What’s the cost of following Jesus? It’s mostly things we don’t want to do, and our flesh rebels at the notion. For it involves intentionally making choices of self-denial…of giving up oneself and our interests to serve others. It also means sacrificially suffering in order to acquire a more deep abiding relationship with our Savior. But within the cost of following Jesus are also many precious workings of the Holy Spirit. There’s the sweet fellowship of faith with the Lord…the honor found in sharing in His suffering…and the humbling action of exemplifying His life in ours.
Category: Daily Inspirational Devotional
Acts 16:25-26 ” About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose.”
This wasn’t the only time that prison doors shut by men had been flung open by God. In Acts 5:19 an angel of the Lord opened the jail doors for the apostles when the Sadducees had them thrown into prison for healing many people. In Acts 12:7 Peter was jailed by King Herod only to have an angel of the Lord escort him out past all the sleeping guards. Over the ages mankind has foolishly thought they could shut doors, stopping God’s work… only to see Him fling those doors wide open. Or they’ve unsuccessfully tried to pry open doors that God had firmly nailed shut. The truth is – you can’t shut a door God has opened, neither can you open a door He’s shut.
Hosea 6:6 ” For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”
Even today God takes no pleasure in the rituals, ceremonies, and religious acts we perform simply for the sake of doing them. They are like the constant, reoccurring daily sacrifices done by the Priests in the Temple for the people…and in Isaiah 1:13, God told them to, “Stop bringing meaningless offerings.” That’s because God is wanting a relationship, not our religious works…He’s desiring a deep connection, not just us sitting in a Church building…He longs to be in a partnership with us, not watching our put on piety.
Ephesians 6:7 ” Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men…”
Last week as I was paging through a very old cookbook of my Mother’s I found this at the bottom of one of the pages: “There are three types of people: The few who make things happen, the many who watch things happen, and the majority who have no idea that anything has happened.” Anonymous And if we look up the Greek words in the Scripture above, it will help us see how true this statement is! Basically, this verse in Ephesians tells us to serve the interest of others, before ourselves, with a helpful and cheerful attitude. Well, no wonder it’s only a few that make things happen! We’re all too selfish. That’s why the many of us would rather watch others do the serving than do it ourselves. But it says the majority of us don’t even realize that there’s a need…and that’s sadly true. The majority of us have our faces planted so far into our phones we miss everything that’s going on around us…countless needs and ways we could serve others go unnoticed and ignored.
Luke 9:46-48 ” An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside Him. Then He said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes this little child in My Name welcomes Me; and whoever welcomes Me welcomes the One Who sent Me. For he who is least among you all – he is the greatest.’ “
You’d think after this pointed rebuke the disciples would of understood what Jesus was trying to tell them…their petty infighting could never advance the Kingdom of God. But incredibly we later find them at the Last Supper hashing over the same old nonsense. For Luke 22:24 says, “Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest.” I can just see them now, sitting around that table puffing out their chests and extolling their many attributes to each other, while Jesus slowly shook His head in disbelief. That’s why Jesus had placed a little child in front of them as an object lesson and told them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, like this child, and a servant of all.”
Job 8:13-15 ” Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless. What he trusts in is fragile; what he relies on is a spider’s web. He leans on the web, but it gives way; he clings to it, but it does not hold.”
The false hope and promise of the world is much like a spider web. It appears strongly constructed, secure, and can be relied on…but in reality, it’s fragile, weak, and undependable. The world’s false hope is like thinking a spider web will break our fall…only to find it disintegrating in our hands. What the world promises us can’t be trusted…what it tells us to rely on is very deceptive…and how it influences us on a daily basis is usually wrong. That’s because, our true hope can only be found in placing our trust and confidence in the Name of Jesus Christ, our Rock and our Deliverer.
Isaiah 61:11 ” For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.”
The Lord is evident to all mankind…everyday, in every way. It says here that He causes His righteousness and praise to spring up as seeds sprout up from the warm soil in the Springtime. For elsewhere in Isaiah it says, “You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the Lord have created it.” (Isaiah 45:8) God’s righteousness and praise comes down like the Spring rains, watering the land and causing the seeds to sprout and grow… covering the earth with beauty for all to see.
II Thessalonians 2:16-17 ” May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.”
We can love…because He first loved us. We’re precious in His sight, so we’re able to view our fellow man with the same compassion and kindness we’ve received. We’re encouraged by His Word so that we may comfort and console those around us. We’re strengthened by His grace and mercy that we may give that same grace and mercy away. Finally, our wonderful Lord is faithful to us that we may be faithful to spread His Gospel Message.
I Peter 3:14 ” But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed.”
Peter went on to write, ” If you suffer as a Christian, don’t be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that Name.” (I Peter 4:16) Thus, when I look at both these verses, I see that when I stand my ground and do what’s ethically upright, I’m adhering and conforming to God’s authority, rather than the world’s…while also realizing that I don’t need to apologize or be ashamed for doing what’s right. Suffering for the sake of Christ means the world will condemn, ridicule, and reject you…but it also means you will be blessed.
Mark 7:8 ” You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”
This all started when the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law saw Jesus’ disciples eating in the market place with unceremoniously cleaned hands. They came to Jesus demanding to know why they weren’t following tradition. Jesus then quoted Isaiah 29:13 to them, “These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.” So in this verse above Jesus is calling their traditions what they really were – useless commands of man…all the while abandoning the authoritative Commandments of God. In other words, they were worshiping rules and regulations made up by men, not worshiping their Creator.
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