Send to Kindleby Jim HughesÂ
Ps. 51:17 The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise.
The Lord doesn’t want anything from you but a broken heart before Him. He doesn’t need whatever you have to offer Him. He is the creator and owner of all things. You are not going to impress Him with your gifts or talents. You are not going to gain brownie points with the Lord because of what you do or who you know.
The only thing that matters to the Lord is the attitude and condition of your heart. He is interested in how you feel about Him. Do you see yourself as a sinner before a holy God? Do you see yourself in need of forgiveness and mercy? Do you see yourself as helpless apart from Him? Do you see yourself as heading to hell apart from Him? No matter what you or others may think about you, do you see yourself in great need of God?
The Lord is pleased with a broken and contrite heart. He will not turn anyone away who comes before Him broken, stripped of all pride and self-sufficiency. It is the only way we can gain favor with God. He knows the heart and hates those who are not humbled before Him. No matter how many times we approach Him, if we are not broken in spirit, we approach Him in vain. No matter who we may think we are in God’s kingdom, if we are not humbled in spirit, we labor in vain.
No one is excluded in their need to be broken in spirit before God. No one. We dare not believe Satan’s lie that we are good enough and don’t need to be humbled before God. We must never lose our sense of need for Christ’s righteousness. We must never think that our righteousness is good enough. Apart from Christ, there is no righteousness.
About the Author:
Spending his formative years in Ft. Wayne, IN, Jim followed the love of his life to southeast Iowa where they married and have spent the majority of their lives. Jim has pastored several churches throughout his life and has worked many years in local factories to help support his family. The father of two married adult children and one son still at home, Jim is a first-time author.
C Through Marriage came into being through many years of pastoral and life experiences. The book first took on a life of its own over 20 years ago when I sought to address the much publicized moral failures of prominent leaders in the church. In the chapter on Chasity, I include the guideliness that I developed then to protect one’s self from such failures.
I am a firm believer in order to make sense out of life you have to use much common sense. We need to get back to the basics of what has worked for many, many generations. If is isn’t broke, why try to fix it? I strive to return to the basics of what really works in all my writings.
