free into the same love affair they enjoy. Their joy is contagious. Their laughter sets people free from addiction and self-hate. They seek the lost. They go after the one. They pursue the most hopeless situations, because they know love never fails. They raise the dead. They cast out devils. They heal the sick. They speak with authority. They are set free from sin. It shows on their face, because they have forgotten what shame feels like. They radiate God’s glory. They reflect His goodness. They demonstrate His kindness. They share their food with the poor. They give without sparing. They never lack. They are God’s kids, and the world knows it.” -Peter Louis, “Back to the Gospel”
Let these ones arise! The world is waiting for you!
