Make Him Lord of Today

How would you like to be able to say, honestly, that you are living your life completely for God? Wouldn't it be great to know that you are wholeheartedly pursuing God's plan for your life? Imagine what it must be like to know that you are in the very center of His will, and that you can wake up every morning with a keen sense of purpose, knowing that you are living out your calling. For many of us, this sounds like a dream come true. For most of us, it doesn't even seem possible, because we are still so focused on pursuing our own dreams and building our own kingdom, that we go days, weeks, and months at a time totally neglecting the work that God is trying to do in us.

"Then He said to them all: 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." - Luke 9:23-24

Let's talk straight. God wants all of us--every single part. He's not satisfied with half measures; He expects our complete and total surrender to Him. Why would He ask so much of us? Because he loves us. Because He has so much more in mind for us than we could ever have for ourselves. Because when we yield ourselves completely to His will, our lives begin to take on the character, power, and splendor of Jesus. When we give ourselves completely to God, He gives Himself completely to us. That is why Jesus says that "whoever loses his life for me will save it," because our salvation--not just "being saved," but truly living on a higher plane, where we are walking with God Himself day in and day out--can only be found in Him. And we can only be full of Him when we are empty of ourselves.

It's pretty obvious, then, that living 100% for Jesus is the only way to be fulfilled in life. He is our Source for every good thing. So why, if we know this, is it still so hard for us to give up ourselves? God asks us to yield to Him, and every day we still hang on to these little pieces of ourselves that we just don't want to give up. By neglecting to surrender our wills to God, we tie His hands, essentially telling Him that we'd rather live our way instead of His. Why do we make it so difficult?

Too many times, we ask, "How can I be in the center of God's will? How can I know what to do with this huge decision that I have to make? How can I know God's plan for my life?" and we panic when the answers don't come to us right away. Sure, there are a few people who recognize God's call on their lives at a very young age, and know what it will look like with absolute certainty, but this is the exception, rather than the rule. Most Christians hardly know what God has in store for them tomorrow, much less 30 years down the road. And this is no fault of their own. It seems that God just likes to work that way. Maybe He wants us to lean on Him a little bit more? Regardless, there's no reason to feel bad if you're 15 years old and you don't have your entire life mapped out. God's not going to map out your entire future in front of you--you'd just be overwhelmed. Dont' try to do it for Him, either, or you'd just be selling yourself short.

The point I'm getting at is this: We live in a very goal-driven society. We are always told to ask ourselves "Where do I want to be in 5 years?" or "What do you really want to get out of life?" We even ask little kids, sometimes before they're old enough to have a clue what life really looks like, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" So it makes sense that we would be so paranoid about our future, because we all tend to adopt the attitudes and assumptions of our culture as our own.

But what if I told you that God is bigger than our culture? What if I told you that the attitudes and assumptions of our society, though useful in certain aspects (you shouldn't just drift through life aimlessly, for instance), can really hinder our walk with God? We get so focused on the future, and we get so freaked out about finding out "God's plan for our lives," that we forget what life is really about: daily fellowship with Jesus.

How do you make sure that you live out God's perfect plan for your life? It's not about finding out everything He wants you to do, and making it happen in your own strength. No, it's about finding out what He wants you to do every single day, and watching as He takes your daily obedience and crafts it into something beautiful and significant.

We cannot make Jesus the Lord of our life until we make Him Lord of today, because we live our lives in the present, not in the future. God wants to use us to do great things for His Kingdom, but more importantly, He wants us to know Him personally. Our lives are not to be built on rolling up our sleeves and getting to work; our lives are to be built on intimacy with Him. It's only in the secret place of His presence that we can find the direction and the guidance we need. It's only in the safety of His glory that we find the rest, peace, and joy that we need to make it through this crazy world we live in. And the only way we will ever look back on our lives with satisfaction, knowing that we lived our lives to the glory of God, will be to wake up every single morning with one thing in mind: "Jesus, be Lord of this day. I'm not worried about tomorrow. I'm not worried about next year. Just be Lord in my life today, because You are all I want."

Take a moment right now and ask Him to show you how you can surrender to Him today, and whatever He shows you to do, do it right away. If you will do this simple thing every day, you will be amazed at the incredible things He will do with your life.