God's Order
By Mike Rule

One of the things God has laid heavily on my heart is to talk about God's order in the Christian life. So often as Christians we get things out of order and chase after the results of Christ's presence rather than Jesus Himself. As a result we are always settling for lesser things and not seeing the greatest realities He has for us.

Jesus is not only the source of our salvation, but He is also the source of life itself. We receive Christ as Savior and then believe we have to run out and work hard to be a good Christian. We believe that He saved us but the rest of life is up to us. Jesus clearly said "…whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 10:33&34) Denying Christ is not only denying that we know Him and are His but also denying that we are helplessly dependent upon Him for every detail of life! Peter denied Him three times and through that denial Peter came to see his own weakness and helplessness. He came to understand His desperate need for Jesus every moment!

As matter of illustration, suppose I owned the United States gold reserve at Fort Knox, Kentucky and I offered to take you there and give you a gift. If I were to give you three bars of gold, would you be happy? Deep inside we like the idea of having that much wealth even though we know that money really doesn't bring happiness, don't we? If you were to settle for that, you would be missing out on the greater blessing. If you were willing to wait and not settle for the immediate pleasure of wealth, I would be willing to give you all of Fort Knox! If you get all of Fort Knox, you get those three bars of gold, and so much more! We are settling for the nuggets of God while missing the gold mine!

In going for the greatest things, the lesser things happen naturally. Jesus has told us that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. How are you doing with that one? I know I love myself far more than I love Him. We can prove how much we love Him by simply looking at our love for the person we dislike the most. In as much as we love that person, we love Him, so let's stop fooling ourselves. (See Matthew 25:31-46) But let's not be discouraged by it either. This reveals to us how utterly dependent we are on Him for our love.

"Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." (Matthew 6:30-33)

If God is so concerned about the simple physical matters of our lives and is so willing to provide for those, how much more concerned about the spiritual matters must He be? "Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; (Proverbs 37:4-7)

Let's not settle for the lesser things, but go for the greater things. Let us walk in faith trusting Him and knowing as we are tapped into the source, all the results will flow naturally. Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!