Jesus Wants ALL of me
Jesus Wants ALL of Me
There has been a redundant message spinning around my mind these past few weeks. Whether I am studying my devotion or listening to our pastor preach; whether I am having coffee with a friend or sharing with our small group - the same message enters my spirit and just resonates there, “Jesus wants all of me.” Jesus wants all of me. Wow, Jesus wants all of me. Think about that for a minute. The same is true for you as well.
God has blessed me with an incredibly beautiful and wonderful second granddaughter, Abigail. Abigail is 11 months old and she wants all of me, too. When she is with me she wants all of my attention. If she is on my hip and I begin to talk to someone else she will put her face in front of my face. If I start to do something other than play with her, she will yell out or make her way toward me. She wants me to focus on her, play with her, pay attention to her. It is absolutely adorable and makes me chuckle. But is that so different from our Heavenly Father? When we begin to focus on other things, sometimes He puts His face in front of our face. Sometimes He has to get our attention. Sometimes He moves toward us and reveals His presence. He wants us to focus on Him. But we are so distracted by things we only think are important – and we forget, Jesus wants all of me.
There is a passage that I have read so many times – yet suddenly it has become alive and so real to me.
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in Heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2: 5-11
This scripture begins, “let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”. Busted right there! Think about what Jesus did – He surrendered all – He left His Heavenly throne and came to walk on this earth as a man – He served, sacrificed and suffered - surrendering His life to the point of death. He surrendered all….all…all…so that you and I could have eternal life. What love! What sacrifice! And when we call ourselves a Christian we are saying that we are seeking to be Christ like. Are we? Are we striving to become more like Him? Are we surrendering our all? Do we understand and live like we believe that Jesus wants all of me?
What would it look like if we surrendered all?
Jesus wants all of me! That means He wants us to relinquish our control issues and allow Him to have control over our life, our thoughts and our actions. We spend so much of every day saying things like, “I want, I think, I need” without giving any thought to what God’s will for our life is. We want to control our life and everything in it, so we pray and ask God to help us do that. Is that what Jesus did? Did He say, “Okay God I am going to do this dying on the cross thing, but here is how I want it to go.”? Nope. He surrendered His control and walked that path trusting in God and seeking to do His will.
Jesus wants all of me! That means He wants us to release all of the strongholds we have allowed Satan to have in our lives – our fears, our insecurities, our comparisons, our negativity, our need for approval, our loneliness; our bitterness, our health and diet; our relationships and on and on and on. Everything. All of me. Many of these strongholds begin in our thought life. Satan whispers lies and we believe them to be true. We grab hold of them and live our life convinced that we are justified in our feelings. But the Bible tells us to “bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”. Are our thoughts true? The Bible tells us that God’s word is the truth and His word clearly tells us that we can do all things through Christ; that all things in our life work together for good; that we are to love unconditionally and walk in faith; that we are loved with an everlasting love and we are a child of the King. So simple…yet we cling to our stronghold instead of clinging to Christ. When you feel stuck and struggle to get Satan’s lies out of your head, just whisper, “Jesus”. Sometimes it is all we can say. Whatever your stronghold – whatever your stuggle – God is enough.
Jesus wants all of me! That means He wants us to trust and obey Him. Our pastor preached on this last week and it was powerful. Do we trust and obey? Just sit still for one minute and ask yourself, “Do I trust in God for everything? Do I obey Him and do and think and live as He has commanded?” Ugh! It is hard when we have to be honest with ourselves and realize that we are far from where we truly should be. How can we learn to trust and obey? I believe it begins with spending time with the Lord every day. My sweet friend, Judy often says, “Seek ye first!” and she means it. Before she steps a toe out of bed in the morning she reads her devotional and Bible and spends time seeking the Lord. That makes it so much easier to hear Him and focus on Him. We CAN trust Him. He is faithful to keep all of His promises. But do we obey Him? Okay, I am going to be transparent here. I am an entrepreneur and it comes natural for me to look at the big picture of things. So, if we are discussing a business idea I am going to consider how it will play out down the road, how others will be affected and what the benefits will be. However it doesn’t work that way with God. Remember, He says “My ways are not your ways.” So, instead of painting the big picture for me – He just shows me the step He wants me to take. And I say, “but what about this and what about that? How will that play out? What will come from it?” And He says nothing. You see, in our Christian walk we have to obey first. The act of obedience brings about understanding. I heard a sermon once where a pastor preached about praying a one word prayer – “YES!” That is what we should pray. “Yes, Lord - whatever it is you want me to do; wherever it is you want me to go; whoever you want me to serve – Yes, Lord I will.”
So, here it is Christmas time. It is the time of year we celebrate the birth of Christ. Christ - the One who came to die for us so that we could have the greatest gift of all – eternity with Him. As we celebrate and give out Christmas gifts – what do we have for Him? He is whispering, “I want all of you.” He is proclaiming, “I want all of you.” He is shouting, “I want all of you.” Yes, it’s true. Jesus wants all of me. For Him – it would be the greatest gift ever – if we surrendered all of “me” to Him and His will for our lives!
Merry Christmas and much love to you all as you celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior with family and friends.
p.s. Invite others to join you!