Re-Thinking

Jesus said, “You diligently study the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:39). That verse plagued me for years. It made me feel like the bull’s-eye in an archery contest. I’ve fluently debated the pros and cons on everything from church supported eleemosynary institutions to hand clapping during worship ~ but I didn’t know Jesus.

During years of re-thinking what is and isn’t important, I’ve concluded that lifting up Jesus is all important. I’ve quit exalting papers, preachers, and opinions. Now I exalt the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I’ve tossed my old sermons in the trash. I no longer spend time underlining passages to prove points that prove little. Instead, I underline passages that help me praise God and win souls; “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken” (Psalm 62:5-6).

Some of us have spent too much time boasting about what we thought we knew. During that time, those who were lost got little from us. While we thought we were standing for the faith, our faith was standing in the way. Our faith was in what we knew, not in whom.

It’s great when we discover what’s truly worth knowing. “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord'” (I Corinthians 1:30-31).

What we have learned about many things is good, but there is only one great thing to know – “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:10-11).

God alone is my rock and my salvation!