Above Every Name

Thought for Today - April 15
Above Every Name  -  By: Robert A. Searles
     Who is the person that is most talked about in the world today?  Everywhere you go, you cannot escape it, where ever you go today you will hear everyone from all walks of life talking about this person, yet they speak of him in blasphemous, and dishonoring terms, and use his name in vain, and drag his name through the mud, and trample his love gift under foot.  This person is the Lord Jesus Christ.
     Yet, we Christians, who claim to be the born again, the  re-created children of God, shy away from talking directly about the Lord Jesus Christ.  In our daily conversation with other Christians, and the outside world, how often are we actually talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, and sharing with our friends how wonderful he is?  We talk about our church, and our pastors.  We talk about our Sunday school class.  We talk about all kinds of activities, and programs and service, but it seems to me that the person of the Lord Jesus Christ himself is terribly neglected.
     Jesus never intended for us to separate the sacred from the secular.  He wants to be involved in everything we do.  Sometimes we tend to put the Lord Jesus Christ in a glass case and put him on the shelf and talk about things that pertain to him, but this is not his proper place.  He does not want to be an object of conversation only, he wants to be involved in it.
    When we are sitting in our living rooms the name of the Lord Jesus Christ should be as common in our conversation as anyone else there.  He wants to be part of our family group,  He wants to be our guest for dinner every day.   Oh! How we ought to really love the Lord Jesus Christ after all he has done for us!  We ought to praise his name and exalt him in all our doings.
 Even when we are eating an apple we can love Jesus because he made all things and sustains all things and freely gives us all things to enjoy.
     So often the church, the activities, and the service programs in which we are involved take the place of our actual, personal relationship with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.  All these programs are good and should not be neglected, but these should come about and be  the result of our deep love and gratitude, and personal relationship with the Lord, not as a substitute for it.    What a wonderful person the Lord Jesus Christ is! How he loves us and how we ought to love him in return!  “For God so loved the world that he gave  his only begotten son that whosoever  believeth on him should not perish but have everlalsting life.” John 3: 16. 
God did not send the church to die for us. He did not send angels, he did not send pastors, he did not send activities and he did not ordain services to be the propitiations for our sins.  No, he sent the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to die for us and to be raised again for our justification.  He alone is worthy of our praise and worship.  He alone is the object of our love.  He ought to be the center of our life and conversation.
       Dont't just say – I am happy, but rather say  - The Lord Jesus Christ  makes me happy.”  Don't just say: “this is a good day”, but rather say:  “The Lord has given us another beautiful day”.  Don't say: “I have a new dress, or a new car, or a beautiful house, or things”, but rather  say: “The Lord has showered me with all these blessings to enjoy.” Don't avoid calling him by name by just saying in a vague way, “Lord, “ “The Lord, “ or “God,” or “the man upstairs,”or “the creator”, or “the divcinity”.  These are all proper names for him to be sure, but he wants to be known in a familiar way and known and proclaimed as the Lord Jesus Christ whom we know and love as our own personal Savior.
     We sing, O, how I love Jesus, but many times he is grossly neglected and ignored from our conversation and activities, and from actual involvement in our lives.
     None can proclaim, with honesty, The Lord Jesus Christ as his own personal Savior and Lord, and acquaintance, and object of love unless he has been born again.  Jesus said: “except a man be born again he cannot see the kindgom of God.” John 3: 3.  “Not everyone that  saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 7: 21.
  And what is the will of our Father?  It is to love the Lord Jesus Christ with all our heart, all our
mind, and all our soul.  No man calleth Jesus Lord except he be led  and taught of the Holy Spirit.
Telehelp Publications Christian Literature Ministry 

Psalm 26:7