A life of pure devotion.

In the midst of living the Christian life, we come to a place where we find ourselves lost and unsatisfied. There’s a strong longing for more, but we craftily cover it up with the busyness of this world every time it makes its way to the surface. The passion that once burned inside our hearts is barely alive, yet there’s a tiny voice that screams through the ashes- telling us to protect the almost invisible flame from vanishing completely. We know this is not the abundant life Jesus talked about during His life here on earth, but we are too caught up in the things of this world to see what’s truly going on. It’s so easy to give our heart’s devotion to something other than God. Anything apart from God that takes His place in our life is an idol. Many times, these idols are not necessarily bad in themselves, but they violate God’s commandment which urges us to love Him above all else. Maybe you’re living a moral life, and you also fluff it up with acts of service, but if God is not first in your life- your efforts are in vain. The truth is, God doesn’t want bits and pieces, He wants your entire heart, mind, body, and soul. The tragedy sometimes is that we go to church on Sunday and worship God only with our lips, but our hearts are far from Him. The closeness that was once felt in our relationship with God is fading away and everything in our life seems to spin out of control. So, what happened? Our heart’s devotion has been stolen by the enemy in a very subtle manner. In most cases, he won’t throw something as heavy as sexual immorality our way because it would be a little too obvious. The enemy wants you to believe that you’re doing everything right because he wants you to have no idea that your heart’s deepest desire is not God anymore. Somewhere along our walk with the Lord, we started to forget that we are living for God, not for ourselves. Deep down inside our hearts, our devotion shifted because we started loving other things more than we love God. The sad part is that we now serve God because of the things we can receive from Him, but we take no time in actually getting to know Him. Worship to us has become a routine that we carry out every Sunday, instead of it being a reflection of the way we live our life throughout the entire week- as a true burnt offering for the Lover of our hearts. Our relationship with God has become dry and shallow over time, and the result of that is a change in us, not God. He always stays the same. Brothers and sisters, let us not allow anything to take the place of God in our lives! God needs to be our top priority. Not family, not friends, not our careers/hobbies, etc. When we become consumed with earthly things instead of making God our reason for existing, our hearts become dead and cold. However, our hearts can become alive and full of passion again! How? By turning our eyes upon God and loving Him more than anything in this life. Love Him not because of what you can benefit from Him, but because He is worthy of your love and complete devotion. Get to know God, read His Word not because you’re expected to, but because you know the power it has and you want that power to unleash in your life. Talk to God. Do not mumble brainlessly, but let your prayers be new every time you spend time in His presence. Remember, He always talks back. Prayer is a conversation, not a monologue. Be ready to listen and obey when He makes you aware of things that need to be changed in your life! He needs to be in control, not you. Finally, let our hearts burn for the One whose heart is filled with a fiery passion towards us!!! God deserves everything we are and more. Will you love God more than anything in this life?