What are the first of your desires?

If God did not save us because of works done by us in righteousness, then how did God save us? I shall tell you. He saved us acording to His own mercy. (Titus 3:4-5).

What are the first of your desires? Are they for gold? Are they for the advancement of your self-glorification? Are they for the pleasures of this world? Are they for the pleasing of friends? Or are they for Christ and His kingdom?

Please my dear saint, do scrutinize the principles of your heart. Do put the blade to it and open it as a surgeon in a matter of life and death surgery. Analyse your heart with care as if all you have depended upon it. Please my friend, do not pass this scene over without much lingering upon its landscape. Tread upon it and see if there is beauty or stench.

A heart born-again will have deep in its soil, desires and panting for Christ and His Kingdom. Those who have yet to see the light of day, that is, whose heart have not yet been born-again will have no desire for Christ and His Kingdom or at least no sweet interest in it. Has your heart a delight in things pertaining to Christ? Do you care about His Kingdom?

You, who call yourself a Christian. Does Christ have the first fruits of your desires? Do you spend the the strength of your joy all on him, or do you have your heart satisfied in the world and then on sunday, come to Christ to pay your due? Aren't you playing the harlot! I fear for you if this is your condition, you ought to 1. forsake your sins and 2. plead to your Father for a new heart, namely to make you a Christian.

What are the first of your desires? Ponder this question awhile, for I fear that many have no desires at all. And some only have desires in words but not in affections. There are others, who have a desire for Christ in the depths of their hearts, and it is them who rise early, and sleep late, living their lives for the glory of Jesus and His Father.

Only if I have this and that says the carnal heart, then I would be happy. But the heart which has Christ as its first desire, will say, all I need is Christ. He is my portion forever. As long as I have Christ I am content. Poverty may become my best friend, but yet I am happy. Sickness may drain my life for me, yet I am full of live.

My beloved, God saved you not according to your good works, but according to His own distinguishing, pleasing mercy. What Grace! If you are not astonished at such mercy, then my beloved, you have not begin to fathom the depths of your depravity and the gravity of your sins. O be sensible and have a passion for Christ, because contained in this passion, in its violent pursuit, and its satisfaction is your greatest happiness, when at last you rest entirely in Christ and behold His glory with fresh eyes, able to comprehend such wonders.

K.Oni