7.7.24 Willisburg Bulletin
LIFELONG COMMITMENT
Artist Henry Moore said, ““the secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for the rest of your life. And the most important thing is, it must be something you cannot possible do.” If God is not the person you bring everything to, spend every minute with, and can’t get enough of them you are not fully devoted to God. Is God your life’s devotion? If it is, you will seek to make your relationship with Him stronger! It won’t be something you just do on Sunday and sometimes Wednesday. Devotion’s synonyms include loyalty, faithfulness, allegiance, consistency, commitment, love, fondness, and care. When you hear those, who do you think about? Do you think of God? We all know He has and does hold up His end of the deal all the time. Do I hold up my end or do I let everything else take over my time with God? Do I even pray to Him, read His word, or share His word with others? It is easy to let things of this world encompass all of us and we end up with nothing to give God. We often times are devoted to our job, our family, our friends, or even a project at the time. And those are not bad, but our first commitment should be to Christ.
CONSISTENCY
Acts 1:14 says they continually devoted themselves… Colossians 4:2 says continue earnestly… Romans 12:10 says devoted to one another… It is all wrapped up in Ecclesiastes 12:13, “… fear God and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Being constant in our loyalty is what God desires. We show our faithfulness through obedience. We have the rule book, yet sometimes we fail. In fact, if we say we don’t, we are liars. But even in our most broken state, we can be devoted to God. When we have a contrite heart and are completely willing to purge the sin out, that’s when God desires us! God wants our hearts and sometimes it takes getting to the broken heart to realize that exact thing. David’s devotion to God is clearly seen in the Psalms and in chapter 51 we can see his devotion through his repentance after the sin with Bathsheba. David was sincerely cut to the heart with knowing he grieved God. However, he knew only in Christ is there joy and loving kindness. All David had to offer was a broken heart, but God accepts just that. It’s an understanding that sin is a total destruction of our relationship with God and that forgiveness is a gift. God doesn’t havw to give it to us, but He promises He will if we truly repent.
WHAT DOES A LIFE OF DEVOTION LOOK LIKE?
when we truly commit to serving God, we make it a lifelong promise to be devoted to God. Diligently seeking and rejoicing in Him shows our devotion. When we love wholeheartedly and unconditionally we show others the devotion God shows us. If we have a marriage founded in the truth, it makes us draw closer to Him. When our forgiveness is based on His principle, our devotion is evident. And when challenges arise, we face them head on, revealing we are His child. Matthew 6:24 says we can’t serve two masters and when it comes to devotion, you can only FULLY be devoted to one. We constantly think about our family in the back of our mind wherever we go, as it ought to be with God. Our devotion needs to be a never ending yearning to be faithful to Him.