Men's Equip - February 21, 2011

Hey, guys.

I’ve been working through a 40-day journal called “A Call To Die” in preparation for our Life Together Groups during Lent.  It’s great material — both challenging and comforting, in about the doses I need!

Here’s a quote from what I read this morning:

“We talk about ‘my time’ and ‘my things.’  We get upset when somebody interrupts ‘my rest’ and violates ‘my rights.’  Our goal is to be self-actualized and self-fulfilled.  But we are empty.  When we focus on meeting our own needs, we are slaves to ourselves and our sins.  Paul talked about slavery in his letter to the Romans, and his perspective is just as relevant today as it was in the first century: ‘Don’t you know that ... You are slaves to the one whom you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?’ (Romans 6:16).  What is the character of a slave?  He is devoted to his master, and he obeys without question.  Paul said that people who choose to disobey God are slaves to sin.  We make people, possessions, or lust our master; and as slaves we spend our time, resources, and energy to fulfill our master’s wishes.”

David Nasser, the author of this book, goes on just a little later:

“When Jesus is our master, our minds are absorbed with pleasing him and advancing his kingdom.  We will defend his honor at all costs, because we remember with gratitude the sacrifice he made ... A payment has been made.  A purchase has been completed.  No, I’m not talking about a new pair of jeans at the mall.  I’m talking about Jesus purchasing you and me.  Paul told the Corinthian believers, ‘You are not your own; you were bought at a price.’  The modern preoccupation with ‘my’ this and ‘my’ that has no place in the life of a person who has been redeemed (bought) by the blood of the Savior.  The question for me each day should not be, ‘What do I want to do today?’   It is ‘Jesus, I’m yours.  What do you want to do with me today?’”

What a great perspective on living as a slave of Jesus rather than a slave of this world!  What a great question to ask each day — Jesus, what do you want to do with me today?

Hope you are having a great Monday today and enjoying the snowfall!  I had to chuckle to myself today as I was shoveling a foot of snow off my long driveway.  Last November, when we got the first inch and a half of snow of the season, I heard snowmobiles everywhere.  This morning, with a gorgeous foot of new snow on the ground, I didn’t hear a single one, even though it’s a holiday and most of the kids are off school!  Funny what a few months will do to change our perspective.    Old snow is old news, and come February, all the snow that falls seems like old snow.

But Jesus doesn’t change.  He calls us to give our lives to him today and every day, and he is the freshest thing in our lives each and every day.  Serving him can be challenging, but it will never be old news!

Jeff

P.S. A bonus for Presidents Day:

“Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.”  -Abraham Lincoln