My passion is to see people make Jesus #1 in their life. That’s it. I don’t have some crazy agenda or goal for this blog except to challenge people to make Him first in their life. It is my belief that if we make Jesus first in every single thing we do, we will do those things well.
“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matt. 6:33 ESV
The majority of Christians I have interacted with are satisfied with just going to church on Sunday, and then walking out exactly the same. They have no motivation. They carry the same heavy burdens on their shoulders that they have been carrying around for years. Most importantly, they walk out with no desire to serve God with a reckless abandon during the week.
How and why does this happen??
It happens because we pack our lives completely full of stuff that does NOT affect eternity one bit!
Your either ALL in to serving Jesus because of what He did for you and how He has changed your life, or your ok with just checking the “church” box on Wednesday or Sunday.
In my mind, there’s no in between. You cannot be half in and half out.
However, there is good news. In every generation there are a FEW who decide to stand up for what they believe in. There are some who choose to stand out when everyone else is purposely trying to fit into the culture.
Hudson Taylor said, “Christ is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.”
Do you see what God is doing here?
He wants to see who is actually serious about Him and what they are going to do about it. He wants to see if they LONG to serve Him with every breath they breathe here on earth, even though everyone thinks they are crazy and maybe even hate them for it.
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” John 15: 18-19 NIV
That may sound harsh, but Jesus lived this thing out and where did that get Him? It got Him nailed to a cross, so should it look any different for a 21st Century Christian? I believe not.
SO WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?
~Read John 15 and let’s get a discussion going in the Comment Section.
~Why do you think the word “remain” is so pivotal to this teaching?
The Few 
Your post was a very courageous expression of your faith. To allow God to be the fore front of your encouragement to others. I applaud you for sharing your strong faith to others.
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Thank you!! 🙂
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Love this read it tonight it was amazing!!
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Kate,
Thanks for being apart of The Few!! I hope we are able to grow even more by using this tool throughout the week!
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To remain in Christ is, on the one hand, to have no known sin unjudged and unconfessed, no intrest in anything He’s not involved in, no life which He cannot share. On the othr hand, the “remaining” one takes all burdens to Him, and draws all wisdom, life, and strength from Him. It is not unceasing consciousness of these things, and of Him, but that nothing is allowed in the life which seperates from Him.
(This was in the foot notes of my Bible and I thought it was really good)
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It is always cool to see what your Bible says about certain verses and then studying in depth, the passage you happen to be reading! Great comment! “Remaining” is truly what Jesus calls us to do and it’s a daily choice we all must make.
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I read John 15 verses 1-8 and it was so good!!! It has already said remain 7 times!!! The word remain is so important because you have to remain with God or you won’t have to power to do things. God gives you all the power you have!!!
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Amazing thought! As humans we often think that we can do things on our own. However, as you pointed out, we cannot do anything without Jesus because without Him we have no power, among so many other things!
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Every time I hear the word “remain”, which is used 7 times in John 15:1-8, I think of a quote by A.W. Tozer who once said, “The only safe place for a sheep is by the side of the shepherd, because the devil does not fear the sheep; He just fears the shepherd, that is all.”
That quote is saying that the devil does NOT fear us alone. We are too easy to trick. We are easily distracted by sin and worldly things.
However, if we remain by the side of our shepherd and do not stray, we are protected from the evil one. Because Satan DOES fear Jesus, our shepherd.
In my opinion, this is why Jesus goes after the 1 sheep that has strayed from His side.
Jesus knows that if he has to go after the one so that they remain by His side, it will be worth it because Satan fears Him. Resulting in the safety of His sheep.
Listen, we cannot find our safety or our security in anything else except our Savior.
This is why Jesus says 7 times to “remain” in Him. It is one of the daily choices we make so that the enemy has no power over us!
If we choose not to remain with Jesus, we might as well be choosing to be attacked by the enemy. We give Satan an open door to mess with us when we don’t stay with Jesus.
This just proves why we should make Jesus #1 in our lives, and why we should remain in Him. Jesus wants nothing more than for us to be with Him and to make Him first.
I can honestly tell you that once you do, you will be living your life the way Jesus intended it.
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When I hear remain in the bible I think of remaining in your faith with God. I think of trusting God and putting everything you have into the Lord.
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Lacy,
Awesome thought! I loved how you said, “putting everything you have into the Lord”. That is such a powerful statement because your surrendering all that is in your hands and giving it to Jesus. Once you give everything to God, you start to live how He wants you to live. 🙂
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