My Utmost for His Highest

June 19th, 2012 by JDVaughn Leave a reply »

. . . do you love Me? . . . Tend My sheep  —John 21:16

Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate . . . , he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). In this verse, there is no argument and no pressure from Jesus to follow Him; He is simply saying, in effect, “If you want to be My disciple, you must be devoted solely to Me.” A person touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says, “Now I see who Jesus is!”— that is the source of devotion.

 Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not really want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord’s primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people— the saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a “doormat.” The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of that life is its seeming insignificance and its meekness. Yet it is like a grain of wheat that “falls into the ground and dies”— it will spring up and change the entire landscape (John 12:24).

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June 19, 2012

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, I don’t want to just “go through the motions”.  I want my heart to break with what breaks yours.  I want to be less cynical and protective and more engaging and open. I want to be naive and open; helping instead of judging.  Lord, please make me a man after Your own heart. Please remake me in Your image and teach me how to leave my self-interests for you as I am transformed and captivated by the needs of others.

And God says…”Jesus gave you two commandments: love the Lord with all your heart and mind and soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself. You find peace and joy, becoming more whole and completed, when you pursue these two commandments.  Just “going through the motions” is simply one more way of saying that you do not trust Me to guide you and meet all your needs. When you are simply “going through the motions”, you are pursuing your own agenda, following your will, not My will, because you do not trust Me to meet all your needs. Trust in Me with all your heart and do not rely on your own understanding and I will make your paths straight.”

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