Is this true for you? "I want to know Christ the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death," (Phil. 4:15).
Most Christians will say that they want to know God, but how much do you really want to know Him? Do you want to know Him so much that you are willing to share in His sufferings?
If you have ever seen the "Passion of the Christ," this imagery can terrify you, but are you willing to offer everything up to God in order to know Him. This is what I have been thinking about today during my devotional time. Sharing in the suffering with Christ that is a huge. This is what it means to offer everything up to God, "if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me while find it". Don't look over those words lightly. Are you willing to offer everything to God: security, money, safety, comfort, even your life?
Think about this before you sing another worship song about surrending. Is that really what you want? Are you willing to offer control over everything in your life to God? I still think about this daily because it so easy to get caught up in life and try to control things on our own. We live in a culture that says we can control everything. We can control how fast we get our food, where and who we do business with, what we want to be, when we want to have children..this list could go on and on. The reality is this if you really want to know God, you have to offer everything over to God.
You have to give God control over everything in your life, even control over your family and children. I always tell my mom, " you do know that God loves me more than you do". Think about the person you love the most, God loves that person more than you do.
God never said that life would be easy. He does say He will comfort us, give us peace, and eternal life... among other wonderful things. However, there will also be suffering. Are you will to suffer? Are you willing to offer everything to Christ?
In some countries, the moment you decide to become a Christian there is no question that you are surrending everything to God. Some people will lose everything the moment they decide to follow Jesus.
How much do you want to know God? " I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in death" (Phil. 3:10). The reality is that God wants our all so if you are not giving that to God think about what needs to change in your life. Life is short and God does not accept lukewarm people. This is an all or nothing kind of relationship, but sadly many of us are deceiving ourselves if we think we can have a relationship with God without surrending everything to Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment