Don’t Lose Heart

 

The Weekly WalkAnd this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

– John 17:3

 

Ever since the Lord called me into ministry I’ve had a passion to serve Him. It’s been the biggest thing for me. I remember when I was 19 years old and all I wanted to do was to serve God and make a difference in this world and spend myself lifting high the name of Christ. When I was in college training for ministry I met some pastors in their 40s and 50s, and I thought to myself, “They are so lame. They’re not fired up about ministry at all. They should be passionate about Christ but instead they’re just indifferent. They’ve lost the spark somewhere.” Eventually I got to know some of these men well enough to ask them about it. They were like, “You’ll see. You’ll learn. You get a few laps on your car, and you’ll understand.” And you know what? They were right.

Loving Christ passionately and living for Him with your whole heart for a lifetime is not easy. But I know how to do it. Any time you feel the least bit discouraged and tempted to go AWOL, here’s the secret: Get your eyes back on Christ. He is everything He has always been and more. Rejoice in Him. Revel in Him. Delight in Him. When we lose this piece, we lose heart. When we’re not reveling in Christ and not drawing our hearts near to Jesus, we lose our focus. He’s so wonderful. Don’t you love Him?

All our endeavors, whatever they may be, are in vain unless Jesus is the center. And that includes more than knowing His name; it’s knowing His mercy, His grace, and His power. It’s more than hearing His Word; it’s experiencing Him as your peace and your strength; it’s experiencing Him as your great physician and your shepherd; it’s knowing Him as your Savior and your God. When we’ve lost our heart for the Christian life, it’s because we have ceased to revel in Jesus, whom to know is life eternal; we’ve ceased to glory in who He is and delight in His majesty and power. Without that, this whole deal gets stale really fast.

What I am spending my life for is challenging fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ to love Him more every time we get together and spend ourselves more completely for Him. He is worthy of all and more of what we could give Him. God forgive us for our halfhearted ways, and cause us to know afresh the glory and the joy and the peace that is found when we revel in Jesus Christ our Lord.

© 2008 Walk in the Word.

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