In Isaiah 6 as his world is falling apart Isaiah “sees the Lord” and responds “I’m ruined!”. I know that as I grew up and was forced to go to church I was sure that I was going to be ruined. That God would ruin my fun, keep me from pursuing my interests and send me to China as a missionary. So I kept him at arms length and when my mother could not longer force me to go to church I quit going. Boy did I make a mess of my life. Don’t get me wrong, I experienced a lot of what I hoped a life of hard work and hard living would bring. But it was empty. Then one day I “saw the Lord”. I was ruined! And have loved every minute of it. Went to China as a missionary, and lots of other places. What a way to spend your life…ruined.

One of my favorite songs is “Who Do You Love?” by George Thoroughgood. It’s hard charging and kept me awake as i drove across country many years ago to see family in the midwest. I decided to use it to introduce a sermon recently and told my young staff person to get it on his computer so I could listen to the words. He had no idea who George Thoroughgood was or of the song, we soon had an audience of interns around the computer waiting to hear this song I had asked for. I think they were probably thinking “this old timer has no idea what good music is”. He got the song and it started to play, the guitar was hard charging and they all realized they had heard and loved it. Of course I was thinking “in your face young punks, the music from my era is still the best music of all time”.
“Who Do You Love?” is still the best question of all time. When asked what is the greatest of all commandments Jesus responded, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind”. So for the follower of Jesus the answer to “Who Do You Love?” is a no brainer, Jesus. The mature Christian has to the understanding that for me to live is Christ, he is the most important thing in my life. So… Who do you love? I hope it is Jesus.

I was sitting in the back of the bus just finishing Hal Lindsey’s “The Late Great Planet Earth”. I wouldn’t even have considered myself a “seeker” when I started the book but by the end I was sure I needed to “get right” with Jesus. The “sinners prayer” was a part of the last few pages of the book and I bowed my head and prayed the prayer. A flush, the best way I can describe it, went through me. I knew something had happened. This person… Jesus… had come. I walked to the front of the bus where the only Christian on the team used to sit by himself and said, “I just gave my life to Christ what do I do now?” He was overwhelmed. “Next stop we’re getting you a bible and you need to read it every day.”
In Ephesians 4 it calls followers of Jesus to “grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ”. That advice to “read your bible everyday” is the most important advice I have ever gotten. Disciplining myself to set aside time everyday to read, sometimes just a little, has helped me to grow. You can’t be like one you don’t know and you get to know Him by reading His – story.
Read your bible every day!