"Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may apprehend that for which also I was apprehended by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained."
Philippians 3:12-16
Being a Christian is a full time endeavor.
We may compartmentalize other areas of our lives: our vocations, our past times, etc., but the Lord wants every bit of us, our hearts first and foremost, and He wants our full time affection, love, and attention, 24/7.
He wants us cativated, surrendered totally to Him and Him alone, our only King/Bridegroom/Master, there is only room for One in our hearts, one Master, one Lover, on King.
Our real identities are found only in the Lord, the Uncreated Holy Alpha and Omega.
He wants us totally filled with the knowledge of who He is, totally filled By the Holy Spirit and controlled by our love for Him...so jealous and furious is His love for us, and He desires, requires the same love from us, His Bride, his Children.
This Christian life, meaning an all-consuming relationship with God the Father first and foremost-is a full time occupation-call it a preoccupation, an obsession even...
This preoccupation answers and solves ten thousand other lesser issues of flawed humanity.
We are not called to be 45, 60, and 90 minute one-day-a-week Christians, attending a man-scheduled service of 4 songs, a pleasant message, announcements, gotta-get-in-and-out for the next more of the same, sandwiched between breakfast and brunch, throwing crumbs at a holy and magnificent God who spared nothing, even His own Son, for us!
He wants all of us, our whole heart, all the time, and nothing less.
Whether you are affirming this in your heart or this is stirring or perhaps agitating or breaking your heart, whether He is calling you-or calling you back, make Him and keep Him your 24/7 Magnificent burning obsession.
It's what we all have been created for.
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