Inspirational Article From Joanne Lowe Index of Writings by Joanne Lowe on Gospel Web

NOT ONE TIME

“And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

Revelation 4: 8 – 11 King James Version

Yesterday I heard a pastor on television telling about all the things the church had done for the community. The pastor made this remark “I started this program ten years ago”. In the first place, we can’t do anything on our own. Jesus must be the foundation for anything that we do or it will not last. The pastor was only a vessel; it was Jesus who started the program and it was Jesus who provided everything that was needed for it to succeed.

I love pastors. God has given me a heart for pastors and their families but I was very sad and my heart broke because Jesus was not given the credit for anything that the church had done for the community. I listened to the pastor and the other staff members of the church during the interview and not one time was the love of Jesus mentioned. I didn’t hear the pastor or any of the staff pray and thank Him for all He had helped them to do. In fact, the precious name of Jesus was never mentioned.

There is something wrong with this picture. Yes, churches are to do things for the community but all of the glory and all of the praise belongs to Jesus. I listened as people in the community said kind things about the pastor and the church but again Jesus was never mentioned. The money that the church used to purchase supplies for the hurricane victims all belongs to Jesus. All of our money and everything that we have in this world belongs to Him.

Out of His compassionate and loving heart, He not only provides what we need, He also gives us things that we don’t need because He love us so much that He wants us to be happy. If we do things just to be seen by others and to win the approval of men, we are doing them for the wrong reason. Our motives are not pure and they stink in the nostrils of Jesus.

Everything that we say and everything that we do should be done to make Jesus happy. He has been hurt enough and He deserves to be happy. It should be the top priority of every Christian to make Him happy. If it is not our top priority, then we need to ask Jesus to forgive us and allow Him to operate on our hearts until we get our priorities in order.

If we are doing things and saying things that hurt Him and make Him sad, we need to stop doing and saying them! Everything that Jesus does is done for our benefit and welfare and to make us happy. Should we do less for Him? He died for us. Have we died to our own selfish wants and desires? Do we make our daily schedules without first consulting Him? Are we faithful to ask Him what His orders are for each day or do we ignore His commands and His desires and do what we want to do?

I personally know three people who asked this same church for food because they were hungry and all three people were told the same thing “We only give food to people one time and we only help people one time”. How this statement of rejection and lack of compassion must have felt like a sharp knife plunged deep into these people’s hearts and also in the loving heart of Jesus!

One of these people who asked for food has a wife and four sons to feed but yet he was turned away. It’s bad enough to withhold food from adults but when food is withheld from our children it makes me very angry and I have to pray and ask Jesus to help me keep my big mouth shut and keep me from saying or doing something that would bring dishonor and shame to Him. I get very upset and angry when I see children being mistreated so I’m sure that our precious Saviour gets upset and angry. He is very protective of children and He has commanded us to take care of them and not hurt them. He loves them very much.

Our churches should be sharing the love of Jesus with everyone all of the time. No matter what we are doing we should be talking about Jesus and praising Him. When we neglect to praise Jesus for what has been accomplished in our churches, we are being very arrogant and disrespectful to Him. It is time that Jesus gets all of the glory, all of the respect, all of the honor, all of the thanks and all of the praise because He is worthy to be praised, adored and honored.

Joanne Lowe

August 21, 2007

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