"Purely Devoted"

"It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;" (Psalms 133:2)

  We must remember who it is that we are serving, because it is not about serving ourselves; we must be purely devoted to serving Christ, and Him alone! Maybe a good reminder might be the words that Jesus cried out from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" There were about three messages I heard yesterday that all had something very important in common, that they spoke about the work Jesus did on the cross and how He took our place! It should have been me! He did not just pay the ransom; He became sin! My sin was placed upon Him, and He took my place, dying for the sinfulness of my heart. When you look at it like that, you begin to understand what was being uttered and why it was such a big deal. To put it another way: His death was brutal and horrific, to say the least; yet He gave Himself willingly for the privilege of paying the price for us. It was the only way and it needed to be done; if we were ever going to be made right with the Father, then the penalty for our sins needed to be paid, by Him, and Him alone! Now, contrast that, the brutal and horrific death that He suffered, to the act of sacrifice we can make towards dwelling in unity with one another: Do you see any kind of resemblance? What it does have in common, is that we must die to ourselves, to our selfish nature, to the need to have it our way, and to be totally devoted to His way. Besides being free from the torture and agony of what He suffered, we are able to enjoy real sweet fellowship, simply by forsaking our own ways and giving our pride over to Him. It is really kind of silly to even try to compare the two, but that is the beauty of the Gospel! It is like trying to compare heaven and hell, asking ourselves, "Which one should I choose?" Well, which one will feel better? Do you see the meaning of the "precious ointment?" Head to toe, to the cross we go...

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) Giving no offense in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:" (2 Corinthians 5:21-6:3)