The Greatest Competitor

Just listened to a David Choi sermon and he quoted Oswald Chambers as so,

"Beware of anything that competes with loyalty to Jesus Christ. The greatest competitor of devotion to Jesus is service for Him. It is easier to serve than to be drunk to the dregs. The one aim of the call of God is the satisfaction of God, not a call to do something for Him. We are not sent to battle for God, but to be used by God in His battlings. Are we being more devoted to service than to Jesus Christ?"

Oswald Chambers

What a great reminder. Is the Gospel enough? Is being loved and found in Christ enough? Or do we need to add our service to Jesus. Are we more devoted to the approval of the Christian community through our devotion/Godliness/leadership/_______, or devoted to Christ himself.

I can remember when the Gospel first took a hold of my life in high school. It was so simple. I was overwhelmed that I was loved of God. Jesus was enough. I didn't need anything else. It was enough to just sit at Jesus' feet and be received by him. It was enough to open His Word and to learn from Him. It was enough that I was loved by Him. It was crazy love. I was satisfied in the Gospel. I was overwhelmed. Have I forsaken my first love? Have I become more about theological acumen and being able to talk with Gospel-centered lingo and the approval of others based on my service?

John Writing to the church at Ephesus, "Yet I hold this against you; You have forsaken the love you had at first"-----Revelation 2:4

What did I do at first? I believed the Gospel. Period. I was satisfied in Christ. It was simple. It was Jesus + nothing. My eyes were fixed on Him alone; not on my spiritual resume. I hope and pray God will renew our hearts to set our eyes upon Jesus, to be fixed on Him. To look upon Him as the alpha and omega, the author and perfecter of our faith, and to be satisfied in this love. I pray that God would indeed fix our eyes on Christ, that we would be overwhelmed with this love that surpasses all understanding; that we would fall more madly in love with Jesus. That Jesus would revisit us with the grace we experienced when we first believed. The kind of love that leaves us sitting in awe, wonder and worship that JESUS LOVES ME, and that this simple truth is enough.