This past Sunday was my 23rd birthday and next Monday will be one year since my baptism, my spiritual birthday. There has been so much reason to celebrate, not for my physical birth or even my public declaration of faith, but a celebration that this was the year where I learned what it mean to deny myself. I celebrate my death. I celebrate that Christ not only died for me, but He died as me.
I thought the price of obedience to God looked like a relationship born out of duty, humility, and letting go of worldly desires. It isn't even close. It is so much better - infinitely so! Obedience to my Dad is trading in my petty wants and desires for His desires - which is by no means an easy feat - for ultimate joy.
I thought the price of obedience to God looked like a relationship born out of duty, humility, and letting go of worldly desires. It isn't even close. It is so much better - infinitely so! Obedience to my Dad is trading in my petty wants and desires for His desires - which is by no means an easy feat - for ultimate joy.
If I could compare my own desires to a pocketful of sunshine - doing well in school, traveling to all 7 continents, being an awesome pharmacist, getting married, sleeping in til 9PM, eating anything I want and not suffering from imagined-GERD - then the joy of God is like the very sun itself multiplied by the number of stars in strength and magnitude. That is how weak my desires are compared to the desires of my Dad and what He wants for me. How could I refuse? I can't! Haha! There is so much more to be said but I was not gifted with words nor eloquence but I was given His joy for my obedience.
