[ Today's Readings ]
We need to plan to put Jesus first. We all eventually find ourselves in situations where we need to build a tower but can't afford the cost or to win a war but do not have sufficient troops. If we trust in our own possessions, or our own strength, or our own ability, we fail. But with Jesus we can have the victory.
Jesus will do this for us if we put him first. But first means first. It means that father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even our own lives can't come before Jesus. We must not say to ourselves that we will trust Jesus to help us oppose another king except for our family's safety which we will take into our own hands because we don't trust him quite that far. There is no safer place for our relatives to be than in the hands of Jesus and not our own.
Our own plans are unsure and timid, and rightly so. Our earthen shelters are weighed down with many concerns. The paths of those on earth are only made straight by the Holy Spirit from on high. The wisdom we need is something only God can give.
When we surrender all to God we do not find ourselves diminished. Instead we receive it back in a new and better way. We have a healthier relationship where we no longer need to be the master that we were never qualified to be.
I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.
I should have liked to retain him for myself,
so that he might serve me on your behalf
in my imprisonment for the gospel,
but I did not want to do anything without your consent,
so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.
So let us surrender all to the LORD. Let us put him first and follow the wisdom of the Spirit that only he can give. He never ceases to pour it out.
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
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