This week’s scripture reflection:
1 John 2:6
“Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.”
Luke 11:28 NLT
“Jesus replied, ‘But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”
Luke 11:28 AMPC
“But He said, Blessed (happy and to be envied) rather are those who hear the Word of God and obey and practice it!”
Luke 11:33-36
33 No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or crypt or under a bushel measure, but on a lampstand, that those who are coming in may see the light.
34 Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye (your conscience) is sound and fulfilling its office, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound and is not fulfilling its office, your body is full of darkness.
35 Be careful, therefore, that the light that is in you is not darkness.
36 If then your entire body is illuminated, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright [with light], as when a lamp with its bright rays gives you light.
Holy Habit: Less of Me
A clear reality has been forming in me as I have been reading these passages and studying them more deeply:
If we are content with the way we are living—if we have all the “things” we hoped for and worked hard for, if we are surrounded by the pleasures of the work of our hands, and if we have settled into a place of contentment within ourselves—we will not hunger and thirst for more of God and His righteousness.
I recently started reading the book Holiness, Truth, and the Presence of God by Francis Frangipane, one of my favorite authors. He has a way of writing that will truly mess you up in the best way.
I did not even make it to the first chapter before I became stuck on this statement from the introduction:
“If your goals are less than Christlikeness, the benefits of reading this book will be proportionally diminished. Indeed, no one who is content with himself will pass far into these pages. But for you who apply yourselves to these principles, I entrust you to the grace of God, who alone will empower you toward your goal of true holiness.”
“No one who is content with himself.”
That is the phrase that struck me.
Our world speaks with a unified voice, telling us that we need to find contentment within ourselves.
And how are we told to do that?
By going after all our wants and desires. By pursuing what pleases us, what makes us happy, and what does not cost us anything.
That is the message we continually hear.
But our reality as believers is this:
There is a fine line between being content with ourselves and hungering after the Lord. And if I am speaking honestly, I believe that is one of the reasons the church—especially the American church—is in the condition it is in today.
Matthew 16:24–26 says quite the opposite:
Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”
There is nothing in this portion of Scripture that says, “Go after all your wants and desires.”
Instead, Jesus asks what it will profit us if we gain the whole world and yet forfeit our souls.
That means we have to take a hard look at our own lives and all the “things” we have surrounded ourselves with and ask some challenging questions:
Is the life I am living keeping me from the deeper pursuit of living for Christ?
Are the “things” I am going after more important than going after Jesus?
Am I putting the Word of God into practice in my everyday life?
Am I truly hearing the Word of God and obeying its truth?
These are deep questions, but they have me thinking:
Could I sell my house and everything inside of it to go after—or go wherever—Jesus wanted me to go?
If there is even a tinge of “claim” over the things we are holding onto, it leads to the next question:
Is what we are holding onto more important than following Jesus?
What We Treasure, We Pursue
The reality, as I write this, is that by laying all these things aside and letting them go, I am actually gaining something far more treasured and beautiful than anything I could ever find by holding tightly to the comforts I hold dear.
The reason I say that is because when I picture a surrendered life—one where nothing holds greater value than Jesus—I see peace, serenity, fullness of joy, fulfillment, completeness in Christ, or maybe the better word is wholeness.
When we live the other way, I see a life full of cracks.
We keep trying to fill those cracks with all these things, but it continues to seep through because nothing in this world can bring us complete satisfaction.
The only One who can truly fill every crack and make us whole is Jesus.
And when we give Him permission to take over, just as Jesus spoke about the light in Luke 11, He fills every single crevice of our lives.
That is when the most beautiful exchange begins to take place.
So in a world that constantly begs for our attention and tells us to fill our lives with more things, more success, more striving, and more stuff—more, more, more—I see a life of becoming less.
A life of pursuing less of those things and pursuing more of Christ.
More of His presence.
More of His glory.
More of Him.
Less of me equates to more of Him, and I cannot think of a more beautiful place to be.
I highly recommend getting Frances Frangipane’s book - Holiness, Truth, and the Presence of God - click on the title to get your copy today. (This is a personal endorsement - not something I get paid for).