Mission Urgency

Saturday, November 23, 2024

Good morning, Lord

Father in Heaven, I seek You first-Your peace-Your knowledge and discernment. Build my trust. I take up my cross and follow...In Jesus' name...

Verse of the Day: Psalm 100:4-5

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! 5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Memory verse: Psalm 42:2(New American Bible )

"My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When can I enter and see the face of God?"

Today's reading:  Ezekiel 22-23 1 Peter 1

Mission Urgency

Philippians 2:4 (ESV)

4 "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."

When remembering a loved one who had passed, one of the grandchildren said to me, "In a room full of people, he made me feel like I was the only one there".

Another non-family member said, "I was proud for him to call me friend".

Jesus said, "I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."(John 15:15)

Philippians 2:4 tells me some things I want us to consider:

1. 'Looking not only to our own interests' tells me that we should identify what is most important to us based on Holy scripture. Why? The most important thing to Jesus should be the most important to us.

Our human nature always leads us to be involved in meeting our own wants and desires and this, of course, leads us eventually into sin. The way we think has to be changed by the Holy Spirit but will not be without much effort.

The most important thing to Jesus was His mission.

John 6:38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me."

Our focus, over time spent with our Father and in His word and seeking Him, will change by the power of the Spirit-if we continue in determination.

Our interests, then, become the will of 'the one who sent Jesus'. Let God define your 'own interests'.

2. Jesus loved, without conditions, everyone He touched-everyone He spoke to. We must look, as Jesus did, at the interests or needs of others.

The needs of others also centers around the will of God, whether they know it or not. Jesus knew and knows that people will never know real joy without knowing the peace of His father in Him-that all must know Him as Lord or be lost. He lived in Holy Spirit-tempered urgency for the lost.

Can we know Jesus well enough to let His interests become our own so we can make the next person we greet the most important in the room-the urgency of the Gospel demands it.

Let Jesus teach you how to take care of yourself as you reach out as He did.

...because He loves us...

Father in Heaven,

Your name is most High God. Your kingdom is glorious. I need Your bread to be like Jesus. Forgive me for ignoring my job. Lead me away from self-indulgence.

Great God of ultimate salvation,

In the name of Christ Jesus,

Amen