“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with My victorious right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10 NLT)
How many decisions do you and I make in any given day without giving the Lord a thought? How often do we buy something or engage in something we see as enjoyable, but never think to ask the Lord what He thinks. We sometimes wrongly assume that because we like it or would enjoy it that the Lord is fine with it, when in fact He may not be.
And it’s not like we have to be paranoid about making wrong decisions, it’s just that as God’s child we need to learn to rely on His wisdom, insight, and directives to guide us in the ways He’d have us to go. The Scriptures are clear that when we give ourselves over to the Lord, we are no longer our own, we no longer simply make choices that fulfill our needs and desires.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7:23: “God paid a high price for you, so don’t be enslaved by the world.” The trinkets of this world have no eternal value and can’t satisfy us long term. Our soul longs for what only Jesus can give us. He didn’t die in our place to enslave us, but to liberate us to become all we were created to be.
One of the most obvious pieces of evidence of who is in charge of our life is measuring our sense of fulfillment or satisfaction as we invest ourselves in someone else’s life; as we seek to help them find contentment and joy in knowing who they are in Christ.
The longer the Lord allows me to live the more fully I want to be invested in the spiritual health and vitality of others. I’m no longer the center of my own universe, Jesus is, so my greatest joy is derived from seeing others make much of Him. That’s one of the reasons I love my church. We have an outstanding team of musicians and vocalists who blend their talents to point us to Jesus.
Our Pastors are students of God’s Word, and their sole desire is to paint an accurate picture of Jesus so we can see Him more clearly. I’m constantly being reminded that my closeness to the Lord is evidenced in and through my availability and usefulness in speaking into the lives of others. A few weeks ago the Lord gave me the privilege, when the Pastor gave an invitation, to walk forward with my 90-year-old neighbor who wanted to give his heart and life to Jesus.
His desire in this closing chapter of his life is to know Jesus and to learn to please Him. Some might tend to believe that it’s a shame he waited so long, and I get it, but I’m just glad he didn’t wait too long and miss Jesus. Faith in the living Christ is the only option if we want to have a home in heaven.
According to Jesus’ words in John’s Gospel (14:6): “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.” Ultimately, we should hope to arrive in heaven where every beat of our heart will scream desire to please our Father. While we’re in this life the greatest battle we will wage is the battle between who will be God in our life – us or Jesus?
My prayer for me and you today is that everything we do, say, or think will enable us to see Jesus more clearly, follow Him more nearly, trust Him more completely, and love Him more dearly; that our lives will be so focused on Jesus, we’ll forget about ourselves.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 