For Christmas, Jesus wants more of us!

MORE OF JESUS

Magi worshipped the Baby King, “Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh” (Matthew 2:11). In Church we sang often, “I want more of Jesus.” What more do we want of Jesus? Has He not given us all He was and had? He left heaven to come to earth and die for our sins on a shameful cross (Philippians 2:6-11). What are we giving Jesus for Christmas?

I am convinced we have the facts and our theology reversed. It is no longer Jesus’ time to give, but ours. We ought to sing “I will give more of me to you, Jesus.” I am the debtor now and should pay back for my redemption. Paul, the Gentile Apostle penned these words, “You were bought with at a price; therefore honor God with your body” (I Corinthians 6:20). And again, “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men” (I Corinthians 7:23). The Apostle pleaded with the Roman Christians, “I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices…” (Romans 12:1). We have been saved by grace so that we “do good works” (Ephesians 2:10). Our bodies are our only vehicles by which we can reciprocate our Savior.

It is no longer up to Jesus to fill our lives, but up to us to come to Him. Jesus no longer will move down to our level. We must move up to His level. We must get out of our cocoons and enter His Kingdom. His Kingdom is among us and so is He. His promise was and is, “Lo I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). The key is, “Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Here is a hard one, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:37-39).

There is no dual citizenship in Jesus’ Kingdom. We cannot serve two masters (Luke 16:13). We cannot be both, for or against Him (Lk.9: 50). We cannot confess Jesus on one hand and deny him on the other (Mt.10: 32-33). What is so marvelous is that when we inadvertently deny Jesus, like Peter did, He will forgive us. However, we are warned not to mock the Spirit of God. It is a blasphemy Jesus cannot forgive (Mt.12: 30-32). There is no provision against the insult of the Spirit of Grace (Heb.10: 29). More than anything, if we disgrace the Spirit of God, then our spirit cannot return to our eternal home and must linger in limbo or in hell. We have been very careless with the severity of the sin of blasphemy against the Holy or God’s Spirit. We do need to pray earnestly, “Father, forgive us, we do not know what we are doing.” Then hope, that Christ may plead our case on judgment day. According to the Beloved Disciple, “There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he (we) should pray about that” (I Jn.5: 16). For “grace” to abound, we must stop sinning against God and each other (Ro.6: 1-4). It is the first step we take when Jesus begins to get more of us.