He Is All You Need
As we journey through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, I am constantly learning new and important things about my faith and about how the Bible applies to my own life. Recently, Pastor Aaron shared a message titled “What’s My Motivation?” and it prompted me to think about and process what’s on the throne of my heart. Here’s two thoughts surrounding this process:
There’s a lot of value in having things, people, ideas, etc. in our lives that mean a lot to us. For me, it’s my job. For you, it could be something else. When I think of something that I place my entire identity in, something that I could not see myself living without, it would be working here at Opendoor. I love it here, I’ve been on staff since I was 19 years old. I’ll be 26 next month, so most of my adult life has been working and serving as a worship leader and creative team member here. This job for me is a long-time dream fulfilled, and there’s a lot of value there for me. I fully believe it’s a gift to me from God. However, I’ll confess to you that I struggle with keeping “the main thing the main thing,” meaning I struggle with keeping my focus, attention, and adoration on God as I serve Him and the church instead of the thoughts and feelings of those around me. Affirming words are a vital part of each and every one of our daily lives, but they are nothing compared to the smile of God upon us and His thoughts about us. There is a special beauty in getting to submit these challenges to the Lord because we get to be honest with ourselves and with Him. This creates and fosters intimacy with our Father.
JOURNAL: What comes to mind when you think of something important to your heart that you could “never” give up?
Pastor Aaron shared in his message: If it’s truly about His glory, it can’t be about other people’s admiration.
I’m reminded of a song that we sing here at church called “How Good Is He" in which a lyric says, “How good is He. If He never did another thing for me, He is all I’ll ever need.” I don’t know about you, but that’s a hard statement for me to say and actually mean. There’s a lot of dreams and desires that I have for my life, and I know that God holds them all in His hand and cares for me. But sometimes it feels as if what I want just doesn’t matter. One thing that God is using this series to teach me about is dependency on Him instead of dependency on myself.
Yes, I want a lot of things, but are they the things that I truly need? Yes, I have dreams, but are they the dreams of God for me? I have a tendency to white-knuckle my desires, trying to control everything around me and ultimately feeling depleted when it doesn’t work. The beauty of being a child of God is that He cares for us and never leaves us alone, even when we can’t see it. If we can shift our dependency to Him, then the phrase, “If You never did another thing for me, I will still love You,” gets a whole lot easier. If my focus is on Christ, then I am whole. I don’t need anything else if I have Him. I can pray and talk to Him without having to petition for myself because He loves me so much that I don’t have to convince Him to give me good and perfect things. He gives those things freely because of how great He is.
JOURNAL: If God never gave you anything else, would you still love Him?
The evidence of a dependent life is a prayerful life.
ACTIVATION: Today I encourage you to process these things with the Holy Spirit. One way you can do this is by praying “The Lord’s Prayer.” This helps us to redirect our sights from ourselves back to God. Here’s a tip: I like to change “us” to “me” as I pray this prayer by myself to the Lord. This can help personalize it for you.
PRAY:
My Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give me today the food I need, and forgive me my sins, as I have forgiven those who sin against me.
And don’t let me yield to temptation, but rescue me from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
- What comes to mind when I think of something important to my heart that I could “never” give up?
There’s a lot of value in having things, people, ideas, etc. in our lives that mean a lot to us. For me, it’s my job. For you, it could be something else. When I think of something that I place my entire identity in, something that I could not see myself living without, it would be working here at Opendoor. I love it here, I’ve been on staff since I was 19 years old. I’ll be 26 next month, so most of my adult life has been working and serving as a worship leader and creative team member here. This job for me is a long-time dream fulfilled, and there’s a lot of value there for me. I fully believe it’s a gift to me from God. However, I’ll confess to you that I struggle with keeping “the main thing the main thing,” meaning I struggle with keeping my focus, attention, and adoration on God as I serve Him and the church instead of the thoughts and feelings of those around me. Affirming words are a vital part of each and every one of our daily lives, but they are nothing compared to the smile of God upon us and His thoughts about us. There is a special beauty in getting to submit these challenges to the Lord because we get to be honest with ourselves and with Him. This creates and fosters intimacy with our Father.
JOURNAL: What comes to mind when you think of something important to your heart that you could “never” give up?
Pastor Aaron shared in his message: If it’s truly about His glory, it can’t be about other people’s admiration.
- If God never gave me anything else, would I still love Him?
I’m reminded of a song that we sing here at church called “How Good Is He" in which a lyric says, “How good is He. If He never did another thing for me, He is all I’ll ever need.” I don’t know about you, but that’s a hard statement for me to say and actually mean. There’s a lot of dreams and desires that I have for my life, and I know that God holds them all in His hand and cares for me. But sometimes it feels as if what I want just doesn’t matter. One thing that God is using this series to teach me about is dependency on Him instead of dependency on myself.
Yes, I want a lot of things, but are they the things that I truly need? Yes, I have dreams, but are they the dreams of God for me? I have a tendency to white-knuckle my desires, trying to control everything around me and ultimately feeling depleted when it doesn’t work. The beauty of being a child of God is that He cares for us and never leaves us alone, even when we can’t see it. If we can shift our dependency to Him, then the phrase, “If You never did another thing for me, I will still love You,” gets a whole lot easier. If my focus is on Christ, then I am whole. I don’t need anything else if I have Him. I can pray and talk to Him without having to petition for myself because He loves me so much that I don’t have to convince Him to give me good and perfect things. He gives those things freely because of how great He is.
JOURNAL: If God never gave you anything else, would you still love Him?
The evidence of a dependent life is a prayerful life.
ACTIVATION: Today I encourage you to process these things with the Holy Spirit. One way you can do this is by praying “The Lord’s Prayer.” This helps us to redirect our sights from ourselves back to God. Here’s a tip: I like to change “us” to “me” as I pray this prayer by myself to the Lord. This can help personalize it for you.
PRAY:
My Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give me today the food I need, and forgive me my sins, as I have forgiven those who sin against me.
And don’t let me yield to temptation, but rescue me from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
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