And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Then Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; DO this, and you will live.” – Luke 10:27-28, Deuteronomy 6:4-5
“DO this, and you will live.” Like……Real living……….
It’s interesting how differently Christ thought. When I think of real living I think of Cancun, excitement, and just doing me. But when Jesus spoke of real life, he spoke of Love and Obedience. Why does that seem so different from us? The man who spoke this to Jesus knew the law, but he somehow didn’t have the Life that the law contained. Was his freedom as simple as putting to practice what he already knew? If so, then why was he still bound?
Jesus once said that if any man wanted to be his disciple, he would first have to deny himself. He did not say this because He wanted to make it impossible for people to follow, or because He wanted to inflict pain on anyone. Jesus loves us and wants to enjoy Love with us. He knew that to take His name in Word and not in Practice would actually be harmful not to Him, but to us! Have you ever eaten hot food too fast? Once you burn your tongue the whole meal is ruined, and it isn’t because it doesn’t taste good. When we decide to follow Jesus without stopping and asking ourselves “What is He really asking of me?”, we set ourselves up for a “life” in Christ that is actually ‘burnt’ and nothing like the original. Just like the man in the passage. When we fail to leave our own right to determine what is good or bad for us at the door, we stop God from shining his revealing light into our darkness and setting us free, from making us TRULY alive. God now becomes the clay and our idea of Good the potter. All the more we deceive ourselves and build lives that are our own creation, and ultimately futile as a result. No matter how hard we try to shape the outside.
So consider this. If in any way we have made the Christian life something of our own design, then we must return by Faith. Faith not only allows God to build His kingdom in us, it passionately tears down the Old. Faith believes that His notion of life, His idea of a good future, a fulfilling existence, is more worthwhile than our own! Faith considers this narrow road and strips our self down so that we may step through. Beloved, your faith is never “broken”. You must only stop trying to mix faith with your current life. It is the heartbeat of the born-again spirit and must always start from afresh. It is why Jesus told the man to simply practice what he knew. It is why you are reading this devotional, and why I ask you……….
What are you going to DO?
Pray as you are inspired! Repent without shame and make up your mind to be His. He has given you the Power to do so.
Question to Think About: “What is the real cost of following Jesus?”