Marshall Mabry - Undignified Worshiper of Jesus Christ

In Matthew 5, Jesus said (43) “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ (44) But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (45) that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” This is a hard truth to live out in the world. Our first inclination is to hate those who hate us — or at least ignore them. But to love someone who slaps me in the face!

Our current technology is making us more independent. This impacts our culture by causing us to move towards isolation. We want our own opinions, make our own decisions, follow our own paths, and have our own rules. Anyone not conforming to those boundaries is an alien or an enemy.

Jesus didn’t conform to the cultural evolution of His time. He lived in this world, but He was not part of it. So, we crucified Him. He was a alien and we saw Him as our enemy. So, we we nailed Him to a cross. Yet, despite all His suffering — He still loved us. He didn’t strike back at us or ignore us. He prayed for our forgiveness while we delighted in His shame and crucifixion. He showed us the way to eternal life while we stole His worldly possessions and mocked His words. Praise the Lord! Two thousand years later, He still loves us. Hallelujah!

That’s the kind of love that makes us God’s children.

My heart sometimes hurts for King David. He loved his son Absalom. I am sure he took a lot of pride in his beautiful son. I am convinced that had Absalom remained faithful to his father, David would have turned the Kingdom of Israel over to him. But, God’s ways are not our ways. We oftentimes overlook justice with mercy. Our clouded definition of mercy obscures the wisdom God grants us and we make many decisions that we later regret.

Pride has no place for a Christian. As soon as we say “Lord Jesus, Take my life and use it for your glory.” We give up the rights to ourselves. Everything we do should be done by His permission. It is a self-sacrifice many are unwilling to make. As soon as we find ourselves condemning someone or something no matter how much our wisdom, logic, and reason would say that it is right. We must only consider doing the right thing. Pride has a way of deceiving us into elevating ourselves above others. We are called to be servants – not masters. If our God can step out of Heaven’s glory and lay down His awesome power to become our servant, can we do no less for those he puts around us?

God’s divine mercy is infallible. He knew we could not make it to heaven on our own. He knew we could never be His friend if we continued under our own devices. Our personal worldly missions to gain more, to be better, to achieve recognition, to compete at the highest level, like King David’s son Absalom, will be our undoing. Our pride will hang us from a tree where there is no escape and our enemies will overtake and kill us.

(taken from a earlier devotion November 2006)

Psalm 96 (NIV)
1 Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

Have you ever sang out loud with friends or family? Around a camp fire? While listening to the radio in a car? At a dance, a party, or a sleepover? How did it make you feel? Embarrassed or elated? Sad or joyful? Was it fun or burdensome?

Singing together, unifies us and brings us a sense of family and fellowship unlike any other activity. Every heart gets to join together in rhythm and melody to participate in something bigger than ourselves. Singing together helps our wandering spirits focus on kinship and connect with purpose.

O Holy Father!
Who am I! That You would know me from the 8 billion people with Your breath in their lungs.
Who am I! That You would delight in me over the majesty of heaven and all of Your creation.
Who am I! That I would deserve Your thoughts and attentions as numerous as the grains of sand of the sea.
Who am I! That You would faithfully and freely provide everything good and perfect in this world to sustain and satisfy me.
Who am I! That You would send Your Son to die for me and all my inequity.

I am a betrayer, a liar, a thief, an adulterer, a murderer, a gossip, an idol worshiper, a fornicator, a coveter, a prostitute, a worthless sinner saved by Your grace through faith that Your Son, Jesus Christ died on the Cross at Calvary for the sins of the world – for all sin – now and forever.

In what can I boast? All that I am is Yours. All that I have is Yours. My days are gifts of Your mercy. My sustenance is provision from Your love and grace. All that I know that is good flows from Your endless bounty.

From this moment till my last; May my words honor You, May my thoughts please You, May my actions reflect You, and may I “always and only” boast in Your finished work at the Cross of our salvation.

Amen!

Brandon Heath’s song “Give Me Your Eyes” won the 2009 Gospel Dove Award for “Song
of the Year.” It is a good song with a great message. I agree with our need to really see sin, suffering, evil, death, envy, contention, pain, guilt, hunger, immorality, etc., from God’s perspective so that it stirs us in to action. But like so many of our prayers, can we really take it?

Originally, we were never created to view or experience sin or its tapestry. Sin cost us our right standing with god, Eden and eternal life. Each of us is given a measure of faith – our portion from our Heavenly Father. Like Brandon’s desire in the song, we need to long for God to increase our understanding of Him, to know Him more, then we will be better equip to love others and understand their real needs.

We must never put God “in a box.” To try to use our limited gift of words to communicate a
definition of His awesomeness is utterly impossible. To assume that we could even for an instant withstand the perfection of His vision touches upon an oxymoron. We sing about God as “indescribable” let’s believe it. Rich Mullin’s said it best “When He rolls up His sleeves He ain’t just putting on the Ritz!” Moses had to be protected by God as God passed him in the cleft of the rock. God said “If you look upon my face you will surely die.” We serve an awesome God!

Does any Christian really believe they will have anything to say when we stand in His presence
for judgment? Only the ones who claim their works within their ministries – the one’s who forgot about their adoption through His amazing grace and their blood covering in Christ’s righteousness.

Remember the prostitute who washed Jesus’ feet at the banquet with the Pharisees. She humbled
herself before her accusers to seek forgiveness and love from the Son of God. She never said a word. But I believe her heart was crying out for mercy and acceptance in repentance. What did Jesus say to her?

“Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The other guests began to say among
themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7:48-50)

We need to be careful to examine our hearts in our prayer life and in the songs we sing in agreement with the fellowship of saints. Do you surrender all? At what cost will it take to walk closer to Jesus? They are heartfelt outcries from a true worshipper’s heart — but they come at a cost, lost of worldly comfort, sacrifice of self for others, self esteemed ambitions dissolved for God’s glory.

Taken from previous devotional, October 2009

Suffering is a natural phenomenon for a Christian in this world. We live in a world that is not meant to be our home. A world that destroyed “perfect love” 2000 years ago. Yet, Jesus said to take heart and have courage for He had conquered the world. As we work out our salvation ”in fear and trembling,” Christ promised that He would finish the work He started in us. Christ receives His greatest glory when our faith is demonstrated through suffering.