My life feels crazy out of
control right now. Pulled between parties, birthdays, keeping a list, checking
it twice, Christmas shopping, wrapping, and preparing to leave for our family’s
annual vacation ten days before Christmas, it is taking an extra concentrated
effort to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus. Several mornings my time with Jesus has
simply been talking to Him while I try to get ahead of some of the piles in my
office and messes around the house. I miss Him, though. When I lose sight of
Him as my sustenance, when I forget that stillness in His presence brings the
strength and peace I need to deal with all the chaos around me, I suffer. When
doing, even if it’s doing “for Him,” takes the place of simply being with Him,
it’s easier to swerve off course. Miss the mark.
How do we get to the place where
Jesus is worth it? Worth trusting, worth being still, worth sacrifice, worth
doing hard things, worth denying ourselves. Fearing God is the beginning, but
there’s more. Here’s the second part of the excerpt from my book, Holy His:
Hope for a Life and a Nation Wholly His:
In addition to fearing God, another force
must be at work in us to live in complete obedience to Him: loving Jesus.
Second Corinthians 5:14-15 tells us, “For the love of Christ compels us,
because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for
all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who
died for them and rose again.” If Jesus is just “fire insurance,” and we pray a
simple prayer of salvation for the sole purpose of avoiding hell, then we’re
going to love Him about as much as an insurance agent who sells us a life
insurance policy off the side of the road. In order to fall in love with Jesus,
we must KNOW Him by spending time with Him in prayer, by studying His life, His
love for us, His words, and His nature through reading the Bible. We fall in
love with Him by worshiping Him and experiencing His faithfulness when we cry
out, and He answers. When we do this, we will be overwhelmed with His love and
won’t be able to help but love Him back. As a result, our affection for Him
will compel us to live for Him, which means doing what He tells us to do.
What will that love look like? Above all,
our love for Him must be pure and undivided. Jesus can’t just hold a spot on
our list of the top ten people we love. He must be our first love. John, Jesus’
beloved apostle, wrote: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If
anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is
in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away,
and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John
2:15-17). We clearly must choose one love.
In Mark 4:18-19, Jesus describes what
happens when a heart is divided. He is teaching through a parable about a sower
whose seed falls on different kinds of ground. The seed represents the truth,
or the word of the Lord, and the ground represents us. In explaining what happens
to the seed that falls among the thorns, Jesus says, “Now these are the ones
sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this
world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering
in choke the word and it becomes unfruitful.”
We can’t fool ourselves. We either love
God, or we love the world. We can’t love both. James 4:4 makes it very clear:
“Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever
therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
Yes, we are to be in the world, but we are not of it (John 15:19). Our love –
our adoration, our desire, the things we long for, the things we think on, the
things we give our time, energy, and effort toward – must be for the Lord and
desiring the things He desires. If our love is misdirected to the things of
this world, the truth of God – His word – will be choked out, and our lives
will yield no crop for the Lord.
The last few days during the
quiet morning hours, I’ve sat with the Lord, doing nothing else but talking to
Him. Reeling my thoughts back every time they scurry to an item on my to do
list or a something I’ve forgotten, I have found an extra measure of peace.
Nothing in my circumstances has changed, but He has drawn my eyes back to Him.
In His presence I find perspective. In following His leading in every moment,
He points me to His purpose. I find that my love for Him swells, and setting
aside all the petty things of this world becomes easier.
Especially during this Christmas season – perhaps even in
spite of it – may the love of Christ compel us to love and good works, that
Christ may be glorified as we become more wholly His.
Shauna Wallace
Holy His
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