Keeping First Things First
Dear friends,
The Lord has been stirring my heart and challenging other leaders in ECO about the importance of growing in our understanding and relationship with God in 2017. When I shared on January 1 about my view of this year I recommended and encouraged that each of us should aspire to personal change – specifically “To embrace wholeheartedly the disciplines of discipleship (Word, prayer, giving, fellowship) – to know the ways of God more in 2017 than in 2016.” In December last year 7 of us e enrolled ourselves in the Bethel Leadership Development Program; we had our first video conference this week and it promises to be an excellent catalyst to draw us closer to the Lord and better aligned to become instruments of his power and grace flowing to others.
The Lord reinforced to me the importance of this as I was reading in Luke 13 this week where, in response to a question about how many will be saved Jesus replied “… None of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life – to God! – is vigorous and requires your total attention. A lot of you are going to assume that you’ll sit down to God’s salvation banquet just because you’ve been hanging around the neighbourhood all your lives. Well, one day you’re going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but you’ll find the door locked and the Master saying “Sorry, you’re not my guest list”. (Luke 13:23-25, The Message).
That’s pretty direct!
As you read the New Testament you begin to realise that Jesus had no problem confronting (care-fronting?)] sin, hypocrisy, and wrong attitudes. May I commend to you again Ps 139: 23-24 “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” I don’t about you but I sense the Holy Spirit prompting me to cleanse my heart of wrong attitudes (including pride, presumption, judging others et cetera) and to walk carefully before him as we enter a new year and a new season – I believe it’s to be a season of significant breakthrough’s and it’s time to turn up our faith for God’s grace to move to bring these breakthroughs to pass. I don’t want to miss it and I don’t want you to miss out either for all the Lord has for your 2017.
Jesus went on to continue his response to the question saying“…You’ll protest, ‘But we have known you all our lives!’ Only to be interrupted with his abrupt, ‘Your kind of knowing can hardly be called knowing. You don’t know the first thing about me’. That’s when you’ll find yourselves out in the cold, strangers to grace. You’ll watch Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets march into God’s kingdom. You’ll watch outsiders stream in from east, west, north, and south and sit down at the table of God’s kingdom. And all the time you’ll be outside looking in – and wondering what happened” (Luke 13:26-29 The Message).
I don’t know about you but I find that pretty sobering and confronting. The New Testament talks about working out our salvation with fear and trembling (it’s not to be taken for granted) and Jesus told the parable of the sower and the seed and how some seed (God’s Word) fell on ground and grew but weeds sprang up and choked it, referring to the cares/worries of this life and the world. That’s part of the warfare we are called to as Disciples of Christ, to remain pure and authentic in our commitment to him, that Christ should have first place and centre in our lives
Let’s commit to really knowing the Lord in the right way through personal relationship, obedience and exchange – to be true disciples, led by the Holy Spirit, and so avoid the delusion of those who know about him but have no personal living/growing relationship with Him; knowing him is the greatest privilege we have in this life and the true measure of our success with the gift of life we have been granted.
God bless, Lew McMaster