anglican devotional

The Daily Fountain Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 1 December 2022 – The Good Law With Its Bad Outcome

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TOPIC: Putting Christ First In Everything

READ: Mark 10:28-31 (NKJV)

  1. Then Peter began to say to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You.”
  2. So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s,
  3. “who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time — houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions — and in the age to come, eternal life.
  4. “But many [who are] first will be last, and the last first.”

THE MESSAGE:

One very unique thing about Jesus is that He always demands total loyalty from His followers. Other gods could be content with half-loyalties and half-commitments, but not Jesus. He demands absolute loyalty and He does not compete with anyone else or anything else. This means that anyone who truly seeks to be blessed and used by the Lord must first venture out by faith and entrust their lives to follow Christ without holding on to anything else; without divided loyalties. Those who would follow Christ must first let go of everything else; this is called faith. You cannot hold on to Christ and still hold on to other things and yet expect Christ to entrust the riches of His grace to you.

Also Read: Open Heaven 1 December 2022 – When Light Comes In

Unfortunately, the reason we fail to follow Christ wholeheartedly is because of fear: We are afraid to trust Him completely; we are afraid of losing favour with men. When we allow the fear of uncertainties to rule our lives, we deny Christ the opportunity to bring His power and blessings to bear upon our lives. Jesus is not asking us here to hate or despise our parents, brothers, sisters, home or land; but He is simply asking us to put Him first in our list of priorities. When we put Jesus first in everything, fear will be defeated and faith will take over.

PRAYER: Lord, I put my life in Your hands and commit to follow You wholeheartedly from today. Let fear be defeated and let faith take over. Amen.