For the last three days I have had the chorus to one particular song pop up in my head many times during the day. Perhaps it’s because I’ve really been pondering lately how much we are able to fully give ourselves to God and still live in this world. I used to hear the words, “He/ She’s sold out for Jesus” in the 80’s and 90’s, but you don’t really hear that anymore. I digress… Here’s a portion of the song ‘All to You’ by Lincoln Brewster.
I'm living my life for You And I'm giving everything to You
Not holding back, from every part
I'm giving it all to You
I think a lot of us desire to live our lives for the Lord, we just don’t know what that truly means from God’s perspective. We do know that He considers the two most important things to be to love Him with all our being, and to love others as ourselves. So we try to fill those two things in the way we think we should do them. But God’s mind is not our mind. He often sees more in us than we see in ourselves and so we shortchange the Lord by doing only what we think we can do.
Like the song, we need to give everything to Him. Not just our words and actions, but our hopes, dreams, reputations, skills, really- everything but most of all our willingness to do what He wants us to do, even if we think we can’t do it. Have you ever noticed though, that no matter how often you say you give it all to Him, that you are still holding part of you back? I have, and I wonder why that is. Is it selfishness, lack of commitment, fear, pride, lack of knowledge, or am I simply expecting more of me than what the Lord expects? That has been my contemplation of late.
One thing I do know, and this is from another part of the song…
You are the Lord of all I am
And, I'll never be the same again
Twenty some years ago when Jesus became the Lord of my life, I changed- for the better. It has been a long and often treacherous journey so far, but the journey from who I was to who I am today has been astounding. Life with the Lord is never boring. He is here waiting for me every morning and He continues to work in my life. He doesn’t mind when I question things, but leads me on His path (Pr. 3:5,6) one step at a time. (2Cor. ; Pr. 16:9) I am aiming to give my life completely to Him, from His point of view, and so I will follow Him (John ) on the path He has laid before me trusting that His light (Ps. 119:105) will guide me along the way.
and I will continue to be transformed…
(Rom. 12:2)