"Then Peter began to say unto Him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed Thee..."
Mark 10:28
Jesus replies, "Truly I tell you, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for My sake and for the gospel will fail to receive a hundredfold in the present age....and in the age to come, eternal life." Oswald Chambers says the test of abandonment to Jesus is "always over the neck of natural devotion" as Jesus explained to Peter. This, and other passages where followers of Jesus were not allowed to go home and at least say goodbye, always bothered me. As a mother I feel I am entitled to a goodbye so that I won't worry about what happened to my son. But I realize now that if I were totally abandoned to God I would not worry. And if my son is totally abandoned to God for the right reason he wouldn't worry about me worrying about him. We would both know that God is working all things for good without having to know what that might be.
Chambers defines abandonment in a clearcut way when he says, "That we gain heaven, that we are delivered from sin, that we are made useful to God--these things never enter as considerations into real abandonment, which is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ Himself." He says that if we abandon ourselves to God so that we can get something for ourselves, it is not the kind of abandonment God is seeking from us.
Like in the path above (taken in an Arizona desert) following Jesus often puts us on a hot, dusty, steep path that we can't see where it is leading. But you can be sure once we reach the pinnacle, the view will be amazing!
Father, it's not about "putting Christ first" but rather realizing that Christ is my life! If I were to look at every thing that matters to me in my life and substitute the name of Christ for that thing, I would only then begin to experience the truth of what it means that You are my life.
Link to Scripture: Galatians 2:20
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But I realize now that if I were totally abandoned to God I would not worry. And if my son is totally abandoned to God for the right reason he wouldn't worry about me worrying about him. We would both know that God is working all things for good without having to know what that might be. Yes when we surrender ALL and do not keep our EGO involved at all, and realize there is but ONE EGO and that is the CHRIST..... we know we are safe under his wings..and we have no control at all in the first place... we do not need it for God has our unfoldment already done!!!! We need only Proverbs 3;5,6 TRUST IN TEH LORD WITH ALL THINE HEART, LEAN NOT ON THINE OWN UNDERSTANDING< and HE WILL DIRECT THY PATHS> quite a blow to us who have aleays thought we were in tontorl... truth is we need do nothing but acknowledge God..his omniscience in all areas of our lives and then let it go to Him... giving all to GOD.. surely takes the burden off of us.. when we glimpse these Spiritual Truths.. and inch forward
ReplyDeleteWell said, Merri. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not on thine own understanding.
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