Living Simply--Yet Focused

"Look at the birds of the air...Consider the lilies of the field..." (Matthew 6:26, 28)

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin"--they simply are! Think of the sea, the air, the sun, the stars, and the moon--all of these simply are as well--yet what a ministry and service they render on our behalf! So often we impair God's designed influence, which He desires to exhibit through us, because of our own conscious efforts to be consistent and useful. Jesus said there is only one way to develop and grow spiritually, and that is through focusing and concentrating on God. In essence, Jesus was saying, "Do not worry about being of use to others: simply believe on Me." In other words, pay attention to the Source, and out of you "will flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38). We cannot discover the source of our natural life through common sense and reasoning, and Jesus is teaching here that growth in our spiritual life comes not from focusing directly on it, but from concentration on our Father in heaven. Our heavenly Father knows our circumstances, and if we will stay focused on Him, instead of our circumstances, we will grow spiritually--just as the "lilies of the field."

The people who influence us the most are not those who detain us with their continual talk, but those who live their lives like the stars in the sky and the lilies of the field--simply and unaffectedly. These are the lives that mold and shape us.

If you want to be of use to God, maintain the proper relationship with Jesus Christ by staying focused on Him, and He will make use of you every minute you live--yet you will be unaware, on the conscious level of your life, that you are being used of Him.

Trust & Obey

In 1886, while leading the music for evangelist D. L. Moody during a series of meetings in Brockton, Massuchusetts, Daniel B. Towner was struck by a simple comment made by a young convert: "I am not quite sure--but I am going to trust, and I am going to obey." Towner jotted down the comment and mailed it to the Rev. J. H. Sammis, who developed the thought into the well-known hymn, "Trust and Obey."

The hymn beautifully reflects the perfect balance found in the believer's relationship with Christ. Notice the if/then pattern to the lyrics: If we do his will, then he abides with us... and showers us with untold blessings along the way. Our relationship is not without cost--we must trust and we must obey--but as we toil to do so, he repays us with true happiness in him. As you worship, remember to praise him whose blessings invariably exceed our efforts to trust and obey.

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word

what a glory He sheds on our way

While we do His good will He abides with us still

and with all who will trust and obey

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies

but His smile quickly drives it away

Not a doubt nor a fear, not a sigh nor a tear

Can abide while we trust and obey

Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share

but our toil He will richly repay

Not a grief nor a loss, not a frown nor a cross

but is blest if we trust and obey

But we never can prove the delights of His love

until all on the altar we lay

For the favor He shows and the joy He bestows

are for them who will trust and obey

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet

or we'll walk by His side in the way

What He says we will do, where He sends we will go

Never fear only trust and obey

Chorus:

Trust and obey for there's no other way

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey

(from the Praise and Worship Study Bible)

All Spiritual Blessings

"Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings."  (Ephesians 1:3)

All the goodness of the past, the present, and the future, Christ bestows upon his people. In the mysterious ages of the past the Lord Jesus was his Father's first elect, and in his election he gave us an interest, for we were chosen in him from before the foundation of the world. He had from all eternity the prerogatives of Sonship, as his Father's only-begotten and well-beloved Son, and he has, in the riches of his grace, by adoption and regeneration, elevated us to sonship also, so that to us he has given "power to become the sons of God." The eternal covenant, based upon suretiship and confirmed by oath, is ours, for our strong consolation and security.

In the everlasting settlements of predestinating wisdom and omnipotent decree, the eye of the Lord Jesus was ever fixed on us; and we may rest assured that in the whole roll of destiny there is not a line which militates against the interests of his redeemed. The great betrothal of the Prince of Glory is ours, for it is to us that he is affianced, as the sacred nuptials shall ere long declare to an assembled universe. The marvelous incarnation of the God of heaven, with all the amazing condescension and humiliation which attended it, is ours. The bloody sweat, the scourge, the cross, are ours ever. Whatever blissful consequences flow from perfect obedience, finished atonement, resurrection, ascension, or intercession, all are ours by his own gift.

Upon his breastplate he is now bearing our names; and in his authoritative pleadings at the throne he remembers our persons and pleads our cause. His dominion over principalities and powers, and his absolute majesty in heaven, he employs for the benefit of them who trust in him. His high estate is as much at our service as was his condition of abasement. He who gave himself for us in the depths of woe and death, doth not withdraw the grant now that he is enthroned in the highest heavens.

(a devotional by Charles Spurgeon)