And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. — Luke 9:23
When I was younger, I used to love hearing stories of days of the past. It probably is what ignited my love of history overall. It was so interesting to hear stories of events and things that people did in life long before I was even a thought. Many of those stories involved members of my family.
One that I always laughed about was stories about my grandfather on my dad’s side of the family. He wouldn’t talk about it a lot, but people always talked about how great he was at playing baseball. He played minor league baseball for the Cincinnati Reds, playing with many big names in days gone by. To this day, I keep a picture of his old minor league team in my office that he gave me.
When I asked him about it, he opened up and told me several stories. He shared about the good and bad sides of baseball, but there was one story I will never forget. He shared with me that one day as he played, he hit a home run. As he rounded the bases, he said he knew God wanted him to give up baseball and that soon after, he quit playing baseball altogether.
He told me that day that he had to give up baseball to serve God the way God wanted him to. In the end, God used him in a great way. He went on to pastor a church where many people accepted Christ. Through his ministry, many pastors were trained and still minister to others to this day.
Sometimes we have to give up things for God. It may not be that those things are bad, but God wants us to give them up, so they do not stand in the way of the great work that He wants to do in our lives. Is there anything in your life that you may need to eliminate to serve God fully? God can do great things when we remove things that may be in the way.
Jared Dyson
Another Well Ministries
I like the talks on here!
Sacrifice & service— interesting topic. It’s been on my mind lately.
I have a belief that we’re living in the fulfillment of time. So much of what we see currently, is the realization of the truthfulness of “conspiracies”, witnessing the evil designs of wicked man playing out in our lives.
It causes me great distress.
I decided to lessen the amount of time I spend on my phone/computer less, and serve more.
This year I did my family’s members taxes and some extended family’s.
Sounds like a silly simple thing to do but I felt like it was an act of service, and a wiser use of my time.
I’ll continue to look for other ways to serve!
You are a blessing to those you serve....
Thank you!
...thank you for your testimony!
I applaud you for your decision...especially that you could recognize the prompting of God in your life. This is an interesting devotion because it is not one size fits all...we certainly all have our individualized calling on our lives...this is something I have also contemplated...
May God bless you richly....
True. God has made me give up many things over the years in order to serve Him. But that is good as my chief end or goal is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
Amen
Great post dog. Spot on for me. I’m dealing with that very thing and I dug in my heels and resisted for a long time. Now I know His will, not mine.
May God bless you as you walk with him...
Some things we've given up:
We don't seem to be any worse off - and in fact we're a lot happier without having to listen to the MSM lie machine constantly.
...there is much to be said for the "simple life".....
Not like Paris Hilton's "simple life" LOL, ours is more like a Jesus-centric simple life.
God-bless-da-dawg................MJ
...I tend to relate to my Amish friends in matters of a "simple life"....
...doggy winks...
The Amish have got a lot of things better figured out than most. They are an honest, hard-working and God-fearing people. I can relate to that too.
...absolutely...