“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” Luke 6:46
“Let me tell you how you could save $100 off your car insurance.” My interest was piqued, as I was playing the car insurance game again. A couple of years ago, I took the ‘15 minutes’ to find cheaper car insurance. Now, THAT insurance company was raising their rates. Having been around long enough, I recognized the game and knew it was time to shift loyalties… again. Which is never fun.
I was in the process of comparing rates when the agent presented an offer I seemingly could not refuse. If we’d ‘allow’ them to put an ‘app’ on our phones to monitor our driving, we ‘could’ save up to $100 over 6 months. Knowing what a $100 bill looks like, I was tempted. That is until I began asking questions. “It’s just an APP,” the agent said. Or WAS it? Talking with Katie, it was more!
Our driving records are clean, which is what USED to be the way insurance companies determined how much to charge. But if I would allow them control of my cell phone (and everything in it), saving some money ‘could’ be a reward. In my head, I saw my insurance agent sprouting horns! Because that is EXACTLY the deal satan tries to deal me… every second of my life! “Just say yes.” is all he asks.
Underlining ‘YOU’ in the first sentence SEEMINGLY puts focus on the most important person in the world. But having had an encounter with the Risen Savior, way back in 1966, I painstakingly learned… this life is NOT about ‘me!’ So what does the perfect God of the Universe want with a dirty sinner like me anyway? Remembering the contract I signed, I know the answer… ‘Loyalty in Faith and Action!’
‘APP’ is short for the word ‘Application’. And there is NO ‘App’ for growing closer to Jesus Christ, other than ‘app’lying myself to read His Word, focus, talk with and yield to Him. I am asked to put Him FIRST in EVERYTHING. There are NO shortcuts or deals. There should not be! Jesus asks for, and demands, that OUR relationship requires ME, to give MY control of ME… to HIM. Always!
DOING what Jesus says is usually costly. Giving up what ‘I’ want for what HE wants is the toughest decision any human can make. That is why the Lake of Fire will be MUCH more full than Heaven. But I have learned, what I GET from Jesus FAR EXCEEDS ANYTHING I could EVER acquire or earn… HERE. Have YOU found that out? Do YOU give yourself completely to Him and seek to obey Him? You might want to take another look at today’s Bible verse!
