Turning to Face All the Potential
'Large crowds were walking along with Jesus, when he turned and said:
You cannot be my disciple, unless you love me more than you love your father and mother, your wife and children, and your brothers and sisters. You cannot come with me unless you love me more than you love your own life.
You cannot be my disciple unless you carry your own cross and come with me.' Luke 14:25-27 (CEV)
The numbers people and those making a name for themselves and getting rich off of their fame, beware. The large crowds in Jesus day could resemble the same spiritual condition that we may see today in some of the churches of our culture. Some were then, just as some are now, seeking to follow Him for the wrong reasons. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Some examples of people that followed Him then were: the thrill seeker, the sick, the hungry, the sinner, the attention seeker and the fame and fortune seeker! Even today, sadly, reports show that less than 10% of evangelical Christians could be called deeply committed. Even with 90% superficial faith commitment, today's success is often measured by the numbers and some see their fame and wealth grow merely by the size of their congregations.
Money was not His motive. Success was not measured by numbers. Crowd size did not matter to Jesus. He was not distracted or fooled by the large numbers of people that followed Him. When He turned to confront potential, He did so in order to give them then as He does me now a warning, to give me an opportunity to check my motives and to learn. Learning this from Him, He tells me that I cannot be His disciple unless I take full responsibility for myself. Not quite the lessons that the world's entitlement philosophy trains and sells books to teach. He tells me that I cannot be His disciple unless I love Him more than anyone or anything else. Not quite the lessons that the world's love yourself and be happy philosophy preaches and sells CDs to teach. He tells me that I cannot accept Him as my Savior and then refuse to let Him change me. Not quite the lesson that the world's Peter Pan and Never Neverland and never grow up philosophy tell us and sell books to teach. It all gets so confusing until I listen to Him and let Him speak to me directly through His Word.
His love is greater than life itself. He loves me as I am. He loves me too much to leave me the way He found me when He saved me. The potential is there. When He saved me, He came to live inside of me, and I need to be the place where He will feel comfortable and where He will want to stay. A place where we are working together and He is not just there to clean up all my messes. Just imagine the grieving that goes on in the Spirit by some of the things I have done, while blatantly trying to fit into and look like the culture. Think of the grieving that goes on when I refuse to let the Holy Spirit take charge of my life and change me. I must submit to hear Him and to grow spiritually. We all fall short.
Imagine what my world would look like if I spent the same amount of time on the inner man as I do on the outer man. Superficial faith must go. It does me no good. It is a total waste of time and money and it is dangerous if I think I will ever make it to heaven with just an Open House Sunday amount of faith. Start with that. Figure out the amount of time I spend on my outer man and give inner man the same. Do it for a week and see what it looks like. Challenge accepted. Deny self. Christ is turning to confront my potential. He is alive and living well in me.
You cannot be my disciple, unless you love me more than you love your father and mother, your wife and children, and your brothers and sisters. You cannot come with me unless you love me more than you love your own life.
You cannot be my disciple unless you carry your own cross and come with me.' Luke 14:25-27 (CEV)
The numbers people and those making a name for themselves and getting rich off of their fame, beware. The large crowds in Jesus day could resemble the same spiritual condition that we may see today in some of the churches of our culture. Some were then, just as some are now, seeking to follow Him for the wrong reasons. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Some examples of people that followed Him then were: the thrill seeker, the sick, the hungry, the sinner, the attention seeker and the fame and fortune seeker! Even today, sadly, reports show that less than 10% of evangelical Christians could be called deeply committed. Even with 90% superficial faith commitment, today's success is often measured by the numbers and some see their fame and wealth grow merely by the size of their congregations.
Money was not His motive. Success was not measured by numbers. Crowd size did not matter to Jesus. He was not distracted or fooled by the large numbers of people that followed Him. When He turned to confront potential, He did so in order to give them then as He does me now a warning, to give me an opportunity to check my motives and to learn. Learning this from Him, He tells me that I cannot be His disciple unless I take full responsibility for myself. Not quite the lessons that the world's entitlement philosophy trains and sells books to teach. He tells me that I cannot be His disciple unless I love Him more than anyone or anything else. Not quite the lessons that the world's love yourself and be happy philosophy preaches and sells CDs to teach. He tells me that I cannot accept Him as my Savior and then refuse to let Him change me. Not quite the lesson that the world's Peter Pan and Never Neverland and never grow up philosophy tell us and sell books to teach. It all gets so confusing until I listen to Him and let Him speak to me directly through His Word.
His love is greater than life itself. He loves me as I am. He loves me too much to leave me the way He found me when He saved me. The potential is there. When He saved me, He came to live inside of me, and I need to be the place where He will feel comfortable and where He will want to stay. A place where we are working together and He is not just there to clean up all my messes. Just imagine the grieving that goes on in the Spirit by some of the things I have done, while blatantly trying to fit into and look like the culture. Think of the grieving that goes on when I refuse to let the Holy Spirit take charge of my life and change me. I must submit to hear Him and to grow spiritually. We all fall short.
Imagine what my world would look like if I spent the same amount of time on the inner man as I do on the outer man. Superficial faith must go. It does me no good. It is a total waste of time and money and it is dangerous if I think I will ever make it to heaven with just an Open House Sunday amount of faith. Start with that. Figure out the amount of time I spend on my outer man and give inner man the same. Do it for a week and see what it looks like. Challenge accepted. Deny self. Christ is turning to confront my potential. He is alive and living well in me.
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