Sold Out

I saw a sign on the way to work that stated, "Do whatever it takes to serve the Lord." As I thought about that, I was struck by the fact that the emphasis was on service and service at any cost. The Bibles says in Isaiah 64:6, "...all our righteous acts are like filthy rags..." which suggests that God is not interested in our service.

We have it all backward. We get the cart before the horse as it were. If we take the portion of the phase, "whatever it takes" and examine it a bit, we may get a clearer picture of how God wants us to serve Him. Psalms 24:3-4 tells us that in order to ascend the hill of the Lord (to be in God's presence), we must have clean hands and a pure heart. We need to be cleansed from our unrighteousness--our sinful actions, thoughts, etc. We do this by confessing our sinfulness and then decide to not do those things again. We ask the Lord to forgive us and purify our hearts. We fill our minds with the Word of God and meditate on it daily. The meditation continues until we have heard from God--when He shows us something we need to work on or to change. When receive that Word, we immediately act upon it. This develops your relationship with God and allows you to slowly begin the change from babe to mature adult child of God.

This is hard work. Our whole being fights against this process because we are utterly sinful by our very nature. In fact, we can't do it on our own, we need the Holy Spirit alive and working in our lives. We can't begin to do anything for God until we have heard from Him and we see him working in an area that He shows us. This revelation may only be given to you or it may be given to multiple people. The bottom line is that we need to act when God speaks.

Now we are ready for service. It comes at a big price. We have to give up all the ungodly things that make us comfortable/happy/statisfied/etc. and begin the process of allowing God to work in our lives. In essence, we must die so that God can mold us into His image before He can effectively use us. But, this is where every Christian should be in their walk with the Lord. Acts of service is a natural progression when you have your spiritual house in order, but not before.

James 2:26 states, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." James is pointing out that the exercising of your faith shows through in works or deeds. If your faith grows, it will show in what you do, how you act and what you think. People around you will be affected by this as well. Ultimately, to be able to, "serve the Lord", you must pay the cost of discipleship (dying to self) everyday to be effective.

My challenge to you is to serve the Lord, but do what is necessary in your life to serve Him effectively and not half-hearted or in your own power. The world needs REAL Christians, clean and full of the spirit, and not the made up fake ones that are so prevailent in our society today. What's stopping you from being a sold out child of God?

God Bless,
Robert