Is Jesus Christ enough?
- Richard
- Dec, 03, 2016
- Today's Musings
- No Comments
Let me ask you a really important question. What if on this earth you suffered day and night till God called you home – would you still follow Jesus? Would your Salvation alone be enough to follow Him? Now, before you answer, let me share with you some things happening in the world today.
There are many preachers teaching that if you do certain things then prosperity will come to you. There is no place in the Bible that says that. If anything, following Jesus Christ costs something – sometimes your very life.
Then there are the group who say to God, “I will follow you as long as … but take my child and I am done with this Christianity thing.”
So my question again is, “Is Jesus Christ enough”?
In the book of Daniel in the Old Testament a lot of the Israelites were taken to captivity in Babylon. We know the story of Daniel in the lion’s den. But there is also another story that is very important.
There were three young Israelite men who, along with Daniel, vowed to only worship the true God, not the false gods of King Nebuchadnezzar. The three men were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They would not bow down to a statue that the people made for the king. So they were thrown into a fiery furnace. You know the ending – an angel was with them and they came out not even smelling of smoke. But what you may not know is a statement that any of us could live by till God calls us home. This is the story:
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18
That’s it! But even if I get cancer, if I lose my job, if I can’t pay my rent, if my spouse leaves me, … I WILL STILL FOLLOW YOU. WHY? Because our love of God should not be about what we think God should be doing for us. He already did it all. Why do we want more conditions to follow Jesus Christ? I think we all better stop this idea that we will follow God when it suits us.
This is why third world countries flourish in the gospel – they have nowhere else to go. We do, and that is the problem.
It is time for all of us to lay prostrate on the floor, yes prostrate, and ask God for forgiveness. We have sinned and we have chosen the world’s luxuries over God. Would you give up all you have to follow Jesus? If you hesitate, then you have a problem.
Lord, the time has come for us to come back to you alone, naked and without any thing. Please help us to desire You and You alone God. When we take our last breath it will ONLY be You before us. Please forgive us for putting conditions upon You and for putting so many other priorities before you. Help us THIS DAY Lord to come back to You, broken in your presence. May we seek you again first, before we do anything else in this world. Please Lord help our heart’s desire to be You. Amen.
This is the beginning of revival in your heart. A revival, if only one person, is better than none. Let it start with you and I. If God does not come through the way you want Him to, will you still follow Him? – I pray that you do.
Copyright 2015 Brad Henry.
Just as the lost don't understand the Gospel, the saved rarely understand grace.
There are few activities more exhausting and less rewarding than Christians attempting to please the people around them by maintaining impossible legalistic demands. What a tragic trap, and thousands are caught in it. When will we ever learn?
Grace has set us free!
That message streamed often through the sermons and personal testimonies of the apostle Paul.
The lost need to hear how they can go from the island of debris, filled with misery and guilt, to the land of peace and forgiveness, flowing with mercy and grace. Those bridges are built when we lovingly and patiently communicate the Gospel. You don't have to have a seminary degree. You don't have to know a lot of the religious vocabulary. In your own authentic, honest, and unguarded manner, share with people what Christ has done for you. Who knows? It may not be long before you will know the joy of leading a lost sinner from the darkness of death's dungeon across the bridge to the liberating hope of new life in Christ. Once they've arrived, release them. Release them into the magnificent freedom that grace provides. Don't smother them with a bunch of rules and regulations that put them on probation and keep them in that holding tank until they "get their lives straightened out."; Making us holy is the Spirit's work. Be faithful to dispense the Gospel to the lost and Grace to the saved. Then leave the results in the Lord's hands.