There have been so many times during my life in which I have chosen to forfeit the grace of God for the desires of the flesh…to meet my very real human needs in ways our God never intended to have them met. In a sense, I made myself god over my own life…and that never works out for anyone! To gain the victory over sin in my life, I had to count all things as loss for the sake of knowing Jesus Christ. It was in the giving up - the losing - of my life that I gained real life.
Satan wants to destroy us. He tries to separate us from people. He wants us to look to things we can see for our fulfillment. He works to cut us off from God. As Satan tries to tempt me to sin, my desire is to turn that temptation back to God and pour the longings of my flesh into longing for God. One of the most profound thing I can do to set my heart on God is to let Satan know that I know the things I see are not true reality. I am only passing through this life toward eternity with Jesus. Whether I am rich or poor, whether I live or die – I am the Lords – and He is mine.
Matthew 16:24-28 NASB says, 24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 "For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul? Or what will a person give in exchange for his soul? 27 "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. 28 "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Only Jesus truly satisfies the deepest longing of every human heart…the need to know and to be known…and the simple act of placing one’s faith in Jesus Christ combined with the simple act of worshipping God meets that deep need for intimacy - regardless of our circumstances.
Everything we can see with our human eyes will one day be gone. True reality is seeing what Jesus sees. What things do you look to for hope? True hope - lasting hope - comes from knowing Jesus. Let’s live our lives through the filter of placing our hope in Jesus. He is the only thing that is truly eternal in this life. Let’s put our hope in Him. Let’s use this simple statement whenever the temptations of life come against our minds. Let’s give our thoughts and lives to Jesus and simply say, “Only You…”
Dennis Jernigan
To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this teaching and to hear the song Only You, go to http://podcast.dennisjernigan.com/e/only-you-1631027559/
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