DEVOTION - THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2011

THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2011

“A CALL OF DEVOTIOINS”

BY

TONY EVANS

In His Presence: “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife . . . and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26).

God calls us to a total commitment—nothing less will do. He called Abraham to complete devotion, and the same was true for Moses, David, all of the disciples, and the apostle Paul. We can’t be halfhearted in our love for the Lord and expect to fully experience His joy and peace in our lives. In fact, until we make a full, uncompromising commitment to Him, there will always be distracting factors at work in our lives. We’ll constantly be tempted to step away from His very best for us.

In order to be His disciple, you must be willing to deny—not only yourself and your personal desires and passions—but also your love for anyone or anything that could possibly take His place in your heart. Nothing can be more important than Him.

For many people, this concept is hard to accept. They want to say, “Lord, surely You don’t want me to give up my only dream for the future?” Or, “Lord, I really want to marry this person. I love her. I know she’s not a believer, but I need her. Besides, if I walked away, who would help her know You? Isn’t my love for her a testimony about Your love for us?”

To make her point clear, a Christian counselor climbed up on a chair and asked her client to pull her down. The object lesson? It is easy to pull someone down but next to impossible to pull another up—especially if that person resists the truth. God wants you to be solely devoted to Him so that He can bless you with His very best.

The Enemy of your soul, however, wants you to settle for much less. In fact, his goal is for you to step out of God’s will through disobedience. He knows if you do, you will not only miss a blessing, but your life will become shrouded with feelings of guilt and disappointment. When that happens you become ineffective as a witness for Christ. God has a great plan in mind for you. When you dedicate yourself fully to Him, you will see it unfold.