Declaring our Choice

To be honest is to admit that what prompted this writing venture on the Wesley Covenant Prayer was a visual of a large group of people enthusiastically singing, "I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold, I'd rather have Jesus than riches untold, I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today."  It was a very polished, manicured, and affluent looking group of men and women.  Fashionable boots and sharp dressing seemed to be the normal attire.  The cynic in me that sometimes raises its head wondered about the automobiles they might be driving to some gated community known as home.   

Perhaps, my thoughts had no basis, but almost as soon as the visual registered, I thought of the line from the Wesley Prayer which says, "Let me have all things and let me have nothing."  It was then that the Spirit really got down to business in my heart by bringing into view my family, the land and home I have come to love, the work of ministry which continues to give me purpose, and being a part of all that is a part of where I walk and who I am.  

If life suddenly turned upside down on the singers and the cynics like me who watched and we found ourselves sitting and having nothing more than a pile of ashes to pull around us as did Job, would we still sing?  The question of the Wesley Covenant Prayer goes to the center of this song about our choosing Jesus over anything.  This is not to say we cannot live with our stuff.  We just need to be sure what kind of hold our stuff has on us.