Shaped By Devotion

"Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." 

- Joshua 1:6-9

This is a huge reminder for me that a real, truthful, healthy, and progressive Christianity is lived in a continual everyday responsive seeking of His face with everything I've got. 

And that He's got my back like no one else has ever had. He is there with me in the lowest, in the times of hell, and in the highest most amazing times on the mountain top. He promises to never leave or forsake me and His words reign true every time because He is perfectly faithful, even when I'm not. 

In the verses above it says that all I need is what He has given. I just have to remember to look to Him if I want a life of purpose, fulfillment, and meaning; otherwise I'll get the latter in my own selfish strivings. I must take heart, be strong and courageous, and go against the tide when the world says something contrary to my Lord. If I trust in Him, my lifestyle will prove Him, it will make known what my heart beats fastest for. If I give Him my heart He will take it and make it beat the way it was first intended to beat. The shape of something has a lot to do with what it let itself be shaped by.

And so the shape of my heart has a lot to do with daily devotion over time to the Creator.

We all start off on our own path, but when we give Him control, He redirects us in the Way of true life. With the idea of being closer to truly human when our lives are His, the opposite would mean that we are less human when our lives are our own, our souls are dark and what's beating our hearts are the pleasures of this world.

God asks for our utmost love, so in order for our hearts to beat fastest for Him, we have to give our hearts over to Him to shape them in a way that allows them to beat strongest for Him.

If the religion we align our lives with is Christianity then our lives should look like that of the One it was made up after.

You and I are meant for amazing things. We are here to help change the world and shape it to look more like the One who created it. 

So is it possible for our actions to come closer to equaling our passion? 

Could glorifying Christ be the purpose of which more and more of our daily breaths be for?

Yes! I think so. And I think one of the many ways to answer that would come from asking another question.

Could you and I get better at meditating on the Word day and night? 

Oh Lord this is my prayer!

"Give me an undivided heart that I may fear Your name" - Psalm 86:11