Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
I grew up quite a ways from town so I didn’t have access to city parks very often, but when I did there were a couple playground items that I always enjoyed goofing around on. At one of the parks I frequented, they had a huge swing with a 12-ft rope so you could get really high up in the air. At another, I would sit on a merry-go-round, and my friends would spin me so hard that it felt like I was going to get sick! But I also enjoyed getting on the teeter totter, (or seesaw as some people call it), something that has been around since ancient Greece. Years ago, children would take a plank and put it on a rock or a log in order to bounce up and down with each other. This was a fun little creation, other than the fact that you had to have somebody approximately the same weight on the other side to have any fun at all.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
On a teeter totter, one person can outweigh the other, causing it to tilt to one side, but love can do the exact same thing. Love is an extremely strong emotion, and just like the greater weight on a teeter totter, it can pull you in a certain direction. Our love for Jesus must outweigh everything else in this world, whether it’s earthly possessions, earthly desires, or earthly relationships. If you were to place the things of Christ on one side, and combine everything else on the other, our love for Jesus must outweigh them all!
Matthew 22:36-38 (KJB) Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
I’ve always taught my children that the commandments are in an order for a reason, and the best thing that anybody can do when they begin the Christian Life, is to start focusing on the first one. We can start to show God how much we love Him by spending time talking to Him, worshiping Him, and obeying Him. Like any type of close relationship, it will require your time, which is a precious commodity that many people just don’t want to give up during their day. Think about how many parents spend an entire week preparing for a family reunion, getting all of the food prepared in expectation to be able to visit with their children. But then they never bother to show up. They decided to work overtime, or go fishing with their buddies up in Canada instead. How does that make a parent feel? Well, how do you think it makes the Lord Jesus feel when people do the same thing to Him every single day? He explains in a parable how love for him must be greater than anything else in this world.
Luke 14:16-26 (KJB) Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.
And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
It’s amazing how many people in this world claim to be a follower or even a disciple of Jesus but the truth is their hearts are placed on other things instead. They fervently chase after the things of this world, and if they were honest with themselves they would know that this was true. This is why the Apostle John warned not to love this world.
1 John 2:15-17 (KJB) Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Colossians 3:1-2 (KJB) If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Obviously, the New Testament teaches us that we are supposed to love one another, including a wife, your children, and even your neighbor. But that love is a flicker in comparison to the love that we must possess for our Lord Jesus Christ.
Matthew 10:37 (KJB) He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Who you spend a lot of your time with says a lot about you. It also determines where your true loyalties lie. But whenever your love is stronger for others rather than the Lord Jesus and the teachings of scripture, you become unworthy of eternal life. Our love for God must outweigh everything else in this world, something to think about the next time that you sit down, on…….
…….The Teeter Totter
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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