“And he said to them all,
“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross
daily, and follow me. – Luke 9:23
Walking with God is no
part-time position. It is a full-time lifestyle. It requires more than just
loving Him, because it includes full devotion of body, soul and spirit. If we
reserve the bulk of our affection for family, job, hobbies or other interests,
we are not giving our whole self to God. Jesus tells us that if we do not leave
family, friends, home and job for His sake, then we are not fit for His Kingdom
(Luke 9:62).
God does not want us to love
Him for what He does for us or what He provides for us. He simply wants us to
love Him…period. Not love Him also, but love Him only. Then as His love flows
out through us, we love everyone in our life with God’s Agape love instead of
with our self-centered human love. If
we do forsake all for Him, then we will receive a hundred times as much as we
give up, and we will inherit eternal life as well (Matthew 19:29).
Jesus is not telling us to
live as a hermit or to reject our family, friends, home and job. However, these
worldly loves usually occupy a larger part of our heart, time and energy than
our devotion to God does. This means that we only give God a fraction of our
dedication. We put the cart before the horse. Eventually, since we put our
priorities in the wrong order, our life comes to a standstill. We hit a brick
wall of negative emotions and defeat. We lose everything we hold dear.
What if life snatches
everything we have away from us? Would we still love God? Is our soul – our
mind, will and emotions - thirsty for God? Do we long for Him as if we are in a
dry and weary land without any water? Is His love for us better than anything
life has to offer? (Psalm
63:1-3). Do we serve Him with all of our
thoughts and affection?
(Deuteronomy 11:13). If not, we stand
the chance of losing our faith, hope and joy if life takes away from us any one
of these temporal things we focus on; and even more so, if we lose them all.
Everything in this life is
temporal and fleeting. We can lose our spouse, children, friends, home, job,
health and hobbies in an instant of time. I lived through a very hard time
in my life. Even through rejection, relocation and restoration, however, I
never lacked anything I needed. I kept my focus on Christ first, and He always
provided me with physical, emotional, mental and spiritual abundance and more
resources than I could have ever thought to ask Him for (Matthew 6:33).
God is the only entity in life that is
everlasting. He promises never to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
As we relinquish our
attachment to anything pertaining to this world, God fills our life with
Himself. His opinion of us, love for us, favor on us and His presence in our
life become more fulfilling than our relationship with anything or anyone in
this world. Once we line up our priorities with God first, He provides
everything we need (Psalm
68:6). God did and does so much for us.
He wants us to seek Him first and to completely surrender all of our spirit,
soul and body to Him. Then He will give us everything else in more abundance
than we can ever think of or ask for (Matthew 6:33). When
He fills the void in our soul, which makes us feel empty and lonely, nothing
can ever take that away from us.
God gives us a double
portion of His Spirit (Psalm
23:3). He restores our self-worth and
enthusiasm. He provides for our physical health and bodily needs as well (Proverbs 3:8; Isaiah 38:16). Jesus comes to dwell in us, and we also dwell in Him
(1 John 4:13). It is no longer us that lives in our body and soul,
but Christ lives in us and through us (Galatians 2:20).
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, I place You like
a seal over my affections, words and actions. For Your love for us is stronger
than death. It flashes like fire, the brightest kind of flame. Many waters
cannot quench Your love, nor can rivers drown it. You promise never to leave us
or forsake us and Your love is eternal. You have given us eternal comfort and
good hope through Your grace and we thank You now and always (Song of Solomon 8:6-7; Hebrews 13:5;
2 Thessalonians 2:16).
Thought for the Day:
God wants all of me, not
just on Sundays, but on every other day of the week as well.Thank you, Marianne Lordi, for the use of your photo.
