“But your hearts must be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.”
1 Kings 8:61
I have to tell you, God has really been working on my heart through the words of Solomon in 1 Kings. Solomon is a pretty cool dude if I say so myself. Today, I read about him building the temple to the Lord that his father, David, had planned but was told by God that it wasn't in His plan for David to build. After finishing the temple, Solomon spoke a wise prayer, during the dedication of the temple he built, praising God and pleading with him to show forgiveness to those who sin against him if they come to him wanting forgiveness and wanting to turn their lives around. After he prayed this, he spoke to the people and one of the things he said was this. "But your hearts must be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time." (1 Kings 8:61 NIV)
This really struck a chord with me, because it was very similar to the sermon that was spoken at church on Sunday. One of the points made during the delivery of this message was that in order to take a stand to do what's right in the eyes of God, we as believers have to be ALL in. When it comes to believing in Jesus, there really is no gray area as we sometimes want to believe. We are either for Him or against Him. We either live our lives by His commands or we don't.
God gave us the beautiful gift of choice and free will. He wants us to choose Him, but He loves us enough to allow us to choose. He knows that when we choose His way rather than feeling forced to follow Him, our relationship with Him means so much more to us and it ultimately means so much more to Him. He knows our hearts more than even we do. He is more concerned with what is in our hearts than our accomplishments.
The reason we do the things we do is so important to God. We can live our lives doing good things, but if we are only doing them to be better than someone else or to bring honor and glory to ourselves, we are not doing them for the right reasons. We need to want to do good to bring honor and glory to Him and to show others the saving grace that is our Lord, Jesus Christ. We need to do good because our heart is committed to God and we know it is the right thing to do.
We as humans have a tendency to want to wait. We say, "Maybe tomorrow, I will commit my heart to God." When we have that attitude, it will never happen. There is always another tomorrow to push it off to, until there isn't any more tomorrows. When we meet God face to face, do we want to tell Him that we were going to commit ourselves to Him tomorrow but didn't get the chance? I know, I don't want to have to say that.
I chose the image above because what else in this world shows a better example of commitment and loyalty? Dogs are the perfect example. Even when we are yelling at them, they come to us tails wagging. When we have been gone all day and we are finally able to come home, who meets us at the door? My girl, Piper, is an inspiration to me. I truly believe God created her to teach me His ways. He wants me to be as committed to Him as she is to me. It is amazing how He creates and uses animals to speak to us and bring us closer to Him.
My challenge to myself and you today is this. Choose today. Don't wait for tomorrow. Pray to Him and commit your heart to Him. Today. Be all in, 100% on team Jesus. Starting Today.
*In need of prayer today? I would be happy to pray for you or someone you know! Just leave a comment below or send me a private message using the form on the "Contact Me" page. Also, check out the new "Prayer Concerns" page and join me in praying for those on our list.
No comments:
Post a Comment