Devotion to Christ

The Bible has some absolutely shocking stories in it—like some of the experiences from the days of the Kings of Israel—and 2 Kings 10:16-17 contains one such shocking encounter:

Then Jehu said, “Now, come with me, and see how devoted to the Lord I am.” So Jehonadab rode along with him. When Jehu arrived in Samaria, he killed everyone who was left there from Ahab’s family, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.

Ouch! I’m so glad that God doesn’t require devotion like this from His children today, but you know what, He does require that we show a level of devotion that leads to a crucifixion of SELF. We are told in Galatians 5:24 that “those who belong to Jesus Christ have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there.” 1 Timothy 5:11 says “the younger widows should not be on the list, because their physical desires will overpower their devotion to Christ…”

Let me ask you a question: what desires of the flesh, physical desires and pursuits, do you need to nail to the cross of Christ in order to be completely devoted to Him? To find out, take a look at your day planner, your PDA or your calendar and kill those appointments that have overpowered YOUR devotion to Christ. Line them out in RED INK and write in place of them “Devotion to Christ”…we cannot let physical desires overpower our devotion to Christ. There is no life in that. Christ came to give us abundant life, but we have to choose that life and that is a daily choice we make.

God bless each one of you. Let’s pray for each other that we will each be able to crucify that which keeps us distracted, overly-busy and weighed down so that we may live lives devoted to Jesus Christ and may we all worship Him with arms high and hearts abandoned in awe to the One who gave it all.