Dear Ones:
It has been well said that, “…knowing the will of God is not difficult; we are difficult.” Is it not so with the matter of devotion to Christ? It is not difficult to understand; we are difficult in the grasping and implementing of it in truth.
In Isaiah’s “gospel,” we read how the Lord was seeking to bring Israel back to an understanding of what it meant to trust Him, believe in Him, be committed to Him. He told them, “…look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.” (Is. 51:1-2) We read in Hebrews 11:8, where, “…by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.” What do we gather from Abraham’s experience that reveals to us the essential elements of devotion?
First, we see how the Lord took the initiative in speaking to Abram. (Gen. 12:1) Secondly, in revealing Himself to him by His word, he addressed the matter of the cost of following: “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee.” Jesus addressed the same issue when He said, “…He that loveth father and mother more than me is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.” (Matt. 10:38-39) Essential to understanding this matter of devotion to Christ is the act and attitude of choosing Him above and beyond all others. Does this mean that we are not to love our neighbor, and not love one another? Does it mean that we are to neglect our God-given responsibilities to care for, and serve those in our family, as well as those outside of the family? No. But what it does mean is that God, our Maker (Designer), is so far above all of His creation, and every member of it, that He alone is worthy of our highest devotion. The beauty of His Everlasting Nature, and the intrinsic perfection of all that is good and holy is so far above all that He has made, that there is but one answer to this question of what is the object of our worship? It was God in Christ who created us. It was God in Christ who has redeemed us. Our “debt,” and loving response of thankfulness, is to Him and ultimately to Him alone, for we “live, move, and have our being in Him.”
So then, this is the reason for, and the basis of our devotion to Him. But what of the motive for devotion? One stanza of an old hymn goes like this: “…grace alone can reach me, LOVE alone can win.” The story is told of missionaries who went to Greenland to spread the Gospel. But their work was tedious and slow among the inhabitants…that is, until the missionaries began speaking much of the love of God. This concept, that an eternal, creative and redemptive God, would love the individual, was the life changing motive for following Christ. It was said that Count Zinzendorf, when one day gazing upon a painting of Christ’s crucifixion, was absolute transfixed by the sight. He was gripped by the meaning of an inscription at the bottom of the painting which read: “This is what I did for thee; What hast thou done for Me?” Love is the dominant theme of the whole of God’s relationship with man. The revelation of that love is the dominant motive for every response of the sinner’s heart to Love Divine, to Christ.
Lord Jesus, grip us with a deeper and clearer knowledge of Thy love. With that understanding, grant us grace to indeed surrender all that we have and are, to be Thine and Thine alone. And in “that place of certain good, ” enable us to receive all from Thee that we shall have to give to others. Thy call to Abraham, and his response to that call, came with the promise of Thy blessing …the blessing of all the families of the earth through and by him. Enable us to live in the reality of Thy blessing as we follow Thee, that others truly shall be blessed with the knowledge of Thee. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Love, Dad