TREM DEVOTIONAL FOR SATURDAY 20TH JULY 2019 – LOOK UNTO JESUS

“Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God”.

I have been in services where people in church are dancing, rejoicing, worshipping and lifting up their hands; then somebody comes on the podium and says something like: “Before we continue in worship, I want you to look at yourself, search your heart first and check if there is anything that you did which God is not pleased with.” Then suddenly, the hands of the congregants start coming down, because there is no way you will search and not find something. As long as you are looking at yourself; no matter how good you are; you must find something.

God allows that to show you the helplessness of man. That is why you are not supposed to look at yourself. You are supposed to look at Him. ‘Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…’ The devil wants to keep your eyes away from Jesus. Do you know that anytime God wants to rate how well you have done, He rates Jesus not you? He doesn’t evaluate you by yourself. He evaluates what Jesus did and you know that Jesus is perfect. Because He is perfect, you are perfect.

My evaluation is Jesus. That is why I love Him. If you evaluate yourself, you will fail. But when you remember that He is the one that is evaluated on your behalf and He never fails, you too cannot fail. There is no condemnation for you.

The devil cannot condemn you. If the devil succeeds in putting you under condemnation, you will not have the boldness to tell him ‘shut up’ or to make a demand on what rightfully belongs to you. He will be telling you that you are not qualified. The truth is that  you may not have been qualified but Jesus has qualified, you. Look unto Him that has qualified you.

Further Reading: Hebrews 12:1-6; Romans 8:1-11

Bible Reading: Morning- Psalms 26-28; Evening- Acts 22