The center of our focus

     You know, in the church of God, when man becomes the center of our focus, the reason for our existence, the primary recipient of our minsitry, we have missed God.  We have been lured into humanism and likely, do not know our enemy has struck a blow.  And, we have missed divine order. Divine order exists only where we love God first and foremost, with all our being.  Divine order exists only where the Lord Jesus has pe-emminence in all things. The pull of humanism is constantly at work to take our eyes off God, to remove Him from the center of our focus and to turn our focus on man.  And, to do it in a way that leaves us thinking we are Scripturally correct.  Our adversay is very, very good at this.

       When God moves and man messes it up, such as not too long ago in Florida, watch how quickly men dismiss what God did, and throw out the whole thing by focusing on the man that made a mess.  If it had not gone that way, it was already going the other way.  Men were clapping the evangelist on the back and proclaiming his greatness, prophysying of even more greatness, and the same error was going on.  Eyes were being drawn to man. The focus on God was slipping away.  I have been privileged to see God arise so many  times in these last fifty years, and each time there was a wonderful display of God that captured our heart's focus.  In the beginning of every move, it was all about God.  Oh, man was touched, things happened, signs and wonders occured, but God captured our hearts.  And then, as quick as man could, man stole the focus and the move ebbed away as it became about man and not about God.  It seems we cannot help doing this.  I have seen certain men, with an awesome anointing to point the way to God, deliberately turn the move of which they were leaders toward man and away from what God was doing. The result?  Man at center focus.

    In the denomination I grew up in, a slogan arose "Win the lost at any cost".   Lost souls became the center of our focus.  And, the last survey I read, about ten years ago, sixty percent of the membership is no longer baptized in the Holy Ghost. Their focus on God among us is gone.  The love of man took precedence of the love of God.  If any thing concerning man; his salvation, health, wealth, or even eternity takes precedence over God, we are on a slippery slope.  God gave us an order and made it so simple that even a child would struggle to mess it up. It is "one" and then "two".  Love God first with all your being and that is  "ONE".  Then, and only then can you truly move on to loving man and that is  "TWO". It is the simplest of mathematical formulas. One and then two.  Strangely, and in defense of the indefensible, there are those dismissing these two great commands, or at least the first one, saying we are no longer so obligated.

   Too simple?  Seems like it but still, we manage to mess it up.  We flip the numbers.  But, God in any place but first in our love, devotion, reason for being and we are back on the slippery slope. Jesus, for certain, came seeking the lost but that is not the end of the desire of God.  God is seeking from among those formerly lost men that Jesus sought and found,  those who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.  Is it enough to just count a man saved?  Is that the end of our duty?  If it is, that makes man a number, not a potential worshipper.  Man seeks man out of pity for man, desperately seeking to save and spare him from harm. Man values man above all, which is the driving force among many well-meaning believers.  Yet, God seeks man for the purpose of worship.  When Israel was brought out of Egypt, God instructed Moses to tell them He had brought them out for Himself, to stand before Him and minister unto Him. Nothing has changed. That still expresses the purposes of God. Isn't it strange, considering this is what God is looking for (Jo. 4:23-24), that so little of our training, discipleship, leadership programs reflect the purpose of God?  As for me, I want to worship and worship more and worship better. There is a song that reflects my heart. The words are something like this "I will always, love and adore you, worship you only.  As long as I have breathe, Lord I promise this, that I will always worship you". Is that the song of your heart?