Your Utmost

The intensity of hate can be powerfully destructive. In contrast, hate can deepen our capacity to love.  Jesus said, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:26).  Of course, Jesus was not telling us to hate our family members – how absurd!  He was, however, stating a basic principle of His true followers: love Me above all else!  I’ve often found myself loving others and other things more than I love Christ, causing me to wonder why I’ve lost my intensity, my passion for Godly things.  It is obedient to be busy in the Lord’s Kingdom, but that is not enough; no, “Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him.” (Oswald Chambers).  Chambers titled his 1935 book My Utmost for His Highest; that word utmost is key to the Believer’s personal relationship to Christ.  Utmost means “the greatest or most extreme extent or amount.” This is the call-command of Christ to us if we are serious in our devotion to God: intense, deep, concentrated, passionate ... the utmost of all we are. Are you struggling in your walk? Perhaps, like me, you’ve allowed other loves to creep in and take Christ’s rightful place. I challenge you to being right now to devote your utmost for Him!