Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:8
When I met Jesus in 1973, it changed my life. I heard an audible voice say Holland I love you and my response to Jesus was… Lord, if you love me this much I will follow you all the days of my life. It’s still my response to Jesus. In fact, my entrance into ministry was simply the result of following Jesus in my daily walk. I never planned to become a senior pastor, church planter, worship leader or author and speaker. I only wanted to follow Jesus.
But something happens over the years of following Jesus. It seems like the simplicity of hearing His voice and obeying what He says gets lost in the demands of ministry. It’s easy to become more concerned with growth, finances, planning for the future, staffing, administrating, organizing, calendars and all the stuff that follows a room full of people trying to get along, than it is to fulfill the simplicity of following Jesus.
This weekend I was reminded that Jesus didn’t save me to work me to death in the ministry. Jesus saved me because He loves me and wants me to have a deeply intimate love relationship with Him. He wants me to know the Father’s love and He wants me to give away the love that the Father freely gives to me. He wants me to know His heart for me, my family and others. He’s calling me back to the simplicity of hearing His voice and responding in obedience.
If your life has gotten too complicated, maybe it’s time for you to get back to the simplicity of hearing His voice and responding in obedience to what He tells you. It might mean clearing your schedule to simply listen. It might mean cancelling a few activities to give yourself time to hear. But if you do, I guarantee you will look back on all the busyness of life and say like Paul… I count it all as rubbish in view of the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord.
Blessings…
P.HD