Committing Changes

God brought two parts of my life together in a fun way today. I spent the morning working on my sermon in the Gospel of Mark where Jesus calls his followers to radical obedience, using hyperbole to make sure we understand how serious he is about sin.

Mark 9:43-48 reads, “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’” (ESV)

One major takeaway is that if I don’t take sin in my life seriously, then I probably don’t take hell or Jesus seriously, and I need to repent and be saved.

The second takeaway is the one that tied in with our work on software here at PrayMore and surprised me. I was talking with JJ about a bug fix. He told me that the changes to the code had already been made, but they are in a “new code branch” that needs to be “committed” back in and “deployed”. That is all tech-speak, but it immediately connected my geek brain to my preacher brain!

If I am truly saved, then I am a new creation. An incredible change has already been made to my heart. But if, as a Christian, I am continuing to sin and disobey my Lord and Savior, that change is not changing the way I live yet. It’s like code that has been fixed but needs to be committed and deployed. Prayer is a God-given method to deploy his changing power into human lives. So let’s pray for that now and pray that he uses PrayMore to help others do the same.

Lord Jesus, we confess we are too concerned with things of this world and how we can get ahead and be served. But then we see you, our radical servant-king, who made yourself low to serve us and die in our place! We hear your call, first to repent and be saved, and then your command to live lives of radical humility—as we lead, care for one another, and serve alongside one another—and of radical obedience, committing our whole hearts to put away sin and follow you. Help us, Holy Spirit, we pray.

We also pray that you would help PrayMore as they write new code, commit it, and deploy it. Please continue to use this app, even more, to change lives through prayer. Amen. 

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