April 4, 2019

I’ve been reminded a lot lately about the Great Commandment, to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37-40). Sometimes when I write Jumpstarts, I wonder if I will ever tie God’s Word into anything other than worship. Maybe it’s just because I feel called to be a Worship Leader, but I have a certain filter through which I see things. Well, buckle up guys and girls because today is not going to be any different! There are a lot of things to take note of in this 31 verse passage, including the futility of idolatry in the midst of an everlasting God, and the promise of the future coming of Christ.

If you think about it, we all worship something. Maybe for you, it’s status. Maybe it’s money. For me, idols tend to be free time and guitar gear. It’s natural for us to have idols. In fact, we were designed to worship. But just because idolatry is natural does not mean it is beneficial for us. Refer to verses 18 and 25: who or what can compare to our God?! There is no one! Let us remember that if we love something more than God, then we need to either knock that idol down to its proper placement in our lives or cast it out entirely. Are you placing our hope in the temporary pleasure and security of money, status, and material things, or are you leaning into the “everlasting God” who “does not faint or grow weary” (v 28).

Let’s jump back to verses 3-5 to end this post. This is a prophecy about the coming of Christ, God’s glory revealed and fulfilled through Jesus and John the Baptist. This passage is important to take note of because it shows how God has been working the plan of salvation long before Jesus physically arrived on Earth, which was about 700 years later. What’s also important to take note of is that this passage only reveals its full meaning through the revelation of Jesus Christ. Put another way, hindsight is 20/20. It is so important for us to read our Bibles through the filter of the gospel, even more important is the need to consistently read our Bibles in the first place. God has given us His word to see how it’s beginning, middle, and end was sovereignly worked together in the plan of salvation for you, me, and the rest of mankind. Tim and Erik can preach to us every single Sunday for the rest of our lives, but God will only really connect all the dots for us when we read His word ourselves. It will change your life.