The Joy of Losing

I’m always amazed at Christians who cheat on obedience. I’ve come to believe that those who think they can pick and choose which instructions to obey are those who never really lived a “bad” life. They grew up in a pretty decent home and they’ve lived a pretty decent life. They don’t know how desperately dangerous it is to disobey.

I’ve never been part of that group.

I know what spiritual death looks like

I remember thinking, “I didn't reach the bottom but I could see it clearly from where I stood.”

Those of us who have lived far from God know just how desperately we need, we literally need Jesus for our survival.

For me to live is Christ. He is the object of my deepest dedication, my most devoted love. To live for Jesus is the whole of my life, its source, its sustenance, its everything. All else (my love for my wife and children, my dedication to any work that I’m doing, my compassion for those less fortunate etc.) flows from that source.

If anything good has come out of the first thirty years of my life, if there is any joy to come from being such a God rejecting loser, it’s that I’ve seen my desperate need for Jesus in every area. There is no area of my life where obedience is optional. Where ever I justify disobedience, I suffer and so do those who are in contact with me. 
Change me Lord and make me whole again.