February 2, 2014: My One Desire

Matthew 21:23-46

Amplified Bible (AMP)

23 And when He entered the sacred enclosure of the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people came up to Him as He was teaching and said, By what power of authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this power of authority?

24 Jesus answered them, I also will ask you a question, and if you give Me the answer, then I also will tell you by what power of authority I do these things.

25 The baptism of John—from where was it? From heaven or from men? And they reasoned and argued with one another, If we say, From heaven, He will ask us, Why then did you not believe him?

26 But if we say, From men—we are afraid of and must reckon with the multitude, for they all regard John as a prophet.

27 So they answered Jesus, We do not know. And He said to them, Neither will I tell you by what power of authority I do these things.

28 What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He came to the first and said, Son, go and work today in the vineyard.

29 And he answered, I will not; but afterward he changed his mind and went.

30 Then the man came to the second and said the same [thing]. And he replied, I will [go], sir; but he did not go.

31 Which of the two did the will of the father? They replied, The first one. Jesus said to them, Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the harlots will get into the kingdom of heaven before you.

32 For John came to you walking in the way of an upright man in right standing with God, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the harlots did believe him; and you, even when you saw that, did not afterward change your minds and believe him [adhere to, trust in, and rely on what he told you].

33 Listen to another parable: There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a hedge around it and dug a wine vat in it and built a watchtower. Then he let it out [for rent] to tenants and went into another country.

34 When the fruit season drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his [share of the] fruit.

35 But the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first time, and they treated them the same way.

37 Finally he sent his own son to them, saying, They will respect and give heed to my son.

38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, This is the heir; come on, let us kill him and have his inheritance.

39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes back, what will he do to those tenants?

41 They said to Him, He will put those wretches to a miserable death and rent the vineyard to other tenants of such a character that they will give him the fruits promptly in their season.

42 Jesus asked them, Have you never read in the Scriptures: The very Stone which the builders rejected and threw away has become the Cornerstone; this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?

43 I tell you, for this reason the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce the fruits of it.

44 And whoever falls on this Stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom It falls will be crushed to powder [and It will winnow him, scattering him like dust].

45 And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables (comparisons, stories used to illustrate and explain), they perceived that He was talking about them.

46 And although they were trying to arrest Him, they feared the throngs because they regarded Him as a prophet.

Is your life falling to pieces? Just do it! Fall on the Rock and be broken! It hurts, but it's not like the hurt the devil and the world brings you. You feel pleasure for a season. Your pain is numbed for a time, then it all comes rushing back, only it's 100 times worse, because of the selfish choices you've made. 
All the time I hear people say, think about yourself first! You have to be happy! This is 100% bad advice. If you base your choices on what will make you happy, you are waaaaaaay off base. I have found this out by personal experience. You are happy and relieved for a minute, then BAM! your choices hit you in the face hard. You see the pain you cause those most precious to you and you live the rest of your life with deep regret. And the regret doesn't ever go away. I know this. I live with regret every day.
Just do the hard thing. The thing that will make Jesus happy. Just forget about your happiness. Seriously, if you do this, you will WIN!!! Happiness will come back to you 100 times over!!! It's right in the WORD. (Matt. 19:29)
"Dear Jesus, please continue to break me. I want to fall on You every day and be broken. Break my heart with what breaks Your heart, Jesus. I give my life to You. I give my dreams to You. I give my hopes to You. Dash my hopes and replace them with Your hopes. You are my one desire. AMEN."