The Ultimate Thing

“It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you - for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God - lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from the face of the earth.” - Deuteronomy 6:13-15

What is your ultimate thing? Your ultimate thing can take many forms and can be know by many names. It is your source of joy, it is what you live your life striving to please or achieve. It in essence controls you and the scary part is sometimes you don’t even realize it does.

Sorrow and despair are similar but there is a big difference between them and that is hope. Hopelessness is deeply saddening. Have you ever seen hopeless people? There is no joy, there is no life in them. There whole world is crushed and they have no were to turn or to look. This is what life is like without Jesus Christ. Apart from Christ you will ultimately enter a state of hopelessness after trying to find the ultimate thing outside of Jesus. You will eventually reach a point of despair.

You see, when you lose what you have placed as the ultimate thing in your life which is the source of your meaning or hope there is no where to turn. What you have put your faith in (if it is outside of Jesus) will always eventually let you down and leave you hopeless. Are you building your entire life on an incomplete joy of this world? You have a choice, stop! Put your hope in Jesus Christ, make Him your ultimate source of meaning and hope. You will still have sorrow but you have the Holy Spirit of God to console you and there will always be hope in Christ Jesus.

“And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” - Exodus 20:1-4

Further Reading: Deuteronomy 6 & Exodus 20

Believing Lies

He(The Devil) was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. - John 8:44b

Were you the gullible little kid? Maybe you are that person that falls for every sales gimmick. If we all take an honest look at our lives we will find at some points in our everyday life we believe lies. The world and the prince of this world are experts at feeding us lies and we so often believe them as truth. Right now I want you to think about how you feel about yourself. What are you believing? Are you living defeated? depressed? constantly in despair? Are you believing lies or the truth of the Bible? Are you believing human words or God's Words?

When we are living defeated 9 times out of 10 we are believing lies.

So the question you may be asking is "how do I stop believing lies?" Well I don't claim to have all the answers but the key is knowing and believing the Word of God. Here are some suggestions or steps that can help.

• Identify the lies you are believing
• Find Scripture verses that deal with those lies
• Know your identity in Christ (visit www.ficm.org/whoiam.htm)
• Become a prayer warrior

I want to encourage you to check out the Off The Wall website (www.offthewallministry.com). We are having a retreat in February with the theme "Labels." The reason for the theme is this very idea of believing lies and then in turn labeling ourselves. These labels then in turn tend to run our lives. I hope you can make it out, we pray that it would be a powerful two days where God will reveal the lies you are believing and replace them with the truth of Scripture. I want to encourage you today to check out the Freedom in Christ Ministry link above and take some time to see what your Biblical identity is "In Christ."

Titles

Do you like titles? I like titles. Titles always try to encapsulate a movie, person, book, etc. in a few short words. Do you have a title? What would be the few short words that encapsulates who you are? I think you can find out a lot about someone by there title. I also think titles help us remember our purpose and who we are. I have thought about this awhile and for me personally, I like the title "Torchbearer of Jesus Christ." I want to always be a light for Jesus everywhere I go.

So hopefully you are thinking about what your title may be or what you want it to be. I think this leads to deeper questions or more important questions to wrestle with like, "what is your legacy?" or "What do people associate with your name?" You see, everywhere we go, whether we like it or not, every person that knows your name associates character with it. Think for second about a few people you may know. When you think of their name you can probably instantly identify with their character. You can think about what you like about them or not like. In your head you can say they are nice, mean, rude, polite, caring, selfish, and the list could go on and on. I think this is important to realize because we have an opportunity as Christians to be light to a dark world each and everyday and our title is very important. If I want my title (Legacy) to be a torchbearer of Jesus Christ I need to make sure I am living up to that.

I love the story in Acts 17 where Paul and Silas are out preaching the gospel and doing amazing things for the kingdom of God. When they came to Thessalonica Paul preached for three Sabbath days about Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. The Jews became jealous and were trying to have Paul and Silas killed. It is very interesting though that in verse 6 in the English Standard Version they referred to Paul and Silas as "men who have turned the world upside down." How awesome is that, to be know as the people who turned the world upside down for Jesus Christ. I think many times in life we forget our purpose, we constantly try to find purpose in drugs, alcohol, jobs, money, careers, relationships, etc. and we live defeated lives. I know the days that I wake up and remember I am a child of God whom he has set apart to be a "torchbearer for Jesus Christ" I find it easier to walk in the fullness of my purpose.

I pray that you would take time today and reflect, spend some quality and quantity time with God and in His word. When we make God a priority with our lives he becomes a priority in our lives and we can't wait to spend time with him.