keeping the main thing the main thing

April 17 – My Utmost for His Highest - All or Nothing?

"When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment . . . and plunged into the sea" — John 21:7

Have you ever had a crisis in your life in which you deliberately, earnestly, and recklessly abandoned everything? It is a crisis of the will. You may come to that point many times externally, but it will amount to nothing. The true deep crisis of abandonment, or total surrender, is reached internally, not externally. The giving up of only external things may actually be an indication
of your being in total bondage.

Have you deliberately committed your will to Jesus Christ? It is a transaction of the will, not of emotion; any positive emotion that results is simply a superficial blessing arising out of the transaction. If you focus your attention on the emotion, you will never make the transaction. Do not ask God what the transaction is to be, but make the determination to surrender your will regarding whatever you see, whether it is in the shallow or the deep, profound places internally.

If you have heard Jesus Christ’s voice on the waves of the sea, you can let your convictions and your consistency take care of themselves by concentrating on maintaining your intimate relationship to Him.

My thoughts:

Our God has designed His “holistic salvation” to begin in the hearts of His followers and spread outward in ripple effects from there. What an incredible privilege, blessing and responsibility that God has chosen to use our lives as vessels through which to bring His kingdom! As we cultivate our inner connection to Him, all else flows out of that relationship – embodiment of the Kingdom and the Reign of God! We are able to reflect His glory to the world around us when it is first of all manifested in us. This made me think of this passage – such ridiculous and foolish abandonment: All for Jesus!

Matthew 26:7-13 - Jesus Anointed at Bethany

6While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, 7a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. 8When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. 9“This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” 10Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 11The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. 12When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 13I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

Here, the disciples thought they had it right – they had watched and learned directly from Jesus day in and day out. His teachings on money and giving to the poor were ingrained into their heads. So, when this woman “wasted” something that was supposed to have a different use, they came to a very logical conclusion according to what they had seen in the life of Jesus. Except this was a direct offering of intimate worship to Jesus – an outpouring of extravagant love from the very core of that woman’s being. That is where their analytical understanding fell short and the woman's heart motives began...