I realized as I looked at what Jesus endured on the cross, and what happened to the early Christians this is a serious thing. When I saw that Christians were dying in the Middle East I realized this is a serious thing. People don't just lay down their lives for nothing, people don't endure persecution for nothing, these people took their faith seriously and it shook me to my core to realize it. These things woke me up and made me check my walk to find that I was lukewarm, that I was a superficial Christian only giving Him lip service and an appearance in church once a week, but barely letting Him touch my heart, barely spending anytime with Him or in His word. But once that wake up call came, I got serious. I got into the word and started to seek Him praying most of the day, everyday because suddenly I knew in my heart that God wanted us to take Him seriously, that God wants to be more than our after thought, God wants to be our consuming thought!
I can make that last statement with total confidence because it is a reoccurring theme in the Bible, Exodus 20:1-4 first establishes this being a major part of the ten commandments, and it is repeated again throughout the Bible. There is to be no God before Yahweh, He is to be first in our lives, and that means we have to invest in a relationship with Him as we would with any other important person in our lives, but more so than even that, Matthew 10:37-39 says "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Jesus isn't saying not to love these people, love is who He is, He wants us to love everyone as He has loved us(John 13:34 & John 15:12) but what was said there was meant to drive home the point that we are to love Him deeper than anyone else. Jesus wants us to take Him seriously, He wants us to take Him so seriously that we would be willing to give up everything for Him (Matthew 16:24-26).
When I looked at myself and found that I wasn't as committed to Him as I had led myself to believe I made some changes realizing that the only way to get closer to Him was to diligently seek Him. No one that is admired in the Bible got there by being lukewarm, Abraham, Noah, Deborah, David, Samuel, John, Peter, Mary, Matthew, Paul, and so on, were all 'sold out' for Jesus, for the Lord. They were committed to doing the will of the Lord no matter the price they paid on earth for it. This is the commitment the Lord wants, He wants hearts that are on fire for Him, hearts devoted to Him above all else, hearts that are willing to forsake everything for their commitment to Him. God wants serious hearts, He wants us to take His sacrifice, and His love seriously, He wants us to take His laws seriously! Folks, how serious are you? Be blessed.
Proverbs 3:6
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Matthew 19:16-30
16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “ ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.' ”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
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