More Than My Own Life
"I mean, yeah, I'm stuck in this right now but at the end of the day I choose Jesus."
How many times have we heard some variation of this claim? That somebody is persisting in something that's not what the Lord wants from them, but at the end of the day they love Jesus. "At the end of the day" translates to "after I'm done doing this thing that's causing rebellion in my heart, then I'm going to go back to Jesus and say I'm sorry and obey him."
"At the end of the day" basically means "not in the way that God wants us to."
"At the end of the day" means that we're not willing to lay down that thing in obedience when Jesus asks us to, because our hands are clinging to a desire that we're not willing to get go of.
"At the end of the day" isn't true obedience, and therefore it's not true, wholehearted love.
In John 14:23 Jesus says "all who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them." That means that its not enough for us to just say that we love Jesus, but that we must love Him in action. Personally, when God convicts me to do something, I don't feel peace until I actually act out the command, not when I just resolve in my mind to do it. If we follow this dangerous "at the end of the day" mentality, we soon arrive at the even more treacherous "at the end of my life" mindset which says "I still have time, so I'll just get right with God later after I'm done doing what I want."
If we are to obey Jesus completely, then we must love Jesus with our whole life. We can't crawl into bed at night and ask Him what He wants us to do when we're hoarding things in our hearts that He's asked us to let go of. Our actions during the day display what measure of love and obedience we have, and if our actions only serve our desires, we seek His plans in vain.
Life is not just the unit as a whole, but the individual decisions and moments and sacrifices. We cannot offer up as a whole what we are not willing to sacrifice in pieces.
To live a life of obedience, and offering, and love, we must choose what our priorities are. This means that we must truly love Jesus more than anything.
More than our dignity.
More than our desires.
More than our opinions.
More than our own lives.
God values our obedience, and He understands our struggle. However, if we're not willing to give something up, then we must count the cost. Is that thing worth idolizing? Is it worth sacrificing your role in the plans that God wants to carry out through your life? Is it worth the disobedience and the lack of peace? No, probably not.
Although it is hard to live dead in body that screams for us to satisfy its wants, I promise you that obeying Jesus and offering up every part of yourself is worth it. He is worth far more than your own life, and far more than anything else that you may desire for your life to be. Take it from a girl who has had trouble opening up her clenched hands and offering up her own desires: nothing that you're withholding from Him will ever have a better reward than the sweetness of obedience that He gives in return for your sacrifice.
Offer up the pieces, and at the end of your life, you will have offered up the whole.
Don't wait until the end of the day.
1 Samuel 15:22 "But Samuel replied, "What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams."
How many times have we heard some variation of this claim? That somebody is persisting in something that's not what the Lord wants from them, but at the end of the day they love Jesus. "At the end of the day" translates to "after I'm done doing this thing that's causing rebellion in my heart, then I'm going to go back to Jesus and say I'm sorry and obey him."
"At the end of the day" basically means "not in the way that God wants us to."
"At the end of the day" means that we're not willing to lay down that thing in obedience when Jesus asks us to, because our hands are clinging to a desire that we're not willing to get go of.
"At the end of the day" isn't true obedience, and therefore it's not true, wholehearted love.
In John 14:23 Jesus says "all who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them." That means that its not enough for us to just say that we love Jesus, but that we must love Him in action. Personally, when God convicts me to do something, I don't feel peace until I actually act out the command, not when I just resolve in my mind to do it. If we follow this dangerous "at the end of the day" mentality, we soon arrive at the even more treacherous "at the end of my life" mindset which says "I still have time, so I'll just get right with God later after I'm done doing what I want."
If we are to obey Jesus completely, then we must love Jesus with our whole life. We can't crawl into bed at night and ask Him what He wants us to do when we're hoarding things in our hearts that He's asked us to let go of. Our actions during the day display what measure of love and obedience we have, and if our actions only serve our desires, we seek His plans in vain.
Life is not just the unit as a whole, but the individual decisions and moments and sacrifices. We cannot offer up as a whole what we are not willing to sacrifice in pieces.
To live a life of obedience, and offering, and love, we must choose what our priorities are. This means that we must truly love Jesus more than anything.
More than our dignity.
More than our desires.
More than our opinions.
More than our own lives.
God values our obedience, and He understands our struggle. However, if we're not willing to give something up, then we must count the cost. Is that thing worth idolizing? Is it worth sacrificing your role in the plans that God wants to carry out through your life? Is it worth the disobedience and the lack of peace? No, probably not.
Although it is hard to live dead in body that screams for us to satisfy its wants, I promise you that obeying Jesus and offering up every part of yourself is worth it. He is worth far more than your own life, and far more than anything else that you may desire for your life to be. Take it from a girl who has had trouble opening up her clenched hands and offering up her own desires: nothing that you're withholding from Him will ever have a better reward than the sweetness of obedience that He gives in return for your sacrifice.
Offer up the pieces, and at the end of your life, you will have offered up the whole.
Don't wait until the end of the day.
1 Samuel 15:22 "But Samuel replied, "What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams."
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