April 3, 2010

Leviticus 6

13‘A fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out.“ Fire is both a symbol of purity and passion. The fire should never go out. If we are now a tabernacle of God, what does the fire, which never goes out, symbolize? The Fire of purity and passion for the glory of God should never be allowed to come to a smolder. How can I do that unless daily I come to Him to gaze upon His awesome glory? Lord show me Your glory! Don’t let the fire die. Indeed You are a glorious King. Enable me to speak Your glory to someone today!

--Pastor john

Luke 7:31-50

I think we often play mental games with whether we love God more than other people. In our own minds we come up with all kinds of ways to measure that love. Usually it involves things like, “Do I commit adultery either physically or mentally?” If not then I must love God more than those who do. “Do I give 1%, 10% or 90% of my income to God?” If I give 1%, then I must love God more than those who give 0. If I give 10% then I must love God more than those who give 1%. If I give 90%, then I must love God more than those who give 10%. Somehow we equate how much we love God with how good we are. There is a bit of truth to that for Jesus did say, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” However, that is twisted when we start trying to compare ourselves to others on the basis of the good things we do or bad things we don’t do.

Simon the Pharisee had a problem with that. Jesus was at Simon’s house for a meal. What better way to show your love for someone than to invite them into your home for a meal. Simon did that. Somehow a sinful woman gained access to the house during the meal. With tears of repentance, she washed Jesus’ feet, dried them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with costly oil. Simon was offended that Jesus would permit such a sinful woman to touch Him. Hmmm, giving a meal or kissing feet. . . which do you think shows the greater love?

Between the two, Simon and the woman, the woman is the one who really understood the glory of Jesus. You see the glory of Jesus is revealed in His great forgiveness of our great sin. The woman understood that and received the forgiveness that Jesus offered. The result was an overwhelming joy that she could participate in His glory. Simon thought that the glory of God was increased because he sinned less than the woman. Non-sense! Can you ever imagine the Great God of Glory saying, “Oh thank you so much! You have increased My Glory by sinning less than others! I am so grateful that you have done this for me!” God’s glory is not changed by our obedience. Maybe the ability of other people to see his glory is changed by our obedience. What we really need to do is to learn to bask in the greatness of His forgiveness. As we do, we are changed. Sin decreases in proportion to our focus on His glory—because we love Him. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor john