Wholehearted service

Sometimes it just amazes me how easily we put sin before Christ. We all strive and long for a deep relationship with someone who understands us. This is why so often we get into broken, messed up relationships. We are all looking for love and looking for someone to love. But how is it in our quest that we so often miss the One in which we will find all of this? God is the Captain of our faith, our comfort, our strength, our hope, our life! There is nothing in this life that He cannot satisfy or make right. But h, so many times how we chose sin over His love!

Jesus says "You cannot serve two masters; God and mammon". I think many times we do not realize what this means. We pray the sinners prayer, go to church, read our Bibles every day (or at least every other day), and we are content with that. So why is there that void? Why is reading God's living word so mundane and boring. Why does prayer just feel like recitation of requests and praises that we know are what we are supposed to say? The answer many times is that we are living with one hand in the world, and one hand in Christ and His kingdom. We want the best of two worlds. We are like the rich young ruler. We just cannot give up that little bosom sin we have. For some, it may be partying, drinking, pornography, sex, you know, the bad stuff! But wait, anything put above or in place of God is a sin. What about that work that keeps you from God, or the desire for fame and fortune, or that relationship not centered on God, or eating food when you know you shouldn't, or even that bad TV show that you know you shouldn't be watching, or that bad word that just keeps coming out whenever you get mad. All these things take the place of God. We may not think so especially when we actually do take time for God in our lives too, but sin and God cannot both abide healthily. No we cannot lose our salvation, and no, we will never be perfect, but we cannot blatantly live in sin and at the same time have a healthy relationship with the Lord. You cannot marry someone and still be seeing other people, and if you do, your relationship will crumble very quickly.

But these sins are so hard to eliminate. And it's so easy to give up and give in. Just remember, God loves you, and He wants more than anything to be close to you. He wants to be your satisfaction and your peace in life. And He can be. But first, we must let go! We must lose control, and break free of those lusts and temptations that so often control us. God wants our whole heart, not just part of it. So pray to Him to help you. You cannot do it on your own, and He does not expect you to. He wants to do it for you, and He can. He has done it in my life so many times, I cannot even count. Never have I had a more faithful friend than my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is there for me even when I hide from Him. And He can pull you through your greatest trial. He can release you from the bondage of your most loved sin. Go to Him, and pour your heart out before Him. It is your first step towards true peace and contentment.

Relationships, ahhh, that heated topic...

So what separates a "relationship" from a "friendship", and why should one make that separation? HAH, I've been asking myself that question since I broke up with my first boyfriend. I swore I'd never "date" again until I found the right one, but it turns out I've done that three more times since then. And every time I get in a relationship, it's the same old story. We hit it off great, we start spending lots of time together, we start telling eachother how much we love eachother, etc. Then the holding hands comes in, and you can't leave out the hugging and kissing! Ah, the relationship is going great, we love eachother, and hopefully sometime soon we'll get married because we can't stand to be apart. But hmm, what happened to that spiritual aspect? We used to at least talk about God alittle, but now we're lucky if we get a chapter of Bible thrown in before we start all the emotional mess.

What makes relationships go this way? Why do I have deeper spiritual conversations with even my casual friends than with my "boyfriends"? It's like I am totally on fire for God in all aspects of my life, but when I get with that "special someone" it all goes out the window, and soon I find myself in an emotional shipwreck not looking to God in anything. Man, will I ever figure it out?

Thinking and praying about it, I think the answer lies in this. Why get involved emotionally and physically just to "date"? What is it going to do for the souls of both parties? God made physical intimacy for a man and a woman when they become one in His sight, that is, when they take their vows and become married. Yes, a relationship does have to grow, but it needs to grow first and foremost spiritually. To be blunt but honest about it, at least how I feel, if two people do not agree spiritually and are not basing their relationship soley on God, they have no buisness being anything more than friends. I want to live my life for God, and if anything stands in my way, I need to evaluate exactly what I am doing. The Bible says if your right hand offends you, cut it off. There is nothing wrong with your right hand in and of itself, but the purpose of the passage is, even if something that seems good draws you away from God and or leads you into sin, you must eliminate it from your life. So even if a relationship that seems good is causing me to lose focus on God, I need to back up and revaluate things in my own life. I should not even consider marrying someone, and in turn, dating someone, unless I see us both drawing eachother closer to God and together bettering God's kingdom. A proper relationship is not two way, it's a pyramid, with God at the top.

So there's my take on it all. I just had to get that off my chest. God bless you all, and if you are in a relationship, ask yourselves this question? What do the two of you do for eachother spiritually (not just are you both saved and go to church), and how does your relationship better the kingdom of God? I think you will find that true contentment in a relationship lies in these two questions, no matter how much it may hurt to admit the truth.