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Recap of 12/27/09:
1. We can be devoted to service and causes in Jesus’ name but are we, in the words of Oswald Chambers, “personally, passionately devoted to Jesus Christ?” In Luke 7:36-50 we encounter a “sinful” woman who was just that, devoted to Jesus.
2. In Revelation 2 a charge is lodged against the church at Ephesus, though they were doctrinally sound and personally pure they had left their first love. Dr. John F. Walvoord writes in the Bible Knowledge Commentary: “Most of the Ephesians Christians were now second-generation believers, and though they had retained purity of doctrine and life and had maintained a high level of service, they were lacking in deep devotion to Christ. How the church today needs to heed this same warning, that orthodoxy and service are not enough. Christ wants believers’ hearts as well as their hands and heads.”
3. Great love for Jesus and others begins with a sense of our own sinfulness. Our goal must be to make others passionate lovers of Christ, not just those who tip their hats to Him. It was said of A. W. Tozer that he was always looking for those who would join the “fellowship of the burning heart.”
4. How we should love for Jesus: by treating Him, not as One to be manipulated to our purpose, but as One to adore; by sitting at His feet and listening to Him; by loving those He loved; and by being devoted first to Him, not to causes or service.
