HIGHEST LOVE? - Louis Gervais
HIGHEST LOVE?
Hello and greetings in the Name of Him Who did not Come to Bring Peace, Jesus Christ! “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” –Jesus Christ, Matthew 10:34 . “Peace on earth”? Not the purpose of Christ’s first coming. What was one of His stated goals? “For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.” –Matthew 10:35-36 . Not all will follow Christ to the degree that God demands of you. You are then faced with a choice: “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” –Matthew 10:37 . Are we to love them? Yes. But is Christ still your highest love? Our highest love is to be Jesus Christ, otherwise we are not worthy of Jesus Christ, according to Jesus Christ. John 7:43 ASV notes, “So there arose a division in the multitude because of Him.” And similarly down through the ages—yes—even to this day, people are divided on the subject of Christ Jesus.
Parents and children, relatives, married couples; many are divided not only on whether they need His salvation or not, but also on whether they are willing to fully and finally surrender every aspect of lives and possessions to Him—or not. We are told to fear God (1 Peter 2:17) and commanded not to fear men (Matthew 10:28). One of the saddest portions of Scripture to me is the following, if you stop to consider the tragic injustice of it: “Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” –John 12:42-43 KJV. Christ hung on a cross for us! How can we ever exchange the truth of God for a lie? Matthew 10:38 : “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” Did you catch that? “Not worthy of Me.” Why can Christ say that His followers must take up their cross for Him? Because He took up His cross for us! Brutal? Yes. Painful. Humiliating. Heavy. Cruel. Grueling. “And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me.” –Matthew 10:38 KJV
It is a lonely road, to follow Christ. Many opponents. Few friends. Judases. Trials. Uphill battles. Victories in prayer. The calm assurance of a soul at peace with its Maker. A clean conscience. A bended knee. The Master’s call? “Follow Me!” “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” –Matthew 10:39 Thank you for praying for my grandmother, Mr. Van Niekerk and Mr. Kussman, all of whom have family members praying for their salvation. We can pray for the persecuted family’s provision and protection. It went well with our preparations for the Free State Tour! The Lord helped us. Praise is due God. Starting date for the tour: August 24th. Recently we got to visit three different youth camp attendees in their different towns and it was great to have the opportunity to try and encourage them to follow Christ wholeheartedly as they are all at different stages of their spiritual journey. Please pray especially for the children’s camp this coming weekend! And may Christ be our highest love… He deserves to be. “Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” –Mark 8:34 KJV –Louis Gervais