Robbing Quality from the LORD

Stating the obvious; people desire relationships.  Do not most people want to be liked, acknowledged, recognized and even respected?  We seek relationships at home, at school, work, church, and even more so on social media.  We may even find ourselves justifying our value by the number of so called friends or followers we have.  We count our tweets, re-tweets, favored tweets, likes, re-shares, followers, friends, favored’s, and so on.  We are so focused on quantity and being quantified, that we have neglected quality. 

Society has come to this place where we have robbed relationships of quality.  Without quality, what you have is nothing more than superficial, non-dependable, unreliable, broken connections.   You may think you have gained the world in popularity by counting numbers, but in fact you have robbed your soul of one of its greatest desires.  We want to be connected to others.  Friends will unfriend, followers will quit following, re-tweets will be forgotten, favoreds will be filled away, pretty much all the quantity and quantifying will amount to nothing more than empty shallow meaningless numbers. 

Have you ever been in a crowd and yet still felt totally alone?  I have.  In robbing ourselves and cheating others of quality communication, we have created gatherings of two, three, and even mass multitudes of physical and digital congregations of lonely people.    

Although people will come and go in life, there is one who will never leave you or forsake you, He wants to be your friend forever and He will always favor you.  His name is Jesus.  He desires your friendship, following, favoring, re-tweets, re-shares and so much more.  He gave everything just so He could become a friend of yours.  He desires quality. 

Have you robbed yourself of the greatest relationship this world has ever known?  Have you chosen not to have Jesus Christ as your friend?  Even worse, are you a Christian who is robbing your savior of quality communication? Have you chosen to rob the one who gave it all so that you could follow Him?

This may be a stretch for some, but here it is.  In Matthew chapter 21 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling, He overturned all the tables and ran them all off.   He was angered because the temple was being dishonored for monetary gain.  Right after, Jesus said “My house will be called a house of prayer, and you have turned it into a den of robbers.”  In 1 Corinthians 6:19 we are told that our bodies are a temple for the Holy Spirit.  Now, if our bodies are temples for the Holy Spirit and Jesus himself said in Mathew 21 that His temple is a house of prayer, then are we not robbing Jesus Christ of a quality relationship if we choose not to communicate with Him? 

I cannot help but believe that we are obviously called to a quality relationship with Jesus Christ.  In order to have quality we must communicate and interact intentionally, purposefully, and routinely.   If not, then you are forming nothing more than an empty religious gathering.  Although you may call yourself a Christian, attend church regularly and even share your religion, you will still feel lonely.  Quality, that is what makes it all real.  I challenge you to make your relationship with Christ all about quality each and every day. 

 

 

May my life be the proof and evidence of Christ’s love!

To give up more of me is to take in more of Jesus:

As I was reading my bible this morning, I was going through Deuteronomy.  Deuteronomy is Moses’ address to the generation of Israelites that were about to enter into the Promise Land.  Basically it is a historical summary of the exodus from Egypt, the journey through the desert and the evolution of Israel’s relationship with the LORD.  Moses was restating the laws and religious practices that had been established. 

What caught my attention is the number of times you find sayings such as freewill offerings, set aside, and sacrifice.  It dawned on me how a quality relationship with the LORD is so contingent on willfully sacrificing.  During this Old Testament era sacrifice was centered on what was harvested.  You read a lot about livestock, various grains, oils, produce…. 

Although the New Testament era does not call for sacrifice of animals and grains, it does still call for sacrifice. We are called to sacrifice our things like our talents and income.  More than anything, we are first called to sacrifice self.  I’m not talking about taking your life, I am talking about sacrificing your selfish desires and sin directed life.  In Christ your life is no longer “me first”, but “Christ first.” 

I got to thinking, am I sacrificing me, my selfish drives and sinful desires.  Is my Christian life noted for sacrifice?  Am I giving up my way for His way?  Do I feel like I am doing without so that He can do within?  In order to make the most out of my relationship with Jesus Christ then I must willingly and freely sacrifice my old life in order to gain the new life He has promised.  This is not a one-time event; this is to be a daily sacrifice. 

What are you sacrificing for the LORD? Is it time, money, fleshly desires, profane speech, sexual immorality, selfish desires, personal gain, your comfort zone, addictions, fear, anger, bitterness, pride, personal pleasures?... I know I don’t sacrifice enough.  I hope that my sacrifice is always more tomorrow that it was today.  To give up more of me is to take in more of Jesus.

 

Luke 9:23 Then Jesus said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must DENY himself and take up his cross DAILY and follow me.”

May my life be the proof and evidence of Christ’s Love!