Last week, I was on an ooVoo chat with my Thursday night Bible study group (shoutout to the women of "FaVa"!), and one of the members made a purely transparent statement as we exchanged prayer requests. She asked that we pray for God to increase her desire to live for Him wholeheartedly because she understood that it didn't matter how dedicated she was to Bible study if her heart and mind were not focused on abandoning the old her for a new Holy Spirit induced upgrade.Wow!
Ok, so maybe I changed the wording a little, but that was her main point.
It's amazing how many times we belive that we can live a Christian life being half in and half out, partially in love with God and partially in love with the world, somewhat wanting to change and somewhat blissfully settling for medicrity. We complacently give God a piece of us, and then say He's abandoned us when we think He hasn't given us His all.
James 1:22-24 says,
"Do what God's teaching says; when you only listen and do nothing, you are fooling yourselves. Those who hear God's teaching and do nothing are like people who look at themselves in a mirror. They see their faces and then go away and quickly forget what they looked like (NCV)."I'm not sure if I even understood the magnitude of that Scripture the first time I read it a few years ago. I lived so much of my life foregtting my own reflection, foregtting that I was made in the image of God. Completely satisfied with the portion of God I was getting at the result of me only giving Him a portion of me. I didn't really desire to know Him. If I did, I wouldn't have been simply listening to what my pastor was saying, and still doing something elese. I wouldn't have been reading Scriptures in text messages I got from family members, friends, and co-workers and just giving them a quick head-nod in agreeance before I closed my phone and texted whoever my current "boo-thang" was. (Yes, I said "boo-thang, lol). I wanted to reap all of the benefits that I knew God had stored up for those who followed Him, but I didn't want to make the sacrifices necessary to receive those blessings.
But I tell you now...God is so DESIRABLE! His love is like nothing I have every experienced. He is my everything. I am getting super-excited as I type right now just thinking about Him, and knowing that He's watching me right now. I am His daughter; He is my true Father...my King. Once I made the choice to go all in for Him, He increased my desire even more with every word I read. James 5 goes on to say in verse 25a, "But the truly happy people are those who carefully study God's perfect law that makes people free, and they continue to study it (NCV)." AMEN! The more I take the time to really pour myself into God's word, the more desireable a relationship with Him becomes. My eyes are opened to my shortcomings, and I am made even more aware that He is the only way I can be whole.
Plainly put, the simple fact that He desired me so much that He sent Jesus to die so I could one day spend eternity with Him is all I need to know to make Him be forever desireable in my heart.
With A Servant's Heart,
Ashley Danielle
Oooooo, I love this post! Thanks so much.
ReplyDeleteI have been watching this belief/behavior inconsistency in "Christians" for years and trying to ID where we have gone wrong in our Gospel presentation. I grew up w/ wholly in or wholly out so I don't get this hands in the air worship on Sun. morning after having been drinkin' at the bar w/ friends on Sat. nite. NOT that we have a WORKS Gospel; "may it never be" but that we have a relationship....that we don't walk in & out & in & out of. We're IN (the relationship/marriage)or we're OUT.
Thanks for perfectly summing it up ...when we accept our Beloved's love for us....it changes all of our desires! Nicely done, sister.
Wow, this post is so powerful to me. I heard somewhere recently that you may have people who constantly go to church (attending every service), but when ask to put the word in action--sharing the gospel or helping those in need--there is a lack of participation. I think culturally we have been secretly conforming the gospel to our own image and because it looks like the way we want to see, there is no need to truly grow closer to God and the things he has commanded us to do. James is so right when he say we forget our image. We need to ask the Lord to help us to accept the image that He has created us in, I think only then will we be able to worship in spirit and in truth.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing your thoughts :-)
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