Scripture

“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.”

~Luke 9:24, NKJV

Quote

Our sanctification is not complete until we relinquish everything that we claim as our own.

~Ya’akov

Oswald Chambers can be difficult to read and even harder to understand but his March 8th entry in My Utmost is five star. No one follows Christ without relinquishing. To relinquish is to voluntarily cease to keep or claim. The first thing James and John relinquished was their fishing business. Chambers says that the very first thing Jesus lays claim on is our sin. He wants us to give Him our sin, all of our sin. Remember, when He takes our sin, He also takes our sorrow and the hell we deserve. The LORD wants no pretense and so  He demands that we be honest about our sin. He doesn’t want our goodness, we don’t have any; He wants our sin and what He gives in exchange for our sin is real rock solid righteousness. The kind of righteousness that is not conceited, condescending convoluted. Then He will ask us to give up our rights to self. He will ask us to exchange our way for His way. Then He begins working on our possessions. He will get them one way or the other but He wants us to willingly relinquish them. He wants us to trust Him with our meager resources. Then he wants our affections or idols.

A huge part of our sanctification is the crushing of our idols. Anything you love more than Jesus is an idol. The best thing to do is relinquish those idols. Do you worship your children? Be careful about your claim on your children. Remember, He has the power to take them if He wills but more often than not, He allows you to be heartbroken over their behavior. Do you worship your spouse? Usually time takes care of this one but if you are guilty, relinquish that idol. Do your worship sports? I’ve been a Cleveland Indian fan all my life but they are no longer the Indians and I am no longer a fan. I needed just a little encourage to stomp this idol in the dust and I got it when the morons changed they name for the sake of political correctness. I hate political correctness.

Relinquishing the claims on our life is not easy; sometimes it is a painful process. Sometime we struggle to let go. He is a gentle Savior and He refuses to take by force what we cling to so until we let go of our sin, He doesn’t take it. Until we let go of our idols, He doesn’t snatch them from our hands. Usually there is a period of disillusionment. Example: Cleveland has been talking about changing their name for two years and each time I got wind of that conversation, I became a little more disillusioned with them. When the final verdict came it, I said, “Good, you have made it easy for me.” Michael has been wanting me to be a BRAVES fan and now I am a BRAVES FAN with the tomahawk chop and the whole nine yards. This thought inspired me to do a little Poem:

If you want to live in Dixie, you better grow some skin,

Cause here in the South, we don’t care who we offend.

I bet every true Native American in country is a BRAVES FAN. Has Jason got offended over the fact that Wake Forrest is the DEMON DEACONS? Heck no, he could care less!

Extra

Well our friend James Spann got this one right. We have a winter wonder land on March 12. Unless something changed in the night, Willowdean and Kay are still in the hospital. I will check on both today. Have a great day and enjoy the snow.

I digressed somewhat but that is my nature. The thing that makes absolutely no sense is that professional sports caters to the left. What percentage of sports fans come from the left? Do you think it might be as much as 5%? What are these clowns thinking?