Based on “JSCs” by Pastor Mark Balmer; 8/27-28/11,
Message #6074; Daily Devotional #3 - “High Price Investment”
Preparing the Soil (Introduction): As a Christ follower, are you being a good steward with your time, money and talents? Are you tithing, attending church regularly and serving? Maybe you lack in some areas, but you make up for it in others? Maybe you feel you just aren’t doing enough for God. But, how much is enough? We can never do enough to make God love us more than He already does right now. He loves us because He created us for an intimate love relationship with Him above all else. We are called to invest our time, resources and talents wisely, but above all, He wants our heart, mind and soul. Your best performance is never good enough to live up to all the requirements in His Word; He gave us the law to make us realize how much we fall short. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:23-24) We can never repay the high price that He paid for our lives by sending his Son as a sacrifice so that we might have freedom. When we feel like we aren’t living up to God’s expectations, we know we can rely on His grace, not our performance.
Planting and Watering the Seed (Growth): After Jesus was resurrected, He returned to the right hand of God and sent the Holy Spirit to reside in us and direct us. When we encounter the Holy Spirit working in our lives, we are experiencing God. Is that difficult for you to grasp? It is a little difficult for me to grasp for the very reason that I don’t feel worthy to house God’s Holy Spirit. When I think about how I have acted in the past, or even just this past week, I feel so ashamed. Satan continues to throw the past up in my face to immobilize me by regret over failures and fear of trying again. We squelch the power of the Holy Spirit with fear of our past mistakes surfacing, and we don’t respond to God’s direction for today. “The thief comes only to kill, steal and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” (John 10:10) The truth that Satan wants to cloud from us is that faith in Jesus is all we need in order to be used by God. Jesus is the only perfect person who ever lived up to God’s holy standard. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood (Hebrews 12:4). We all have a past, but God no longer sees our past, He only sees His pure and righteous Son’s blood covering us. There doesn’t need to be any “Yes, but…” You are worthy as a child of God when you accept the free gift of life that Jesus died to give you. Take hold of this Truth because Jesus bought your freedom with a high price.
Harvesting the Crop (Action/Response): We are to show others the same freedom we experience by sharing the grace of God’s love. Sometimes we can become prideful if we feel we are doing more for God than for other people. God has called each of us to serve one another in love. None of us can earn any more of God’s love by performing more or better than someone else. He loves us all equally, whatever our maturity level. Our best performance isn’t good enough! No, He wants our heart, mind and soul (Matthew 22:37). Why is this the ‘greatest commandment’ on which all the other laws hang? Because it requires that we give over control of every part of our lives to Him. Try loving Him with your heart, mind and soul and see if you don’t find you can’t get enough of God. Then you will cheerfully desire to show others the same love investment He made in you.
Cultivating (Additional Reading): Romans 8:1-17; Galatians 5:13
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Calvary Chapel of Melbourne; 2955 Minton Road; W. Melbourne, FL 32904; 321-952-9673
All Bible references are from the New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise noted.