Lincoln Brewster - OxygenSample

More Than Anything

Devotional for the song "Oxygen"

What do you want more than anything? Now before you answer, don't overlook the tail end of that question – "more than anything." Okay, now go ahead, answer honestly, you won't be graded on what your answer is so much as if you are willing to tell the truth.

That "more than anything" piece makes it a little more difficult, huh? That sorta indicates there's just going to be one answer. You really can't have a handful of more than anythings. No, sorry, but you're going to have to choose.

From a strictly biological perspective, we all ought to choose oxygen. It's the one thing we simply cannot do without, the element that sustains physical life. If oxygen's not there, then choosing a new home or a stronger economy or losing fifteen pounds is not going to matter much. Because if there's no oxygen in the room, well then, neither are we.

And if we were strictly physical beings, then the matter would be settled. Oxygen it is, hands down, end of discussion. But while the physical is a significant part of what's going on around here, it's not the only thing. There's a spiritual component to our lives as well. There is what we can see and hear and feel and taste and smell, and then there is something deeper than all those, a reality behind the curtain. Even the most hardcore cynics among us often concede, "Yes, there seems to be something beyond what we can see."

An old hymn writer named Rhea F. Miller penned this line: "I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today." Again, if honesty is how we're being graded in these paragraphs, then that's either the most foolish answer you could possibly give or it's the most faithful answer you can hope for. Either Mr. Miller had some divine insight way back when or he just wrote a nice song.

If Jesus is not in the room, then there's no oxygen in the room either. John's gospel clearly states that "Through Him (Jesus) all things were made." That phrase "all things" means exactly what you think it means. You don't have to be a scholar to know that everything indicates everything, including oxygen. And if there's no oxygen, then there's no us, and probing questions like "What do you want more than anything?" are just a royal waste of time.

Jesus it is. Hands down. Now breathe.