In 2 Chronicles 7:14, the there are four prerequisites to hear from heaven: to humble yourself, to forsake your wicked ways, to pray, and to seek his face. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, they taunted Him saying, if you’re the Son of God, walk off of the cross and save yourself. He could have called 72,000 angels from heaven, but He didn’t. It wasn’t the nails that kept Him hanging on the cross. Rather, it was the love that He had for us … for He who knew no sin was made the perfect sin sacrifice on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him.
In Matthew 25, Jesus needed to separate the sheep from the goats. A true follower is not one who is looking for self-aggrandizement or self-actualization. The true followers are those who take up their cross daily and follow Him. One man approached Jesus and said, “Lord, I’ll follow you wherever you go.” Jesus responded, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” Jesus said to another man, “Follow me.” The man replied, “First I have to go bury my father.” In Luke 14, Jesus said, “If you do not hate your father and your mother, your wife and children, your sister and brother, and even your own life, you cannot be my disciple.” Jesus said that compared to loving me and putting me first in your life, whatever competes with your devotion to me, then you need to “hate” that thing in comparison to your love for me. You can’t look back while plowing or you cannot plow a straight furrow. If you look back, you’ll fall into the ditch. As we carry out our Great Commission as salt of the earth and as the children of light, our Lord’s command is “focus steadfastly upon me.” Our faith will be tested to discover what’s really important. What is it that you put above your love for the Lord? God will put His hand on our family for a reason. God teaches us that He is merciful even when He doesn’t give us what we think we want.
It is one true thing is to dedicate your life to your Lord. The first and great Commandment is “thou shalt have no other gods between your face and my face.” This is another thing entirely. How about keeping the Ten Commandments? Not my will, but thine be done. When the Apostle Peter preached the first sermon to the Church on the day of Pentecost, the crowd noticed that Peter was not an educated man, but that he had been with Jesus. The power we have is in proximity with Him.
Trials are an opportunity to test what is really important. In this world, all relationships end in pain and disappointment. However, with Jesus Christ, all relationships end in the hope of eternal life with our Lord. Whatever happens in this life, despite the doctor’s reports, God is merciful for all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
Jesus said in Luke 9:22-24, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” In this passage, Jesus prepared his true disciples how to be more than conquerors. We need to kill the casual Christian inside of us. For I was crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life that I now live I life by the faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
May God richly bless you!
Your brother in Christ, Michael
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