The Heartbeat of Christ

"...They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentence." - Matthew 9:12-13

God has really been pressing upon me the fact that a true minister of God is a person that deeply cares for the souls of men. In fact, a true minister of God will care more for the souls of men, both lost and saved, more than anything else in this world. I have found that it is very easy to get distracted by many things in this life, especially within the Laodicean church age in which we live. As Laodiceans (I know these things because I am one of them along side of you!) we are concerned about "our rights" and "our freedoms"; we don't have time to be inconvenienced by other people's lives, problems, needs, and distresses. If we happen to help another in need it is often to promote and advance ourselves to a better "status" than what we had before. It is a shame that we allow our selfishness to drive desires to fulfill the needs of the lost and the strangers around us... this is not the heartbeat of Christ.

Jesus Christ "came to seek and save that which was lost (Luke 19:10)", He came not to fulfill His own will but to do "the will of the father" (John 5:30), and we must have the same desires if we are truly the children of the King. Jesus was not concerned about His life, His comforts, His needs, His rights, His wants, and His pleasures; He was concerned with one thing, and one thing only: to do the will of the Father - freely, willingly, and whole-heartedly give and spend His life for everyone else, so that they might be saved. This truth reminds me of something that a good friend of mine, Pastor Mike Blake, once said: God gave His only begotten Son so that the world might be saved, and He is still in the business of giving His sons and daughters for the world.

I have learned that we need to change... EVERYTHING. We need to recognize our Laodicean tendencies, and then repent from them. We need God to help change our hearts; we are not strong enough to do it on our own.

Powered by ScribeFire.