Daily Devotional
Word of the Day
A Cross and a Throne
Pastor Scott
Friday, March 11, 2005
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"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."
(Revelation 3:21)
"Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work" (John 4:34). Is that our meat? Is our life's source of strength and energy to do the work of He that sent us and to finish His work? Do we even know what His work is? Or does our agenda and our plan so dominate our thinking that we think that our will is God's will? How many of us would have left heaven to come to earth, would have left lordship to wash the feet of those who would forsake us, and to take into our undefiled, perfect, pure, sinless nature the sin of all humanity that they might partake of our righteousness and our life? Yet we call ourselves "Christians"--Christlike.
What's your cross? Truthfully most of you women would say your husbands. Most of the husbands don't have enough guts to say their wives. For the children, it's their parents. "The cross is anybody who gets between me and my will." Financial trials and trials at work are basically the "dis-ease" in your life. You are not comfortable that things aren't coming easy and you're not getting your own way. That's not a cross; that's life. Every one of us goes through that. The cross is purposeful destruction of ego and self. There is a cross and a throne in every one of our lives. Which one are you on?
Why don't you just get used to saying no to self? You don't have to go to some great extreme, but be aware of your tendencies and treasures--whatever is gain to you, whatever you boast in, whatever you delight in, whatever you pursue. How much does that dominate your life? Could you become more like Jesus through pressing toward the mark and becoming more temperate in these areas? "Temperate" just means "control." It's not talking about abstinence; you don't have to stop. Before you come to the place of, "If your eye offends you, pluck it out," why not just bring it under, devalue it, and see it for what it is? These are the eternal treasures and the new value system.
Father, we thank You for the Word of God and for Your life in us. Father, we ask that You would help us to work out our own salvation. We are so ready to crucify everybody around us, seeing all their faults and the things they need to change. Don't you worry about anybody else. This is all about you, not taking the cross and crucifying somebody else. There is not one person or one circumstance on this planet that can keep you from going to that cross. It is your choice to stay on the throne and leave Jesus on the cross.
"I want ease; let Him suffer. I deserve gain; He deserves what He got."
How do you see Jesus today, and how do you see yourself? Do you have good intentions: "Oh, I plan to. I'm doing a little bit better"? "Doing a little bit better" isn't getting it; you must die. It's not about self-effort but about self-awareness and the glory of God being the only acceptable motive. The method of God--the cross--is the only acceptable method. We ask the question, "What must I do to inherit eternal life"? But tragically, so many of us respond the same way the rich young ruler did, hanging our head as we walk away. Jesus stands before you today and gives you these words: "Come follow Me." The path is to Gethsemane and Golgotha, and the end is the throne of God, seated with Him in heavenly places. What is really important to you? Make it real, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.