"Jesus Christ is not valued at all until He is valued above all." ~ Augustine
It really shook me up reading this.
WHY?
Why when it's something I already knew?
Perhaps it's because I thought I knew it already. I thought I understood how valuable Jesus is in my life but I think I was wrong. At least that's how I'm feeling now.
You see it's easy to see this quote make sense when it comes to comparing him to people or respected positions in our lives. That parts easy. To be a Christian you have to place Jesus above your parents, your wife, and even your children. I get that.
BUT
Have we forgotten to put Jesus above our things?
Ahh, I see.
Did I strike a nerve?
Did I make you stop and think for a minute?
Can you be honest with yourself (like I am now doing) and ask what position Jesus holds on the scale of things in your life?
Where does He rank on a list of the following?
- Blogger
- TV shows
- Sports
- Hunting
- Shopping
- Knitting
- Fantasy Football
- Reading
- Politics
- Video Games
- Music
- Education
- Work
Unless of course, you put them above Jesus.
That's where I've been messing up lately. That's where I've been missing the mark. I've been looking at Facebook while watching a game on TV all before I even spoke one word to the God of the universe!
Have you?
Do you get so caught up in any of these things that they take up more of your time than your relationship with Christ does?
I had this conviction the other day..
I refuse to pay my cable bill again before I tithe my 10% to the Lord from now on!!!
How messed up is that?
I was paying the cable bill before I gave 10% to the Lord? What does that say about me? What does that say about the position Jesus holds in my life?
And then when I read that quote this morning it all made sense to me. I knew what I was doing wrong. Satan has been fooling me long enough. It's time to put Jesus in His rightful place again. Not only among all the people in my life, but also among all the things as well!
I pray this speaks to you in some way or another today.
"Jesus Christ is not valued at all until He is valued above all." ~ Augustine
Be Blessed!
Joe
Part I
ReplyDeleteFor me, it started out with the day Pastor Michael suggested before we even put our feet on the ground in the morning, say a prayer to God. There have been a LOT of things that have confirmed different happenings in my life, and going on, in and around Greenville Christian Church. I made the testimony that I have left no stone unturned in this world looking for fulfillment in my life. That includes things that are ok to participate in, and some things that are NOT ok to participate in. It led me to get down on my knees, and literally beg for Jesus to come into my life. I was weary, beat down, and had nowhere to turn. I asked him to search me, and he did. I instantly felt fatherly love from Heaven enter into my heart. Only, I didn't get what I was expecting. What I got was, yes, the fulfillment I was wanting, but I also got all my sins laid out before God himself and the need to repent and confess my sins. Confessing once I experienced the Lord in that way, well for me it came easy. Repent, that's another word for changing our sinful ways, in some things like alcohol and drugs, I've not had a problem with since that day. I know that Jesus GAVE me the strength to conquer those things. But then what about smoking cigarettes or pleasures of the flesh? Why didn't He take those too? I "know" the answer to that right? WRONG!
Part II
ReplyDeleteI thought it was because he was testing me to see if I would live a disciplined life for Him, to strengthen my faith, to put Him first. But I am starting to see, that may not be it at all, or that it might just be part of a bigger picture. If he had taken ALL sin out of my life, let's see, I know myself pretty well, what would I do then? I would probably be self righteous, condemning, bitter towards the world, and seclude myself from society. I pretty sure He doesn't want those things for us either. So, we NEED to know that humbleness in life and that at no time in life, do we actually "have it" so to speak. We ALL are always working to better our relationship with Him, even when we think we "have it". Does that mean we keep on sinning when the Holy Spirit calls out in our sins? Absolutely not. But, with the understanding that God allows sin in this world, we can change ourselves because of honesty in our hearts that we love Him, and not let it be for the sake of just "changing" ourselves because we feel it is wrong. When our children ask us for food, we give it to them because why? Because we love them and want them to survive, so that we may enjoy the precious and bad moments that they bring us while we are here on this earth. We feed them the nourishing foods and we feed them sweets, or the stuff that is bad for our teeth, we allow them to enjoy these things that God has allowed on this earth because they are pleasurable. Well, God allows sin our lives because it brings us closer to Him. But we don't just move closer to Him because we "know" that's where we need to be, but we should move closer to Him because we love him. Through sin, we come to Him and ask for a relationship, but over time, after that initial introduction to who He is, our hearts become honest in the relationship and not hearts of wolves in sheep's clothing. Some attain this fast, others it takes a lifetime. But the speed in which who "gets it" and who don't, that just goes to show that our lives are His. He created them and He has the right to say who gets what in life. It is by that reason that I fear God. I know that all things belong to Him and that he reigns on this earth because of that. It's satan that provides sin and it is satan that will do whatever it takes to demolish our relationships with God. So, therefore, we are powerless against satan. It is only through God that we get knowledge, power, and the tools we need to fight the devil off. This is a struggle ALL Christians have to face every day. It's one I fight everyday as I sit here and light up a cigarette in deep thought. (The whole cigarette thing for me comes from the verse, "the body is thy temple"). It's a sin for me to sit here and damage my body in this manner. I'm putting my worldly pleasures before God. I have two options at this point, pray for the strength to quit doing this to myself, or go get a patch at the doctor's office. But if I go to the doctor, why am I going there? I would be going there to put the responsibility off on some doctor to heal me. That hardly the right way to do things. Well, yeah, I would probably quit, but the reason remains there that I should be judged in front of God one day. Just the mere act of quitting isn't going to get it, I have to quit sinning in this manner in my love for Jesus, the Lord our God.
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ReplyDeletePart III
ReplyDeleteWith all that being said, it is important for every Christian to love sinners and non-believers. For we are truly blessed that He gave us the power we do have to know better, and the things that we have in our lives that do keep us from the sins that we know we are likely to give in to. When you see a sinner, know that they are powerless. Know that God is the only one who can save them from it, and know that He loves them just as much as He loves you. We should always pray for our sins and other sinners. Because our words won't get the job done, but if we ask the Lord to heal that person, if we honestly ask the Lord in our hearts for us to have the right words for that person, then we have the hope that our loved ones, our fellow brothers and sisters, and ourselves, are moving into the right direction.