Needful Things – Part 2: Our Most Valuable Possession

Michael continues with this question: What endures in this life? If you attach your identity to things that are here today and gone tomorrow, life will be an exercise in frustration. Where are your going in life?  If you have no destination, you're never lost. Jesus said, "I am the way the truth and the life, no man cometh to the father but by me" – John 14:6  As the Apostle Paul said, "I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" – Philippians 3:14.

After Jesus spoke to his followers in John 6, and many of His followers left Him, Jesus said to His disciples, "are you all-in?"  Many said, "I'd rather follow the world and my own comfort than give up everything to follow you." The hard questions expose the idols in life. Are we really willing to trust in God by following our Lord Jesus Christ? Are we willing to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ? In the sermon on the mount, Jesus said, "lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust corrupts, but rather lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is, there shall your heart be also" -  Matthew 6:19.

Is anything in your life too precious to give up to follow Christ? The first of the Ten Commandments says, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me" – Exodus 20:3. Literally, this verse means that God said "you shall have no other gods between your face and my face." Do your children, your wife, your job or your possessions come between you and God? Jesus said, whosoever loses his life for my sake shall find it. The most penetrating question is "Would you worship and praise Me no matter the consequences in this life?" In order to worship God, we must put our most valuable possession upon the altar. Lordship means that all I have is Thine. To confess that Jesus is Lord means that I am his and he is mine. My times are in Thy hands. Life is much easier when you give up and give it away. Despite the trials and tribulations of this world, take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee.  Needful things: are you all in? As John the Baptist said, "I must decrease that he may increase." You can have this entire world, just give me Jesus.  All I need is thee.

May God richly bless you,
Your brother in Christ,
Michael