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I'm not the best with quiet time (shocking, I know). But I read "My Utmost for His Highest" daily devotional, well, daily. This was my favorite devotion of the week:
March 12th.
ABANDONMENT
"Then Peter began to say unto Him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed Thee. . . ." Mark 10:28
Our Lord replies in effect, that abandonment is for Himself, and not for what the disciples themselves will get from it. Beware of an abandonment which has the commercial spirit in it - "I am going to give myself to God because I want to be delivered from sin, because I want to be made holy." All that is the result of being right with God, but that spirit is not of the essential nature of Christianity. Abandonment is not for anything at all. We have got so commercialized that we only go to God for something from Him, and not for Himself. It is like saying, "No, Lord, I don't want Thee, I want myself; but I want myself clean and filled with the Holy Ghost; I want to be put in Thy show room and be able to say - 'This is what God has done for me.'" If we only give up something to God because we want more back, there is nothing of the Holy Spirit in our abandonment; it is miserable commercial self-interest. That we gain heaven, that we are delivered from sin, that we are made useful to God - these things never enter as considerations into real abandonment, which is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ Himself.
When we come up against the barriers of natural relationship, where is Jesus Christ? Most of us desert Him - "Yes, Lord, I did hear Thy call; but my mother is in the road, my wife, my self-interest, and I can go no further." "Then," Jesus says, "you cannot be My disciple."
The test of abandonment is always over the neck of natural devotion. Go over it, and God's own abandonment will embrace all those you had to hurt in abandoning. Beware of stopping short of abandonment to God. Most of us know abandonment in vision only.
That dude cuts to the chase pretty consistently. I love that.
C3 starts meeting at Memorial Parkway Junior High tomorrow (ur, uh...today). I have seriously loved having church at our home, but we're busting at the seams, and it's time. Would you please pray that we would always be ready and willing to Love, Live and Serve in the direction or directions He would have us go? That would be awesome.
Peace out, homeys!
ABANDONMENT
"Then Peter began to say unto Him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed Thee. . . ." Mark 10:28
Our Lord replies in effect, that abandonment is for Himself, and not for what the disciples themselves will get from it. Beware of an abandonment which has the commercial spirit in it - "I am going to give myself to God because I want to be delivered from sin, because I want to be made holy." All that is the result of being right with God, but that spirit is not of the essential nature of Christianity. Abandonment is not for anything at all. We have got so commercialized that we only go to God for something from Him, and not for Himself. It is like saying, "No, Lord, I don't want Thee, I want myself; but I want myself clean and filled with the Holy Ghost; I want to be put in Thy show room and be able to say - 'This is what God has done for me.'" If we only give up something to God because we want more back, there is nothing of the Holy Spirit in our abandonment; it is miserable commercial self-interest. That we gain heaven, that we are delivered from sin, that we are made useful to God - these things never enter as considerations into real abandonment, which is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ Himself.
When we come up against the barriers of natural relationship, where is Jesus Christ? Most of us desert Him - "Yes, Lord, I did hear Thy call; but my mother is in the road, my wife, my self-interest, and I can go no further." "Then," Jesus says, "you cannot be My disciple."
The test of abandonment is always over the neck of natural devotion. Go over it, and God's own abandonment will embrace all those you had to hurt in abandoning. Beware of stopping short of abandonment to God. Most of us know abandonment in vision only.
That dude cuts to the chase pretty consistently. I love that.
C3 starts meeting at Memorial Parkway Junior High tomorrow (ur, uh...today). I have seriously loved having church at our home, but we're busting at the seams, and it's time. Would you please pray that we would always be ready and willing to Love, Live and Serve in the direction or directions He would have us go? That would be awesome.
Peace out, homeys!
6 comments:
I will ;)
I think it is awesome that your church is growing so well.
I'll be praying, just return the favor. :) We (re)launch on April 12, Easter Sunday (how symbolic is that!). Blessings to you,
Jason
How did it go today? I have been praying for the church.
Thanks, guys!
Jason - I think we're also going to launch on Easter Sunday, so how cool is that? We can pray for each other.
Beth - Today was "figure out what the heck we're doing day". The tv for the kids area that we got such a sweet deal on DID NOT WORK, our one and only communion tray spilled onto the (carpeted) floor, and Ron had to drive back to the house because we forgot the music stands.
But you know what? It was still pretty awesome!
God bless you all. I hope your launch goes well. I will pray for you.
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