Ray Ortlund is Lead Pastor at Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee. I met him in Louisville last year at the Acts 29 Network Boot Camp. His zeal for Christ is unmistakable, and he’s the type of man you would do well to sit under for discipleship if you could make it happen. He recently posted on what does it mean to “Accept Jesus.” I thought I would repost it here. Ray blogs at Christ is Deeper Still on The Gospel Coalition website.
This, my friends, is so very good…
You and I are not integrated, unified, whole persons. Our hearts are multi-divided. There is a board room in every heart. Big table. Leather chairs. Coffee. Bottled water. Whiteboard. A committee sits around the table. There is the social self, the private self, the work self, the sexual self, the recreational self, the religious self, and others. The committee is arguing and debating and voting. Constantly agitated and upset. Rarely can they come to a unanimous, wholehearted decision. We tell ourselves we’re this way because we’re so busy with so many responsibilities. The truth is, we’re just divided, unfocused, hesitant, unfree.
That kind of person can “accept Jesus” in either of two ways. One way is to invite him onto the committee. Give him a vote too. But then he becomes just one more complication. The other way to “accept Jesus” is to say to him, “My life isn’t working. Please come in and fire my committee, every last one of them. I hand myself over to you. Please run my whole life for me.” That is not complication; that is salvation.
“Accepting Jesus” is not just adding Jesus. It is also subtracting the idols.
HT: Christ is Deeper Still, Thanks Ray.
