He who loves [and takes more pleasure in] father or mother more than [in] Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves [and takes more pleasure in] son or daughter more than [in] Me is not worthy of Me;
And he who does not take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conforming wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also] is not worthy of Me.
Whoever finds his [lower] life will lose it [the higher life], and whoever loses his [lower] life on My account will find it [the higher life].
Matthew 10:37-9 AMP
Sometimes I forget what an extreme life we’re called to in Jesus. We are called to conform wholly to the example of a Savior who gave His very life in service to the Kingdom of God. Reconciling the world to God was more important to Jesus than His own life.
In my day-to-day tasks of writing blog posts, updating websites, planning events, grocery shopping, taking my dog for a walk, eating dinner with my husband, and all the other non-extreme things I do, it’s easy to ignore the example of Jesus. It’s easy to keep my relationship with Him compartmentalized, to only examine it at church, and to conveniently put it away the rest of the time.
But do I take more pleasure in my daily tasks than I take in Jesus? Do I love Him more than all of these other things and people that often get more of my time and attention than He does?
I’d like to. But the truth is I’m not quite there yet. I’m a work in progress. May I find my greatest pleasure in You today, Lord.
What about you? Is it difficult to fix your eyes on Jesus in the midst of the daily grind? What practical steps have you found that help you to treasure Christ more than anyone or anything else?
An example of a child's story, from Photobucket.com
When I was in first grade, we had an assignment to write a New Years resolution. Being a young, aspiring writer, my resolution was to write one story every day for the entire year. I think I wrote about two before I decided my resolution was a bit too much of an undertaking. My resolution remained a resolution and never became a realization.
My feelings about New Years resolutions have fluctuated over the years. When I was a young girl, I was excited to give myself an incentive to do something I loved to do anyway. However, I quickly realized that the joy of writing was diminished when I felt forced to do it every single day. I also felt disappointed in myself when I didn’t reach my goal each day, which further discouraged me from attempting to try the next day.
As I grew older, and especially after giving my life to Christ, I felt like there wasn’t much point to New Years resolutions. After all, if there was something I should or shouldn’t be doing, why should I wait to make a resolution about it? There is a quote by Henry Moore that says “I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the year’s.” My attitude towards resolutions over the past several years could be summed up by that quote. I wanted to give my best to God daily, not yearly.
Now, as I grow even older, I find myself rethinking my attitude towards New Years resolutions once again. Time is passing more and more quickly, and things I love to do are going undone. I still love writing, and while it’s great being forced to write weekly blogs, my personal writing goals are not being met. I want to learn to play piano, but my keyboard in the corner collects dust more often than not. I want to show my husband love through writing regular notes to him, like we did in college, but I find myself too busy to do more than think about how nice it would be to do that again.
This year I’ve decided to make another New Years resolution – the first in many years. It will be about writing again. Unlike my first-grade resolution, I’m not going to attempt to write every day. But I will make a resolution to write in my journal once a week for the next year. Keeping in line with yesterday’s post, I know that a written record of seemingly mundane weekly events will be a great resource as I look back over the year and remember all that God has done in my life.
And maybe on days when I’m feeling really ambitious, I’ll spend some time at the piano, then write my husband a love letter.
How do you feel about New Years resolutions? If you make them, do you usually keep them? What is your resolution for 2010?
