food for thought

"Behold, we go up to Jerusalem". Luke 18:31
Jesus said "I am not here to do My will, but only the will of the One who sent Me."
Are we ready? Alistair Begg recently said that any person we consider a fanatic is someone who loves Jesus more than we do. "There will be works of God manifested through us, people will get blessed, and one or two will show gratitude and the rest will show gross ingratitude, but nothing must deflect us from going up to our Jerusalem". (Oswald Chambers) Are we ready for gross ingratitude? Can we see the blessing in that or are we too busy feeling sorry for ourselves when we don't get gratitude or even recognition of what we are doing? We make it about us and it is not! Are we really ready to be mocked and criticized by those who seem to find themselves far superior? Is our love so steadfast with Christ that we have but ONE goal? Or do we somewhere inside know the truth that Jesus never put His trust in man but only in His Father? He knew how wicked the heart of man could be. We work so hard to please others because...? Because no one wants to be mocked and criticized by others. We strive to meet the standards of this society. When we truly surrender ourselves, our allegiance will be about ONE thing only, our joy will be contingent on ONE thing only. We will be crucified with Christ and yet we will live.
That is our goal, my friends. The assault that comes against us will only serve to draw us closer to Jesus. Remember, it is not us, but Jesus who is being assaulted. And we thought it was us...Hello! It is about becoming one with Christ, and that life should be no different for us than when our Lord took on His body of flesh for us. Jesus did this so that we might know how to live; are we ready or are we refusing to jump off the high dive out of fear? Honestly, I am a huge scaredy cat. My friends, this is a leap of faith. We will never know what it is to live if we never leap!
"I surrender all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow." "Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord to the Cross where Thou hast died".
Precious Lord, give us the tunnel vision we need to take that leap of faith and never look back. Let us know what it is to be alive in Christ Jesus our Savior and Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Another thought: Dare to look at your earthly possessions as dirty rags! Are we so surrendered that whatever our Lord has for us today is the greatest joy we could ever have? The things of this world we blindly believe will make us happy are in reality filthy rags! Or do we smother ourselves in legalism with this fast paced world? I need to do this...it would be wrong for me to not show up to that...The only place that is wrong is when we are not with God. His ways are not ours - remember? Be so in love with your Father that as long as you are with Him nothing else really matters. That feeling you had when you first fell in love is for you to keep always. And for your spouse as well. "the two shall become one and their love will be for their Father", how great is that? Give us eyes to see, Lord. Give us eyes to see! Oh, that our hearts never stop longing for Thee.

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)