Recently listening to the Sovereign Grace song, You Have Captured Me, I was struck by the singer’s statement to Christ that He had “ruined her for the world”. Those are great words for us to ponder. Prior to coming to Christ, in one form or another, we were all destined to be worldlings. Forgive me if that sounds a little trite but let me explain the understanding behind what I wrote: we were locked into auto-pilot, being sucked into the chasm of the world’s best allurements. We were sensitized and magnetized toward the offers of this age. We would not have been capable of escaping the draw of ego, riches, pleasure, and vanity. This is the default posture of our hearts because we long to give ourselves to something outside of us. The world undeniably makes us some very tantalizing offers and, mark it down, this stuff has a powerful appeal and none of us on our own are a match for its deception. Then came the Son of God, calling us to Himself, breaking our wills, birthing us from above, capturing us and standing us upright upon our feet to walk in newness of life. He made His offer irresistible to us in that it became our deepest longing in that saving moment when we understood that the offer was Jesus, Himself.
When we opened our eyes as new creatures we were ruined for this world. Nothing compares to Him. If you have met Him then you know exactly what I am communicating here.
What does this world offer you that Heaven has not better promised? Do we truly feel as if we have been deprived or disallowed from experiencing something that God cannot match in the peerlessness of Jesus Christ? The world promises happiness; God grants joy. This world pledges peace to us, yet none have ever found it more than fleeting than in this present generation. This world bequeaths unto you a certain amount of pleasure, yet you must chase it to keep it fresh…and it always comes at a price. At the right hand of God there are pleasures evermore that we have hardly seen the half of. The love that this world offers is more accurately expressed, not with the words ‘I love you’ but, instead, with the words ‘I want you for myself’. In moments of spiritual clarity I must conclude that there is nothing in this world that can fully enamor me. Once we have truly encountered Jesus Christ for ourselves then all other offers are diminished in their value. I, along with Paul, must count the world all rubbish.
This morning I find myself blissfully content in Christ alone. I have much more than I need and far, far better than I deserve. I am acutely conscious of my desire to never allow this world to seduce me. How will I accomplish this task that so many others have not? By affixing my heart on Jesus, His blessed cross and the promise of His return. He has placed a cross of my own upon me at my request and has taught me to walk under its weight with songs of deliverance. My cross reminds me that I am free. My cross reminds me that I am the property of another. My cross reminds me of the value God has placed upon His elect. My cross is what preaches to me that He has ruined me for this world.
God bless us to cherish the cross of Jesus Christ and abandon this world.
(Here’s the song I mentioned if you have a few minutes)
Just listened again and I am as the words say….I am speachless….He has and I will never try running again. PRAISE THE LORD!
He has captured me…..what more can I say. That is it.