So it's almost the Christmas season. I already posted a Christmas blog, but I had a good friend inspire me to write a different blog post too. The problem is, I want to focus on Christmas at the same time as write the blog post I had in mind. Therefore, I am going to try to join what I was going to write as well as the Christmas theme and see how it goes.
Honestly, one of my favorite things of Christmas is giving people presents. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love receiving presents as much as anyone. Yet there's something about being able to give someone a present and trying to show them that you love them, and them opening the gift you gave them. I love to give people presents. But how much have I focused on what I'm giving Christ? Not much. Here's what I want to talk about: What does Christ want from us?
Christ wants us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, and mind. He wants us to devote our entire lives to Him. But what does that really mean? What does it really mean to give up what our flesh wants and give everything we have to Him?
1. It means letting go of what we want and trusting God and His will. Devoting our lives to God isn't easy. There is a way I want my life to go. I want to grow up, go to a good college, get married to a godly man who loves me and God, and I want to be a writer. But what if God has something different for me? What if God wants me to stay single and be a missionary for Him in South America? Will I still be willing to do His will? I have to, if I am serious about devoting my life to God. I need to trust that His way is best, no matter what I want.
2. It means seeking to bring Him glory in everything. 1 Corinthians 10:31-"So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." Everthing. Whether it's preparing for school, playing in a soccer game, spendingyour time/money, it's all to be to the glory of God. If God isn't being glorified in something that you are doing, than you probably shouldn't be doing it.
3. It means loving God more than anything. That's a small sentence, but it has a big meaning. Loving God more than anything includes loving God more than yourself, more than sin, more than your friends, boyfriend, family...EVERYTHING. Putting God first place in your life is part of giving your entire life to Him.
4. It means loving others more than yourself. Part of being devoted to God is serving and loving others, for that's what Christ did here on earth. There's probably people in all of our lives who we have a difficulty loving more than ourselves. But that's what we are called to do--love even the people who it seems impossible to love-- if we are followers of Jesus.
5. It means devoting your time, energy, and heart to follow Christ. Can we possibly be fully devoted to God if we never spend time to learn from His Word or learn from speaking to Him and letting Him speak to us? No. How would we ever know what He wants us to do with our lives? How are we able to do His will if we don't even know what His will is?
So what does God want from us? Total devotion. He wants us to put Him first place in our lives. He wants to be glorified in everything we do. This Christmas, we need to be focused on what we can give to God, as well as others. God wants us: our time, energy, life, heart, soul, and mind. He's looking for total devotion to Him.
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