Day: December 29, 2011

The Christ The World Despises

“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”  Isaiah 53:3  KJV

From the book “God Calling”,  by Two Listeners, ed. by A. J. Russell:

That these words strike a note of Beauty in the hearts of those attuned to hear the Beautiful, shows truly that the heart recognizes the need for the Man of Sorrows. That it sees nothing contemptible in One despised by the world. That it recognizes the vast difference between the values of Heaven, and those of the world. Fame and acclamations are accorded to earth’s great, contempt and rejection to the Son of God.

One of the things My disciples must ever seek to do is to set aside the valuation of the world, and judge only according to the values of Heaven. These are not for you.  Do not seek the praise and the notice of men. You follow a despised Christ. See the mob is hooting, throwing stones, jeering, and yet in that quiet little throng there is a happiness and Joy the reviling crowds could never know.

Follow that little throng with stones and gibes, and it appears to be of men, mean, ludicrous, contemptible.  Be one of the throng, and you feel the Majesty of God in the presence of Him, Who was despised and rejected of men. Wreaths around His Brow, and shouts of applause, would belittle that Majesty.

In your dark hours, when human help fails, keep very close to the Man of Sorrows. Feel My Hand of Love press yours in silent but complete understanding. I, too, was acquainted with grief. No heart can ache without My heart aching too. “He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.”

* Note: The content in this post is not by the author of this blog, but is derived and quoted from the book  “God Calling”, ed by A. J. Russell
* picture of Jesus from http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/ocean/

The First and Foremost Love

“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.” Mark 12:30

Love is a command. Astounding.  How can love be a by-product of a command? A command to obey seems sensible, but a command to love?  I did not hear an explicit command to love my children when they were born;  love for them came naturally to me as breathing and blinking my eyes.

But the kind of love being “commanded” here goes beyond all dictionary definitions. It is a love that is to be practiced by all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, permeating every warp and woof of my being.  This is the first and foremost directive. Jesus says in Matthew 22:37 that “this is the first and great commandment.”  The great commandment.

Even more astounding when I consider Who gives this command: God Himself.  He commands me to love Him with every fiber, every imaginable strength I could muster, with all of my heart, soul and mind.  God commands me to love Him.

But even if I were not commanded, I do love God; however, the kind of love I possess has to go several steps further — to follow the commandment as directed, to love God with the totality of my being.    As God loves me, I am to love Him.

I believe the great commandment is about the quality of my love for God. The most important concern in my life, therefore, is my love relationship with God.

 

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