You Deserve An Explanation

Ok, blog world… I am sorry!!! It has been a while since I have written a post. I know you are crying out your eyes in agony waiting for a blog post. But let me explain…

I have been extremely busy the past few weeks at work. I have mentored people, which doubles my work load. And, considering that I usually blog at work, that equals zero blogs! Add to that the lack of internet at my house, and you have a long time without a post. But I am praying about getting wi-fi at my house.

But, what I really need right now is a lot of prayer. Tomorrow, I will be preaching at my Church, Love and Justice Church. We are also going to be baptizing someone. There will be some non-Christians there. If you read this in time, please pray for me. I will be preaching over 1 Corinthinans 1:26-2:5. Pray that the name of Jesus would be lifted high, the Gospel would be preached, and that God would be glorified. I will do my best, Lord willing, to continue with the blogs soon.

Last word… Pray for my heart that it would be soft and would find joy in Jesus alone.

 

The Gospel (Part 2): The Dark Exchange

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”  But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. – Genesis 3:1-6

We have already talked and covered the purpose of all creation. To sum it up, the ultimate purpose of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. We are to make much of God and display His glory, and that is ultimate done when we treasure and enjoy and desire God above all other things. Also, we have seen that God made creation good. Everything went exactly as it should. There were no flat tires or car trouble. There was not decaying creation. Men did not get horrible back pains. Eve was not in danger of getting breast cancer. It was absolutely perfect…

But we get three chapters into the Bible and everything changes! Adam and Eve sin. This changes everything. But before we get into the changes, we must ask a real question… Why in the world does it matter that Adam and Eve ate a bite of a fruit? Is it really that big of a deal? Isn’t God just over-reacting? There are two things that we have to consider to answer this question. First, God’s laws are not like the speed limit. What I mean by this is that nobody thinks that breaking the speed limits hurt anyone. It is a harmless thing. It is just this impersonal law (most think), so it is really not a big deal if someone breaks it. But God’s law is not like this. God’s law is a representation of His very heart. It is what He desires from us, and to disobey is a personal offence. It is an attack on God, against His character, judgment, and authority. In breaking God’s law, we are not merely just breaking some foreign, impersonal list somewhere. We are taunting God to His face.

Second, the very purpose of everything is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. Now notice the text in Genesis 3… What is really going on here? Notice: Eve saw that the tree was good; she saw that it was a delight; she saw that it was to be desired. Adam and Eve are not just breaking a law here. They are deciding against the very purpose they were made. And, even worse, they are delighting in and desiring and enjoying a fruit over God. This is nothing short of idolatry. The problem is not just their actions, but their hearts. They wanted this fruit more than they wanted God. This motive is not a unique sin, but it is the very root of all sin. As John Piper has said (paraphrasing here), the very essence of sin is that we do things, think things, say things, and feel things that show that we do not desire God above those things.

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. – Romans 1:21-25

What Adam has done, and ultimately what we have done every time we sin, is exchanged the glory of God for the glory of something less enjoyable than Him. We have worshiped the creature rather than the Creator. We have found joy in digging for scraps in a garbage dump for dinner rather than eating for free at a 5 star restaurant. It is not just our actions, but our hearts. The great tragedy of sin is that we have found joy and delight in God’s creation over God. The root of all sin is this idolatry. The truth is that we are idolators. All of us! If you are reading this, every time you sin, it is idolatry. It may not be wood and stone, but it is surely ourselves, or our family, or our reputation, or football, or food, or money. And our idols will fail and leave us short.

So, how does God respond to Adam’s sin, and what has Adam’s sin done to the world? Lord willing, I will talk about that next time.

O, Lord of heaven and earth, forgive us for exchanging your glory for other things. Forgive us for going after finite pleasures that end instead of chasing the never-ending, infinite pleasure found in You. I thank You that there is even salvation for what we have done. We are sinners, Lord. I confess that You are more desirable than all other things. You are altogether beautiful, Jesus. Send Your Holy Spirit to stir our hearts in brokenness and joy. May we be broken over our idolatry against You, and may we repent and find our joy in You.

 

Vacation

Hello, blog world…

If you may have been wondering, I have not posted anything this past week because I have been on vacation. I decided to truly rest and not do anything! The only thing I did do is read books and went to the Village Church in Highland Village, TX, which was stinking awesome. I finished reading Pilgrim’s Progress, read Death by Love by Mark Driscoll, and started the Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards. I feel really rested and rejuvenated. The Lord has really moved on my heart and given me much grace this past week. And, if you are wondering, I give Pilgrim’s Progress 5 out of 5 (it’s a classic!), Death by Love gets a 4 out of 5 (it was absolutely amazing and wonderful and commendable, except for the chapter on Unlimited Limited Atonement. This is a book I will re-read, recommend, and reflect on to stir my heart for the Gospel and a love for people), and the Religious Affections is looking like a 5-er right now. But, I am catching up at work, so I will not have time to really post anything today. But, Lord willing, tomorrow I will continue on the Gospel…

 

Psalm 39

To the choirmaster: to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

 I said, “I will guard my ways,
   that I may not sin with my tongue;
I will guard my mouth with a muzzle,
   so long as the wicked are in my presence.”
I was mute and silent;
   I held my peace to no avail,
and my distress grew worse.
 My heart became hot within me.
As I mused, the fire burned;
   then I spoke with my tongue:

 ”O Yahweh, make me know my end
   and what is the measure of my days;
   let me know how fleeting I am!
Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
   and my lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!
                         Selah

 Surely a man goes about as a shadow!
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
   man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!

 ”And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?
    My hope is in you.
Deliver me from all my transgressions.
    Do not make me the scorn of the fool!
 I am mute; I do not open my mouth,
    for it is you who have done it.
 Remove your stroke from me;
   I am spent by the hostility of your hand.
When you discipline a man
   with rebukes for sin,
you consume like a moth what is dear to him;
    surely all mankind is a mere breath!
                         Selah

  “Hear my prayer, O Yahweh,
   and give ear to my cry;
   hold not your peace at my tears!
For I am a sojourner with you,
   a guest, like all my fathers.
 Look away from me, that I may smile again,
    before I depart and am no more!”

I read this Psalm today. It encouraged me, and I hope it encourages you. This Psalm led me to pray honestly and earnestly for the Lord to rebuke me for my sin, even though it would be painful and hard and not fun. And also, it made me think, I am nothing! How dare I rouse myself up in sin against my Creator. I am as nothing before Him. I am as a fraction of a second in a day compared to the thousands of years that He is. How dare I transgress this great One… But at the same time, how is it that this great God loves an insignificant sinner as myself. I am nothing, yet Yahweh loves me and His eyes are towards me.

Father, I am fleeting! I am but a man, but You are God. You reign in the heavens, and there is no other. There is none like You, O Yahweh. How foolish men are to raise up against You. You could crush us in a moment by Your fierce wrath, but You show grace and mercy and love! O, what undeserved grace! Father, I do not want to sin against You. Please rebuke me for my sin. But, Lord, do not rebuke me as Thy Law. For Thy Law rebukes, but it does not impart grace to change. But I beg You to move as well. Rebuke me for my sin and send Your Holy Spirit to grant me repentance. In the beautiful and powerful name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

 

The Gospel (Part 1): God, Creation, and The Purpose of Everything

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. – Genesis 1:1

The message of the Gospel starts where the Bible starts: Genesis 1:1… In the beginning, before there was anything, there was God. Nothing else existed but God. There are a few things to note in this. First, God was as perfect and beautiful then as He is now. He was perfectly loving, perfectly just, perfectly holy, perfectly good, and perfectly glorious. Second, He was not in need of anything. Contrary to popular opinion, God did not create people because He was lonely. God did not create the whole creation because He lacked anything! The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. – Acts 17:24-26. In fact, if God created things out of a lack of Himself, then He really need not be God. But in reality, He did not need anything. Finally, God was completely satisfied in Himself. He was completely joyful in Himself. In the context of the Trinity, He enjoyed communion and love and joy. The one true God is a joyful God, and from before all time He experienced community within His triune nature. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was completely satisfied, joyful, and in fellowship with each other. God is glorious above all other things. And God is not an idolator, but completely and fully delights in Himself and His glory above all other things. If He looked to anything else, He would seize to be God and would be an idolator.

So, this brings us to the question and the point… Why in the world did God create the world? What is the purpose for us being here? There are many, many different answers that people will give to this question. Mostly, people just flat out say that they do not know. Others say that they were put on the earth to do good things. Again, others may say that our purpose for living is to just live life and enjoy it. And, we must not leave out our friends who honestly admit that they do not believe there is any purpose to living. It is all random… So, according to the Bible, why were we made?

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. – Colossians 1:16

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. – Ephesians 1:11-12

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. – Romans 11:36

We see from these Scriptures and others that we were made for one huge, overarching purpose: the glory of God. We were made for Him. All creation, everything, whether seen or not, was made to bring the Creator praise and glory. Everything that was made has this purpose: to draw attention to the Creator rather than creation. The purpose of everything is to bring God the glory for creating us. And, I must note, that when I say that we are to bring God glory, it does not mean that we add to His glory, but rather, it means that we draw attnetion to His already glorious nature. Much like a telescope does not add to the beauty and glory of the stars but magnifies their beauty to be seen, thus we are created not to add to the glory of God, but to magnify and show how beautiful and glorious God truly is.

One final thing I would like to add. In creating us for His glory, God has also created us for our joy. He has created us in that when we glorify Him, we will find joy surpassing all other things. God did not create us to mindlessly and joylessly draw attention to God, because in reality, if we see the glory of God and do not delight in it, it truly must not be that glorious. But, if by seeing the glory of God, we treasure it and are completely delighted and joyful in that above all other things, it glorifies God and thus fulfills our purpose for being. As the Westminister Confession of Faith says, “The cheif and highest end of man is to glorify God and fully enjoy Him forever.“

God is before all things and created all things for His glory and for our joy. That is the purpose for why we were created. BUT the story does not end there. Rather, that is just where it begins. For while this is the ultimate purpose for why we were created, we have all failed…

Lord, I pray that You would stir our hearts for Your glory. May we see Your perfections and beauties in such a greater light. You are perfect and holy and just and good. There is no lack in You, Father. You are perfect. And I ask You to stir our hearts for the purpose we were made; namely, Your glory and our joy. May we see Your glory and find our ultimate delight and joy in it. Help us, God, for we are weak and fail often. But I thank You that Your glory is not contingent on my magnifying it, for, Lord, You are glorious whether we glorify You or not. Stir our hearts for the Gospel. It is for Your glory that I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus.

 

God Is Faithful

 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth.  I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,  I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.” – Genesis 9:8-17

So, yesterday it rained. It stormed pretty hard. I left work just as the storm was passing, and I was about to travel 30 minutes to my house straight into the storm. But, on the back side of the storm as I was, I saw the most beautiful rainbow I have ever seen. I was in the most perfect spot where I could see the bow make a full arch, reaching from what seemed ground to ground. Usually, the rainbow is really only half and you can’t see it well. But I saw it in its entirety. Rainbows have always amazed me. Even with all the scientific reasonings as to why rainbows are, it still absolutely blows my mind that it happens.

While I was gazing upon God’s beautiful creation, I was reminded of the Covenant that God made with Noah. A lot of times we skip straight to Abraham in our thinking and completely forget Noah. But while I was thinking about the rainbow as being the sign of the Covenant, I was reminded of two things that the rainbow signifies.

First, everytime I see the rainbow, I am reminded of the faithfulness of God. I am reminded of His faithfulness to His Covenant in that He has not destroyed the earth and killed on men on it despite their evil. Surely, as the Psalms says, God experiences indignation every day, but yet He never fully vents His wrath and destroys us all. In other words, the rainbow reminds us that there is grace and mercy, and that God is having grace and mercy on every one of us. I am also reminded of His faithfulness to Noah. Noah lived thousands of years ago, and God is just as faithful now as He is then. God has never failed. There were many weak men in the Scriptures that we read (men who are much stronger than I), and God delievered them and carried them. When I think of Noah and the rainbow, I think of how God has been faithful for thousands of years, His character and grace has been proved over and over, and He will carry me through and stay faithful to me. If I go back 10,000 years, I will still see that God is faithful and has always been faithful.

Secondly, I meditated on Jesus. I thought, what if Noah answered back to God and said, “But, Lord, what if again every man on earth is wicked, yea, even more wicked than before. How can you not pour out your wrath?” That is a fair question. How can God not destroy us for all the wicked things that we have done? In fact, when I see the rainbow, I am reminded that our city, and even I, deserve God’s wrath. It is like God is saying, “If I had not Covenanted, I would destroy you.” But why doesn’t He? Why doesn’t He right now send some natural disaster to wipe Oklahoma City off the map?

In Genesis, God calls the rainbow “my bow.” The rainbow is God’s bow of wrath. But, the bow is pointed toward heaven and not toward earth. This is to show us (and Noah in His day) that God would bear the own wrath that He should pour out on us. God would no longer destroy the earth because He flooded His wrath on Jesus. Even in the rainbow, God is screaming, “Behold, all the earth. Look to Jesus! He has borne the wrath of God for the sins of His people. Trust in Him. You deserve wrath, and surely wrath will on day be poured out. But if you trust in Christ, you will be saved from the wrath to come! I am faithful to save! And if you do not look to Jesus, I will destroy you! Look to Christ, all the earth!” The heavens are declaring the glory of God.

O, Lord, You are faithful. You have always been faithful. I thank You that You will not destroy me. I thank You that in Your Son, You took the arrows of Your wrath for me. May I see your faithfulness to Noah and trust that You will carry me through as well. And may the world see that Jesus alone can save. Soften my heart to declare Your glory and Your Gospel, as that rainbow does.

 

The Gospel: Introduction

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. – Romans 1:16

Lately, my heart has been struggling. I have just woke up with such a lack of faith. I know the promises of God and His love and grace, but it seems that my heart is having a hard time trusting in it. And, by the grace of God, the Spirit has been helping me to fight the good fight. No matter how much I struggle, He looks on me with grace. He does not hold my sin over my head, but separates my sin from me as far as the east is from the west. God does not look upon me with a frown, but, despite my failings, He looks on me and His bowels churn with love and affection towards me. Though my heart and flesh may fail, He will keep me til the end. I do not trust in myself. I know myself well enough to know that I can do nothing apart from Christ, and His grace towards me is not in vain.

All that to say, I was thinking today about what I really need. And what I really need is the Gospel.  My lack of faith and my struggles over the past week has been a result of my lack of meditation and focus on Jesus through the lens of the Gospel.  So, what I have decided to do is to do a series on the Gospel. There are a few reasons why I am doing this… First, I am doing it for my own sake… For my hope and joy and peace and love and strength and faith. Secondly, I am doing it in hopes that it would bring any readers to faith and joy and salvation. Finally, I want to answer this question among the plurality of answers: What is the Gospel?

O, Sovereign Lord, I pray that you would keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Spirit, please soften my heart by Your Gospel. May I become humble and broken, contrite and trembling at Your Word. Give me faith, O God. And, please, I beg You to send Your presence, for in Your presence is fullness of joy… May I simply be satisfied in You and in You alone.

 

Demons, Pigs, and Treasuring Christ

Mark 5:1-20… Now that is a weird story! It is full of everything to weird you out. Demon possession, a guy who lives in a cemetary, demon-possessed pigs… To sum it up, Jesus comes across a guy who has multiple demons in him. The demons beg Jesus to cast them out into pigs. So Jesus consents, and two thousand pigs run into the sea and die. Then, after this miraculous healing and demonstration of power and authority by Jesus, the town asks Jesus to leave.. When I first read this story as a new believer, I was completely confused and weirded out. But, as I read this earlier today, I felt compelled to think on it and really dive deep into what this is saying. There is so much that people can pull out of this, but I want to just point out one thing that has grabbed me.

First, why in the world do the demons want to be cast out into pigs? That is just odd… But I think it is smarter than you think. These demons want to hurt and torture men. That is their goal in all that they do. They don’t care about hurting pigs… They are just pigs! But there is something deeper, something evil with their intentions. It is very simple. For Gerasenes, pigs equal money. Pigs are a valuable resource. You can sell them for money, or you can eat them for food, or you can use their skin for material. So, if you take out the pigs, you cause pain. You bring the city into recession, if not depression. People may go hungry…  These pigs were probably nurtured for at least a year or two, and all that would be wasted. Even today, if a town lost 2000 pigs, it would cause terrible trouble. The ultimate goal of demons is that because of this destruction, the people would curse God for their pain.

So, why in the world would Jesus actually consent with the demons and cast them into the pigs… Well, because the people of Gerasenes trusted in their source of income rather than God. They were not looking to God to be their Help and Joy and Strength and Treasure, but rather they were looking to pigs. Jesus is hoping to cut them to the core, that they might see that He is their only Hope. He is being gracious in destroying their hope. In destroying their hope, He is longing for them to look to their true Hope. Truly, the people of Gerasenes were idolators, and they didn’t even know it.

I try to think of what I trust and treasure above Christ. What do I think that I could not live without? What do I treasure to such a degree that I would curse God for taking it away? Maybe my job? My savings account? My car? My girlfriend? My family? My friends? My voice? Think about it… What if in a moment God took away all that you have worked hard for? What if in a moment your source of income was completely destroyed with no hope of restoring it? Would your faith stand firm, or not? And truly, would we trust that God is good if he took away that which we most treasure that we would most treasure in Christ?

So, finally, what did the Gerasenes people do? It is a sad story… “And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.” They saw that Jesus was the cause of this, so they told Him to leave… They treasured the pigs in their heart above Jesus and His glory. They didn’t want anything to do with Jesus…

O, Lord, You are sovereign over all things. Whether our greatest moments of joy or our greatest moments of trials, we trust that You are not more sovereign over one than the other. During the recession, while our money may be fleeting, let us trust in You. You are good. And, if there be anything that we treasure over You, I pray that you rip it away from us. I pray that You would graciously destroy that which we treasure above You, that we might clearly see You, Jesus, as our ultimate Treasure. In times of trouble, sustain our faith and keep our eyes on the cross. Let us not glory in jobs, savings, talents, or pigs, but rather in Christ.

 

Wait For Yahweh

I read Lamentations 3 today. It is one of my favorite portions of Scripture. The author is in the midst of pain and suffering from the sovereign hand of God. He confesses that it is God in heaven who has done it. The Lord has so afflicted Jerusalem that the author says that he has forgotten what happiness is, and his hope in Yahweh has perished. In the midst of this suffering, there is one thing that keeps him going.

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of Yahweh never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘Yahweh is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’ Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of Yahweh.”

Wow!! What faith! How amazing this passage of Scripture is. In one breath, it confesses that Yahweh has brought greif and affliction and pain, and at the same time, it declares that God’s love never ceases, and He is always merciful. God is sovereign AND good, even in the bad times.

But what really stuck out to me this morning is this little phrase: Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. I was thinking… why does he say “wait”? This gave me great hope. When there are hard times, and it seems that we are being disciplined by the Lord, we are to seek the face of the Lord and wait for him. In all times, we are to wait for Yahweh. I live in a culture that is so focused on the now. Everything must happen right now. When I am hungry, I eat immediately. When I am tired, I go to sleep. When a book comes out that I want, I have to get it now. Everything is right at our fingertips. We can practically get anything we want within a few minutes, if we had the money to do so.

But God is not our pop machine. We can’t just go to Him and say, “I want revival,” and it pops right out. God is good and will answer His children, but we must wait for it. The good times, the fruitfulness, may take years for God to pour out. But in the rough times, we are to seek the face of Yahweh and wait for Him to move.

O, God in heaven, help me to seek Your face. Help me to wait on You, my sovereign Lord. You are in control of all things! Though my heart and flesh may fail, You are sovereign over my heart and flesh, and you will change my heart after Your heart, but I must wait. Though my heart today and yesterday has been dull, You will soften my heart and leave me broken and humble… but I must learn to wait on You for that. And in waiting Lord, I pray that it would demonstrate that I do not rest in my works, but I rest in Your works and Your goodness and Your faithfulness and Your steadfast love. I cannot change my heart, so I wait on You! I cannot control the universe and change anything, so I wait on Yahweh and beg You to move… Move my heart for the Gospel… Lord, I pray that You would stir my heart to say, “The steadfast love of Yahweh never ceases.” I wait on You, O God. Glorify Thy name…

“I called on your name, O Yahweh, from the depths of the pit; you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help!’ You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’ – Lamentations 3: 55-57

 

Jesus Is More Important

^“Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” – Matthew 26:6-13

Truly, there is nothing more important than Jesus. Many of us focus on and care more about doing things for Jesus than we focus on and care about Jesus. I can have all my ducks in a row and do everything right. I can go to Church, sing the songs, feed the poor, read the books, memorize Scripture,  be moral, and do all the right things. I can do all those things and still be wrong… I can do all those things and end up in hell. It is good to do those things, but those things are not the most important thing. The most important thing is Jesus. There is a way in which we can do right things, and yet our hearts are not loving Jesus above those things.

Jesus is worthy of all of our praise. We must place Jesus above everything else in this world.

I am much like the disciples in this passage… Jesus words must have cut the disciples straight to their hearts, and they cut straight to my heart as well. How many times have I done things for Christ without even thinking on Him? And how long will it take this stubborn heart to learn that Jesus is more valuable than anything else and that He wants my heart? He doesn’t want my righteousness, for I have none. But He wants my heart and my faith.

I am not in any position to explain these things. And I can explain with great detail the greatness of my Lord, but what is that if I do not rejoice in what I know? I pray, O Lord, that you would send your Holy Spirit, and make me humble. May I see you as more important than anything else. May my heart delight in you above all other things. In all that I do, may I do it unto your glory, Jesus.