SEARCHIGHT
Are you a believer out of habit or out of heartfelt devotion to Jesus Christ?
SCRIPTURE
I know what you have done; I know how hard you have worked and what you have endured. I know that you will not tolerate wicked men, that you have put to the test self-styled ‘apostles’, who are nothing of the sort, and have found them to be liars. I know your powers of endurance-how you have suffered for the sake of my name and have not grown weary. But I hold this against you, that you do not love as you did at first. Remember then how far you have fallen. Repent and live as you lived at first. Revelation 2:2-5 J.B. Phillips
SPOTLIGHT
The Peanuts comic strip features Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Sally Brown, Snoopy and many more... Charles Schultz was the creator and writer of “Peanuts” for over 50 years. Often, he would weave a Biblical truth into this weekly newspaper feature. In one Peanuts comic strip, Sally struggled with remembering her Sunday School memory verse. As she desperately tried to figure it out, she recalled, “Maybe it was something from the book of Reevaluation.” Sally was not successful in remembering the verse from the last book of the Bible which is Revelation. However, she taught all the Peanuts fans a great lesson. When reading the Bible, always keeping in mind the importance of reevaluating your priorities, attitudes, and actions. Make sure what you think, say, and do line up with the truth God’s Word teaches.
Today’s Scripture focus is from the book of Revelation. God sent an angel to John to reveal specific things about Jesus Christ and future events. Specifically, today’s devotional verse calls believers to a time of reevaluation. The Angel of the Lord addressed the Christian Ephesians who, at first, had a deep love and devotion for Jesus Christ. These believers had served and ministered to people in their city with compassion and zeal. However, something was changing. Now they did not love Jesus as they had in the beginning when they became Christians. This was reason for grave concern. The Ephesian believers’ hands were doing Christian work, but their hearts were growing cold. They were serving Jesus out of habit rather than a heartfelt devotion. At first, their loving devotion for Jesus was apparent but now it was not evident.
Are you a Christian out of habit or heartfelt devotion? There is a difference. If you are a Christian out of habit, then you are practicing your faith. You are following certain routines. There are disciplines you live by. Sometimes you need to be motivated but most times you practice these habits because they make you feel good. What you are doing is good, but it lacks a grateful love for who Jesus is and what He has done for you. The Bible says, “If I speak with the eloquence of men and of angels, but have no love, I become no more than blaring brass or crashing cymbal. If I have the gift of foretelling the future and hold in my mind not only all human knowledge but the very secrets of God, and if I also have that absolute faith which can move mountains, but have no love, I am out to nothing at all. If I dispose of all that I possess, yes, even if I give my own body to be burned, but have no love, I achieve precisely nothing.” [1 Corinthians 13:1-3 JB Phillips] It is time for reevaluation.
If you are a Christian because of heartfelt devotion, then you have chosen a lifestyle. You have decided not just to believe in but to follow Jesus Christ. This is your chosen way of life. You live to honor Jesus because you love Jesus. Jesus Christ has changed your way of living. No longer are you the same person. He is your Savior who sacrificed His life so you could experience forgiveness of sin. Never have you regretted choosing the Christian lifestyle. Jesus not only shed His blood for your sin but has given you a purpose and peace here on earth. What you have discovered is the unbelievable privilege to have a personal relationship with the living God. When you decided to become a Christian, you did not choose habits to practice but a lifestyle which is empowered by Jesus Christ. God’s love and grace have changed who you are and what you stand for. There is no going back.
Love for God precedes living for God. Living for God is a result of loving God. Jesus said this when He gave the Great Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” [Mark 12:30 NIV] Note the order. Heart love is first before mind and strength love. Knowing God begins in the heart and spreads out to the hands.
SOMETHING TO DO
Developing Godly habits is very good but developing Godly habits motivated by a heartfelt devotion is far better. Here are 10 questions you need to ask yourself to see if you are a Christian out of habit or because of heartfelt devotion to Jesus Christ? Reevaluate:
- Are you a Christian because of your love for Jesus or because people expect you to be?
- Are you going through the motions of attending church, reading your Bible and praying?
- Has your personal relationship with Jesus become religion?
- Do you read your Bible out of duty or with anticipation?
- When you pray, do you watch the clock so you can say you did your time?
- Has your compassion and zeal to see people become followers dwindled?
- Do you reluctantly give of your finances to God’s work?
- Are you bored in church?
- Are you daily expressing gratitude to God for His blessings?
- Do you find yourself doing good works because it is expected of you?
Your love for Jesus Christ motivates you. The Bible says, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” [2 Corinthians 5:14,15 NIV]
SOUL TIME PRAYER
I love You, Lord Jesus Christ, and I lift my voice and hands to worship You. I exalt You. AMEN