January 2nd, 2023 – 7:43pm – Mom’s House, Sherman, Texas, USA:

When you truly choose to follow Jesus your world gets both incredibly small and incredibly large at the same time. Actually and probably more accurately your world turns upside down. What was before your primary goal, living in this world, becomes nothing… and living for eternity becomes all consuming.

Loving this world is incredibly easy…

hating this world is incredibly difficult…

Serving yourself is incredibly easy…

Serving God is incredibly difficult.

Today, I am pondering these passages of scripture:

““Therefore, the one who confesses and acknowledges Me before men [as Lord and Savior, affirming a state of oneness with Me], that one I will also confess and acknowledge before My Father who is in heaven. But the one who denies and rejects Me before men, that one I will also deny and reject before My Father who is in heaven. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword [of division between belief and unbelief]. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his [own] household [when one believes and another does not]. “ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me] is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], and whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake will find it [that is, life with Me for all eternity].” – Matthew 10:32-39 AMP

And it comes down to a matter of our taste, our literal tastes and preferences. The world tastes sweet and we love it because in the world we can do whatever we please, we rule our own small kingdom, the kingdom of ourselves. We sit on the throne of our heart and we worship ourselves. Mornings we rise and we do whatever we please… and the day continues. Sure the arguments are many as we try hard to convince others, and ourselves, that we are slaves to the world that we have created around ourselves. But the truth is, and we all know it well, is that we do have a CHOICE. Every single moment of every single day… we choose.

I think that’s why I listen to God and obey… I realize and have been shown how utterly hopeless I am without Him. If God doesn’t save me I am truly beyond saving. He has to do it and I have to choose to let Him do it His way. His way is painful… why? Because it means I have to do what He wants me to do.

I have to obey Him. I have to do it His way. It’s what all the Bible points to. Salvation comes by trusting Him to save us… and allowing Him to do it. We sing songs week after week about how we “Give Him all we have.” But we don’t.

Jesus obeyed the Father and it lead Him to the cross. A servant is not greater than His master. If the world hated Him it will hate me too. And if the world doesn’t hate me then I must conclude that I am not like Him. Right?

But what do these words matter? Right? Easily cast aside like all the rest… Do what you want. As for me and my house… I choose to serve the Lord.