Living Life for Christ Alone

"One of the teachers of religious law... asked, 'Of all the commandments, which is the most important?' Jesus replied, 'The most important commandment is this: "Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength." The second is equally important: "Love your neighbor as yourself." No other commandment is greater than these.'" (Mark 12:28-31) Have you ever wondered what brings God the most pleasure?   The out-flowing desire of a person who has been redeemed is to know what pleases Him. After all that He did for us in saving us from a life of sin and separation from God, and then eternity in hell still separated from God, it only makes sense to have so much gratitude in your heart that you want to do something for Him.

"How can I rest in You and be at peace when storms keep coming my way, God? It seems like every time I settle down another one comes and I'm on my feet again." That question was one that I asked God this morning. Sometimes, I pull out my journal and instead of closing my eyes to pray, I write a prayer to God. Mainly because it is so hard to find the words when I'm just talking. At the end of the prayer, I closed the journal, opened my bible to Jeremiah and began to read. I began in chapter 16 and read through to 17. A passage grabbed my attention that I had underlined in purple and gold on one or two of my previous read-through's.

As I sit here, preparing to write a post that I know I must write after praying and talking with God, I find that there is no adequate way to begin this. Let me just get to the point... I have been reading in Jeremiah for the past couple of days and this morning was so struck by how hurt God must feel when His beloved people turn from Him to worship other "gods". Stick with me here... I imagine that most of you who call yourselves Christians probably read that sentence and said to yourself, "nope, that's not me. I haven't gone and worshiped another god." But let me keep writing about God's heart to you for a second and then I'll explain...

This morning, I was spending my time alone with the Lord, and asked Him, "where do you want me to spend this time?" I had been meditating on 1 Peter, but for some reason found myself in the first chapter of 2 Peter. I got stuck on verse 3 and couldn't seem to leave it to read the rest. I took out my pen and began to write one phrase at a time... "According as His divine power..."  It is God, not man, that has all the power that we need. It's all about Him and what He can do. His power is divine. Nowhere else but in Him can we find it.