For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
-- Ephesians 3:14-15, 17
No one really wants to give up control of their life. Do you?
Because if you do, your life will spin out of control, right? And if you’re like most people, you constantly worry about how to keep the lid on your life. You want to be in charge of your life and control your own destiny.
As Christians, you and I are commanded to give ourselves unconditionally to the leadership of the Holy Spirit and the lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives. As our verse today says, Jesus wants to “dwell” in your heart.
He doesn’t want you to live a divided life—one secular and one spiritual. Christ wants to consume and control your very being all the time. Every choice and every circumstance ought to be for God’s glory.
But I want to make one thing very clear. When you give up your life to Christ, you’re not giving up. When you allow Christ to guide your life, you gain productivity, sweet rest, overflowing joy, and power!
Today, I want to challenge you to give up every part of your life to Jesus in exchange for His. You’re getting the best deal!
Are you allowing the lord to dwell in every area of your life? If not, pray for the courage to give Christ complete control.
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.”
Luke 5:17–19
We know basically nothing about the four men who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus. We don’t know their professions or their degree of education. We don’t know their hometowns or their family heritage. We don’t even know their names. What we do know is that they had an overwhelming love for their friend and faith in Jesus. They believed that Jesus was able to heal this man who had no other hope, and as a result they were willing to go above and beyond what people would normally do in order to place their friend at Jesus’ feet.
It must have been extremely difficult to get a paralyzed man confined to his bed onto the roof of the house where Jesus was. It could not have been easy to take apart the roof so they could lower him down to Jesus’ feet. Their actions no doubt seemed outrageous to many of those watching. But they didn’t care how difficult it was or what others thought. They wanted to get their friend to Jesus. That is a passion that should fill all of our hearts. We should be consumed with the desire to reach the lost and bring them to Him.
Today’s Growth Principle:
There is nothing more important than sharing the gospel with lost men and women before it is too late.
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