At the end of a long week, I sat down to spend some time with the Lord and as I began to read, I was floored by this devotion.
“Stubbornness and self-will will always stab Jesus Christ. It may hurt no one else, but it wounds His Spirit.”
Those who know me, know that stubbornness and self-will are VERY apt words for describing my personality and I find myself VERY convicted this morning about how much I’ve indulged those attitudes and allowed them to betray Christ Spirit and love in me. They have affected every relationship around me and even I repent for the pain they’ve caused even to my Savior’s heart; I must also repent for the good they’ve driven me to…..
You see, Chambers IS right. If my righteous acts are motivated by a “self-willed determination to be godly” then they mean NOTHING! I think that’s what Paul truly means in 1 Corinthians 13, when he says:
“If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not LOVE, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not LOVE, I gain nothing.”
If what we do in our lives towards others and towards Jesus doesn’t come from a love-based oneness with Him, then it falls woefully short. It doesn’t matter how much we achieve or how much recognition we may garner, it means nothing if it doesn’t come from a loving personal relationship with our Savior. That’s a hard truth for a driven, strong-willed, overly ambitious Worship Pastor….
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