If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
—Matthew 16:25 (NLT)
What is the most important thing in your life this Christmas? Is there something or someone that you are afraid you are going to lose? Do you hold on to someone too tightly because you are afraid you will lose them? If you try to hang on to your life, Jesus said, you will lose it. When a relationship you have with someone or what you possess is more important than your relationship with God, you lose intimacy with Him. Your understanding of who you are in Christ takes a hit. You lose your life to what you desire instead of having an intimate and open relationship with your Father.
“Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be,” Jesus also said.
What do you treasure? If it is a person, then your desires about that relationship are foremost in your mind. If it is something you want, then the yearning for ownership outweighs anything else. Whatever your treasure becomes the desire of your heart. If you hang on to what you desire instead of what the Lord desires in you, you lose the revelation truth of your relationship with God. But if you treasure your relationship with God in Jesus Christ above anything else in your life, then the desire of your heart is what the Holy Spirit reveals to you.
When you give up your life for His sake, you save it. Giving up your life for Him is all about your priorities. Jesus put you first when He died on the Cross for your sins—your healing—your provision—your total restoration. You were then and still are His number-one priority. Is He yours, or do other relationships or wants or things get in the way? If you hang on to them—if you make them more important than your relationship with Him, you lose intimacy with Him. If you give up those things that pull you away from Him, you find His life. These paradoxes are real in Christ. Letting go and allowing God to be first in your life, promises intimacy with Him. Putting Christ first will save you from the ultimate bitterness of a self-focused life.
Peace and joy are tangible when you have a divine revelation of how much Jesus treasures and loves you. Your desire to cherish Him springs from your understanding of what He has done for you on Calvary. Learn who He says you are. Know who He is in your life. You are the ultimate desire of His heart. Let Him be your ultimate desire.
Let go and let him have all of you—spirit, mind, and body.
“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
© Lynn Lacher 2022
www.lynnlacher.com/2022/12/let-him-have-all-of-you.html
No comments:
Post a Comment