Jesus demonstrated in the most visible way that true love costs everything. Before His death, He prayed that if it were possible to accomplish the mission in any other way that it would be provided for Him (Matthew 26:38-39). In the end, there was only the way of the cross, with its painful betrayals, beatings and humiliations along the way. Love prevented Him from turning away from that brutal path of sacrifice. At any point along the way, Jesus could have said, “It’s not worth it” and been delivered from what He was going through (Matthew 26:52-54). Instead, Jesus perfectly demonstrated the cost of love. When we surrender our lives to Him, we declare our love for Him and pledge that His life will be our model in everything we do. With that in mind, how much is your love for Christ costing you?
priorities
Turning Moments into Momentum
It’s easy to feel as if we are stuck in our lives. We have a burning desire to follow Jesus with all of our heart, but we keep getting tripped up along the way. Progress is hard to come by when you constantly take two steps back for every one you take forward. In other words, we have our moments but no momentum. As discouragement sets in, it blinds us to the opportunities that surround us every day. Instead of focusing on our failures, we need to recognize the times in our life when we are walking in step with Christ and learn to turn those moments into momentum for tomorrow.
Think on These Things, Part 2
In my previous post (see “Think on These Things, Part 1”) we discussed the importance of what we allowed into our minds. I’d like to continue that discussion today. If you recall, we focused our attention on Philippians 4:8, which says, “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise—dwell on these things.” (HCSB). So what does this look like as we apply it in our daily lives?
Think on These Things, Part 1
I think we all recognize the importance of the food we allow to enter into our bodies. If we eat a lot of sweets or fried and unhealthy foods, we’re going to be fat, lazy and sick. When we eat healthy fruits and vegetables while limiting our intake of the less healthy stuff, we will be reasonably trim, energetic and healthy. Whether we choose to eat the right foods or not is an issue unto itself, but my point is we all understand at an intellectual level what we should eat and the consequences of not doing so. Yet when it comes to what we feed our minds, we seem to be much more reckless and perhaps even unaware of the consequences.
When Life Gets in the Way
It’s a new year and you’ve made the determination that this is the year you are dedicating your life to follow Christ. No more playing around, this time it’s for real. And then you lose your job. Your spouse tells you they don’t want to be married anymore. Your kid is diagnosed with cancer. Suddenly the thoughts of commitment to God are far away. Despite your best intentions, life jumped up and smacked you in the face. While the previous examples may be on the extreme side (though certainly in this day and age any one of them is within the realm of possibility), the challenge we often face is how to stay focused and committed to Jesus when life gets in the way.