more precious than rubies

One of the most significant things I have learned in my life is that walking with God and giving Him my whole heart and my love and my praise is a daily, hourly, moment by moment affair. To desire His will only, to listen to His spirit for the next move in my life that will further His kingdom and bring glory to His name is not a passive event. Faith is active, believing-on is something that we must do over and over. Clinging to Christ is our only hope and it is God’s will for us in our lives.

But how do we truly cling to Christ in a culture like ours where we have nearly every physical need met and we have comforts and distractions at every turn? But most of all, how can I listen and be directed by the Holy Spirit when I have willingly crammed my mind, filled my eyes, my ears, my thoughts, and most importantly, when I have stuffed my heart with the temporal things of this world and of this culture? The things in my life that entertain me and distract me. Giving any worth to the things that this culture values is only going to corrupt my relationship with Christ.

Lately I have been so aware lately of the overwhelming, 24/7 stream of junk that is coming at us from all angles. The wisdom of our world in America, the media, television, internet, celebrity, politics, headlines, culture and society is chock full of the things that will turn to dust, the things that divide people, the things that are of the self, the things that will only bring sorrow and emptiness in our lives, the things that leave us in a state of bondage to the artificial and bring us to complete paralysis regarding anything that has any ETERNAL value.

For the wisdom of the world is foolishness in God’s sight.
1 Corinthians 3:19

The ONLY wisdom worth any salt in this world is the pure wisdom that comes from the perfect Heavenly Father through His Word and His spirit.

“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.” James 3:17

How quickly we can turn away from the perfection of Jesus himself in our lives. He is all we need. He is all that we should desire. But the temptations of this world begin to creep into our lives because we are bombarded with messages, ideas, and philosophies that are of the world and do not come close to being Biblical.

But what I have realized is, am I really a victim to this bombardment? Or am I asking for it? It is ME that seeks fluff entertainment in my life, it is MY choice when I waste time on the nothingness of this short life and throw precious hours away. Not only is it time lost but it is a driving wedge between me and my Lord. It is of the enemy who entices us with the things that will fade so that we will tarnish our devotion to the greatest love of all- the love of God. Who would value dust over precious rubies?

Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.
Proverbs 8:10,11

David Platt, while speaking at Liberty University, put it this way:
“You won’t go to Heaven if you don’t want Jesus. He is the one we need, He is the one we want, He is the only one who can satisfy our soul, He is the end. But we don’t live like He is enough. I don’t, the people that I pastor, we — we fill our lives with so much stuff — we fill our churches with so much stuff. Clearly, Jesus is not enough for us. New gadgets, more things, nicer things, better things, bigger things. Even in the church it’s the name of the game, a sign of success is when everything is bigger and better and flashier. We have come up with some very strange methods in the church for following a Savior who did not have a roof over His head.”

I think about that saying based on Jesus’ own words. “I am Not of This World.” And I think, is that true at all? Or am I just exactly of this world and like this world? Am I pursuing the same things of this world, am I reading about the same meaningless topics, wasting my life away on the same worthless means of entertainment? Am I concerned with the very same issues, though some of them noble in Man’s eyes, are a waste of our passion when the good news of Jesus is all that there is that is worth focusing on? Am I living exactly as the world lives?

I want to be not of this world. As Paul described to us in Romans 16: we should be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil. In the same way, I desperately want to be wise about the goodness of the Lord and innocent about anything that this world promotes.

In Profiles in Faith by Harold Sala, he gives short bios about men and women of strong faith throughout the history of man. Of course, one of these is John the Baptist. And in the midst of God laying on my heart this message in my life, God just throws it right at me and this is what I read about him:
“John’s life speaks clearly to the flaws of our culture today. His example tells us that those who really walk with God will be out of touch with the mind-set and mentality of our age.“

The love of Jesus Christ can break through any barriers. But God, You are better and more precious and more wonderful than anything that this world could ever hope to offer. You are worth it, You are enough, You are everything. You are not a God to be penciled into our schedules; You are not a God to fit like a puzzle piece in the realm of this twisted culture. You are Lord over all.

You’re all I want, You’re all I need, You’re everything, everything.