A Personal Preference For Jesus Christ
Peter [said], “We have left everything to follow you!”.
Mark 10:28
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Bargaining with God is a favorite pastime for many of us: “Lord, I’ll follow you if …” “God, I’ll put you first when …”
In Mark 10, Peter reminded Jesus of the personal sacrifice involved in being Jesus’ disciple: “We have left everything.”
Implied is Peter’s unspoken concern: “What will we get in return?”
Commitment with strings attached is not new. But as Oswald Chambers points out, it’s really not commitment at all.
WALK WITH OSWALD CHAMBERS
“We have become so commercialized that we only go to God for something from him, and not for himself.
“If we only give up something to God because we want more back, there is nothing of the Holy Spirit in our abandonment. It is miserable commercial self-interest.
“That we gain heaven, that we are delivered from sin, that we are made useful to God—these things never enter as considerations into real abandonment, which is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ himself.
“Beware of stopping short of abandonment to God, for most of us know abandonment in word only.”
WALK CLOSER TO GOD
Unconditional surrender allows no exceptions. You cannot be totally available to God if… You cannot surrender to God’s will when… You cannot leave all and follow, provided… It just doesn’t work that way.
There are many ways to express your level of commitment to Jesus Christ:
“I’m not willing to put you first.”
“I’ll put you first if …”
“I’ll put you first, regardless.”
On this commitment scale, where would you place the apostle Peter in Mark 10? Where would you place yourself?
