Who is Number One in your life? Now, before you say God, take a moment to prayerfully consider who is actually on the throne of your life in every area. There are of course, only two choices: Jesus or you. So how do you know who you are looking out for in every area of life? 1 John 3:16 provides the answer:
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
When Jesus is on the throne of our lives, we live lay-down-your-life-for-others lives, regardless of the cost or circumstance. When self is on the throne of our lives, we never rise above looking out for number one and wanting to be first. This was the problem with Diotrehpes.
I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church. (3 John 9-10)
Pastor Scotty Smith wrote, “To have one’s name recorded in the Bible is one thing. But to be chronicled there as someone who loved to be first isn’t a very attractive proposition at all. I have no clue what was going on in Diotrephes’ life that made him disrespectful of the apostle John and so divisive in the community. But his story certainly invites me to look at mine.”
When was the last time you took a close look at your life? The Bible makes it clear that this is something we must do on a regular basis. If we are to live lives modeled after our Master, looking out for Number One will mark our lives . . . and His name is Jesus Christ!
If Jesus had desired to be first, He never would have left heaven to come to earth. He never would have given up continual praise for constant persecution. He never would have accepted the cross when He had the crown from all eternity. In laying down His life for others, Jesus has given us the perfect model of how we are to live as His disciples. He never sought the chief seats, the front of the line, or the head of the class. Paul put it this way:
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8)
Jesus Christ, God incarnate, refused to consider equality with God something He needed to hold on to tightly. He was driven by His mission of laying down His life for His people. Because He focused so much on glorifying the Father, He was never concerned with glorifying Himself. May God forbid that we would seek a crown of glory when the King of kings and Lord of lords chose a crown of thorns on our behalf!
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 