Totally Devoted To Whom?

"Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever." - Psalm 86:11-12

There are only two options with respect to the devotion of our hearts. Either I am devoted to the God of Heaven (Jehovah) or I am devoted to the god of this world (Satan).  You may not like that truth, I know I don't, but we really have no choice in the matter. To begin with, we were all born with a sin nature - a natural devotion to Satan but were given a choice because Jesus went to the Cross to choose God. A wrong made right - to be reborn by faith and now devoted to God. New life and no more penalty for our sin. 

For those who are not Christians, they are eternally bound to the nature they were born with. Their lives shout it out. Something I call the fruit of the flesh or sin nature.

"Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." - Galatians 5:19-21

Do you see any of that in the world around? Just take a casual look at the news on television or read of the headlines or scan social media. That is all you will see. As a Christian, you find it easy to identify at least one or two works of the flesh listed in Galatians that you could say that you have never done and would never do. The problem is ... 

"For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it." - James 2:10

Insomuch as we are mere jars of clay, as Christians, we often find ourselves professing faith and devotion to God and then manifesting the works of the flesh when we are out of eyesight and earshot of church or our Christian friends. And feel OK about it. Making excuses for our fallibilities. We are all too quick to make excuses for ourselves but stand ready to condemn when we hear about it or see it in other Christians. We all should be living out what Paul encouraged the Galatians and us to do.

"But I (Paul) say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." - Galatians 5:16-18

For those of us who have been born again, we have the spiritual capacity to show the world a better way. Not as a result of personal resistance to the flesh and thereby avoiding its "bad" fruit, but by yielding to the Spirit of God and experiencing the fruit of the Spirit - that which the flesh - our old nature finds to be out of reach, even undesirable. 

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit."  - Galatians 5:22-25

It is a day by day, moment by moment choice we make. Training ourselves to recognize the temptation to yield to the "old man" and quench the Spirit. We do that by practicing the disciplines of the Faith. Day by day - moment by moment.

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone