A Year Through God's Eyes

O Lord, I give my life to you. I trust in You my God!"

I've always been amazed when a preacher takes one phrase or verse from Scripture and sculpt an entire sermon around it. I didn't ever really understand why they would choose to do that, either. I mean, you've got centuries worth of material, why use just one snippet? I think I'm beginning to grasp the "why" with the beginning phrases of this psalm. It's very easy to write, talk, or sing about giving our lives to God (Jesus), it's an entirely different animal to live that out each day in every situation that arises.

The hundreds of times a day that I correct a student's behavior, the numerous times I try and teach my daughter, all the interactions I have with co-workers and superiors, as I try to love my wife like Christ loves the church. There are literally millions of times in a day where I make the choice to either give my life to Christ or choose my way as best. I would like to say that my "batting average" in these situations was at least .300, but I usually bat closer to my daughter's weight. There are so many times when I don't even pause to consider how Jesus would have me handle a situation, or stop long enough to listen for His still, small, voice. Instead, I charge out like a bull going in to face a matador and end up killing my relationship with Christ.

I wonder if when David wrote that simple phrase, he realized it would take him a lifetime to attempt? Each time he was given an opportunity to follow his God or go his own way, did he remember the words he had written? Did he feel the weight of them? Did he put up the fight that Paul calls us to in Philippians, 1 Corinthians, and Romans? Did he realize how often he was placed not only in a physical battle but a spiritual one as well? Do I realize this is true for me as well? Do I realize that Satan would delight just as much in my destruction as he did in King David's? Do I realize that it doesn't matter to him if he leads me to destruction or if I take on the task myself? I love the verse we say each Sunday morning at the church and it disturbs me how many people now speak it without feeling the depth of the words or realize how impactful they are: "We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.-Heb. 2:1.

I think we often make the mistake of placing Satan on a level playing field with God. We grant him power he doesn't have, and as I said earlier, he doesn't care if he leads in people's destruction or stays out of their ways so they can do it themselves. Either way God's creation is destroyed. Satan is a liar, counterfeiter, and deceiver. He tries to pull us away from God more often than not so slowly that when all our troubles are finally laid bare and our house of cards tumbles, it seems sudden, but has been driven secretly by that snake for years.

Let us not live a life of "Christian", but of "Christ follower." Here's the difference as I see it. A Christian, is someone who walks an aisle, professes Jesus for a moment, gets guilted into a decision, or allows peer pressure to control them, and you see no change in them from the time before the decision was made to the end of their life. A Christ follower is one who makes a vow before God that He will be in the center of their life from that moment until the time they are called home and they struggle every day to follow Christ, Christ guides their actions, Christ directs their paths, Christ is in all their decisions, Christ is who they talk about, Christ is the one they strive for. This is a much harder road to go down, and ultimately leads to death, but it also gives you life to the full. It's a life that is drastically altered because of what a loving God did for us all through the cross and His resurrection.