Daily Devotional – I’m Normal.™ I AM Ministries
“To promote Godly living in a culture committed to destroying it”
Monday, May 9, 2016
Top Priority
What would you say is the top priority of a Christian? Is it evangelism? Missions? Bible Study? Family programming? Counseling? Feeding and clothing the hungry? Developing new programs? Take a minute to ponder this question before you answer. You may want to consult your Bible. My answer to this question came while reading Ephesians 1:3-14 which says our first priority to God is to worship Him. It is also the first priority of the Church.
Worship is the first priority for Christians and the Church because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, countless millions of the redeemed will fall on their faces before the throne of God. Missions will be no more, nor any other Earthly activity. These things are temporary necessities, but worship abides forever. Worship is also our first priority because this is the purpose for which God saved us. God’s love is the ground of redemption, but His glory is the goal of redemption.
As redeemed sinners, we should be absolutely rabid about praising the LORD. When you think about it, it is mind-blowing to consider all the trouble God went to just to get you saved. He has literally manipulated and directed the entire course of human history just to get you positioned to hear the Gospel, and to get the Gospel within listening distance of you.
If you are saved, you know you did not get saved by accident, chance, luck, or fate. You became saved because of divine providence and the predestined purposes of God. It was not an accident that you were born where you were born or raised where you were raised and placed in a position to meet the Christian who would introduce you to Christ in the right place and the right time to hear about Jesus Christ.
All of this is the providential activity of God. He has been guiding history ever since the fall of Adam to arrange a divine appointment for you. God has been hunting you down ever since the beginning of time so He could shower His love and grace on you. Think of the price God paid in order to give you a way whereby you can be saved, justified, and forgiven of your sin. He sent His own Son to the Cross. He paid the price for your redemption with the blood of His own Son. He had to send His Son into the world by way of virgin birth so His Son would not inherit the sin nature of Adam.
In order to be a Savior, His Son had to have the proper credentials, which are a perfect, sinless, spotless life. If He had inherited the sin nature of Adam, He could not have been a Savior, He would have needed a Savior. Think of the incredible sacrifice He paid on your behalf. God paid an exorbitant price for you to be saved and no longer condemned by your own sin.
Think of how simple and accessible God made salvation for you. All you had to do is to trust Him by faith. Consider the requirements God could have put in place for you to have any hope of being liberated from your own sin and given eternal life. He could have said, “Keep 100 percent of the law or don’t even talk to Me.” He could have said, “I’m going to put you through endless cycles of rebirth until you get it right and until you are purged of your impurities.” He could have said, “Forget you. You had your chance, and you blew it. You made your own bed, you sleep in it. If you love your sin so much and you want to go to Hell so badly, go ahead and go.” Think about it – He could have given up on every one of us!
Redeeming sinners is normal for God. God is continually taking anger, pride and selfishness out of your life if you are willing to serve and obey Him. We should all be breathless that He has not allowed us to follow our own ambitions and desires down the road of self-destruction (Matthew 7:13). Think about it. When you do, it will drive you on your hands and face before God to erupt with thanksgiving, praise and worship of Him (Romans 11:33-36). That is a normal reaction to recognizing the incredible gift He’s given us.
In His love and service,
Jeff Myers
A servant of Jesus Christ
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