15 minutes

Why settle for fifteen minutes of favour when you can have it forever?

Man-pleasing is a Anatural@ trait for fallen, sinful human beings. We all want to be liked. While obtaining the favour of men may bring immediate gratification, those rewards are short-lived and temporary.

Jesus warned us about getting caught up in seeking the praise and favour of men while neglecting God. He said if your motive was to impress man, then their praise would be the only reward you would receive.

God's favour is much more importantCand much more lasting. Jesus said, AWhen you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly .@ Of course, it is impossible to earn God's favour. He gives it as an act of grace.

Our approach to good works reveals the condition of our heart. As long as we seek to please men we can never please God. Once we set our heart on pleasing God, however, pleasing men becomes unimportant.

Favour comes in two flavours. First is the fleeting flavour of man's favour, which is sweet and delicious at first but goes bland very quickly. Then there is God's favour, which is sweeter still and never loses its flavour. In fact, the longer it goes the sweeter it grows. The choice, of course, is yours. Which will it be? Fifteen minutesCor forever?

As George Matheson said, "Christ has illuminated the world, not by what He did, but by what He was; His life is the Light of Men. We speak of a man's life-work; the work of Jesus was His life itself.... It is good to be told that the pure in heart shall see God, but the vision of heaven in a pure man's face outweighs it all. They tell us that the Easter morning has revealed His glory; rather would I say that His glory has revealed the Easter morning. It is not resurrection that has made Christ; it is Christ that has made resurrection. To those who have seen His beauty, even Olivet can add no certainty; the light of immortality is as bright on His Cross as on His Crown. 'I am the resurrection' are His own words about Himself-not 'I teach,' not 'I cause,' not 'I predict,' but 'I am.' "

There is no such thing as partial commitment. When the pilot of a giant airliner is speeding down the runway, there is a certain point where he cannot decide to remain on the ground. When he crosses that line, he is committed to the air, or the plane crashes disastrously. That pilot cannot change his mind when the plane is two-thirds of the way down the runway.

Unfortunately, our churches are filled with members who "have never left the ground." They have been sitting there for years and years gunning their engines.

We hear much about revival these days, but the heart of revival is the Lordship of Christ. A mere emotional upheaval, a spurt of religious excitement, is not revival. When Christians become convicted of rebellion against the rule of Christ in their lives, confess their sins, renounce self, take the cross and let Jesus have the first and last word in everything, that is revival, by whatever name you call it.