Lionheart

Mark Batterson gives the true story behind the man honored on this day of green, shamrocks, and all things Irish.

Check it out:  http://evotional.com/2010/03/saint-patrick.html

“Bringing glory to God trumps man’s agenda and religious tradition every time.”  This particular phrase was a source of a tweet from yesterday, and I wanted to elaborate a bit more.  I was reading in Luke, and I felt Jesus really impressed this notion upon me.  Luke 6:6-10 talks about Jesus being in the synagogue on the Sabbath.  The Word says that the religious leaders were looking for ways in which to accuse Jesus, yet Jesus knew what they were thinking.  He said, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”  Jesus didn’t say what He was going to do, He didn’t speak out against the religious leaders, rather he just asked them a simple question.  Next, he just looked at them all then told the man with the deformation to stretch out his hand and his hand was restored.

That is absolutely amazing–I love Jesus–he doesn’t speak out against the religious leaders or preach at them.  Rather, he lovingly heals the mans hand.  He calls this doing good on the Sabbath.  The religious leaders did not tolerate healing on the Sabbath, yet Jesus told them that to ‘do good’ was more important.  In the act of restoring the man’s hand, he showed that doing good has precedence over the agenda or tradition of man.  Through the healing, good was done, restoration took place, and God was glorified.

I feel that in our lives, glory to God should take precedence over everything else.  Our agendas and traditions should always take a back seat to the glory and will of the Father.  In other words, everything we do should be done in a mindset to bring glory to God.  Our daily activities, our jobs, and our ‘church’ activities should all be done for His glory.  In our lives, we are called to ‘Be Jesus’ to others around us.  In regards to this, I feel that we, like Jesus, should always stand for more.  We should stand up for what’s right and strive to bring glory to God above all else–even if that means challenging (in love) traditions and the way things are done.  Jesus, in His ministry, was never stagnant.  There was always growth–there was never a point of stand still.  Truth was being preached, lives were being changed, and glory was brought to God.  Glory to the Father was first and foremost in Jesus’ life and ministry, thus it should be first in our lives as well.