Joy and Strength (Christian life and music)

Jesus deserves our wholehearted devotion because He is Lord.   When we follow and obey Jesus wholeheartedly, we may stand out from the rest, seem odd, or even fanatical to some.  But to please man before we please God leads to disaster.  If we regard our reputation more than the Lord, we are not wholehearted toward Him.  God looks at our hearts.  We may lose some friends along the way, maybe even some family.  But God is worthy of our absolute devotion, wholeheartedly, no matter what the outer circumstances. There is always a cost to following Jesus wholeheartedly, whether it be giving up something or someone that we want.  Or it could mean the death of our idea of what our life "should" look like.  But I don't think our outer, short-term reality matters as much to Jesus as our hearts do. We may think we are giving up too much, at a loss, if we give Jesus our absolute all.  But what we gain is so much more valuable, and it is eternal. We gain the very attributes of Christ

  To encourage you in your faith! Here is a snippet from my song, “Live a Life Worthy.”

Bloom where you're planted, so the saying goes.   Where are you planted?  Do you like the "pot?"  Or does your soil smell like manure? When you belong to Christ, HE decides what soil is best for your growth.  It may not look, feel, or smell like the kind of soil you want.  That is of no import. What matters is that we trust Him  to choose the best soil for us. Throughout Scripture, we see less than desirable "soil" that God's chosen were planted in.  They were too busy obeying and trusting God to worry or care about the pain or sacrifice.  They knew, as we should, that following God will always cost us something, but that He is more than worth it. It's not easy to give up control for some people.  So much so that they never fully surrender to God.  Big mistake. It's a matter of pride when you get to the root of it.  "I know better," is what you're really saying, though not out loud.  Really? You know better than the Omniscient God who m