Lord of the Things - Part 2

Matthew 6:24 Jesus taught: “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other , or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (the thorns of 'things').

The late Christian writer, A.W. Tozer writes that we must keep the external and temporal from making us slaves to the tyranny of things. To brake the yoke of this oppressor, and this is not accomplished by fighting but by surrendering. Though free from all sense of possessing, we yet possess all things because our real treasure is inward and eternal … the kingdom of heaven. The enemy's goal is to distract us with tempting lies from our first love (Rev.2:4) to another and lose focus on who really is the Lord of the things in and of this life; blind to the consequence (Rom. 2:6-11), but hopefully not from the remedy (Rev.2:5). Who or what do we really worship & serve? Whose and what standards do we truly follow?

Matthew 16:24-25 Jesus said: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” We need to understand this.

When you truly think through and follow this to the logical conclusion, we take nothing with us when we leave this planet. At the end of this earthly journey that Creator God has placed each of us on here at this specific time for a purpose, we stand before Christ’s great white throne of judgment in heaven, There is only one Lord, the only true master of the universe that we give an account of our love and our life, with everything exposed. The truth will be known and there will be no U-haul behind the Hurstto bring the things, no sliding in sideways, no party in Hell, no lies and no excuses (i.e. - “I didn’t know or that the devil made me do it"). We need to keep the main thing, the main thing. Jesus Christ is the “Lord of the things”.

If we walk in the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature (Gal. 5:16), and the proper balance in life of the things that God has created for us to use and enjoy can be achieved and appreciated in a right relationship with our Heavenly Father, Lord God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, producing happiness despite outward circumstances or what the world says. There is no worry or fear of God's wrath for the Believer because we know the truth of God, worship and serve our Creator with pure and true joy, always with praise and thankgiving of our salvation and adoption into the family and kingdom of God, being made holy and blameless in His sight through the blood of Christ.

Romans 1:18-22 &25 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is ever praised. Amen.

Worship and serve the Lord of the things; not the things which God created, and stand firm in the freedom that our Savior has purchased of us.
In Christ, Brian