Dramatic results. We have all seen them in some fashion.
NFL players, like: Ron Gronkowski (Patriots) and Joe Thomas (Cleveland Browns) both lost dramatic amounts of weight after they retired from the NFL. https://www.foxnews.com/sports/5-nfl-players-who-have-had-dramatic-weight-loss-after-retirement
Scarlet Benjamin was born prematurely. When she was 3 months old, she suffered a serious infection. The antibiotics needed for this infection caused significant hearing loss. Once Scarlet’s parents realized that their little baby couldn’t hear, they worked with a doctor to improve her hearing. The doctor decided that hearing aids would be the best option. The difference was dramatic! The first words she heard were her older sister saying, “Baby sister.” 11-month old Scarlet responded with continued heart-warming laughter! https://www.cbsnews.com/news/baby-hears-for-first-time-gets-first-hearing-aids-giggles-uncontrollably-at-sound-of-big-sisters-voice/
These changes are uplifting, healthy, and encouraging. They are the kind of things that put a smile on your face!
The difference God makes in our lives is nothing short of dramatic as well. The Lord has given us a wonderful opportunity to show others the difference He has made in our lives since our walk with Him began years ago. Others will SEE words and actions in our lives that draw attention to the Holy Spirit living in us.
You see… believers truly devoted to Christ will exhibit clear evidence of their devotion. What does devotion to Christ look like?
1. Devotion to Christ will exhibit humility
Early in his career, Thomas Edison invented a vote-recording machine for use in legislative chambers. By moving a switch to the right or left, an official could vote for or against a proposal without leaving his desk. The machine would replace the tedious business of marking ballots, counting them, etc. Elated with the prospects, Edison obtained a patent -- his first -- and headed for Washington.
Eagerly he demonstrated his machine to the Chairman of Congressional Committees. This gentleman, while complimenting Edison on his ingenuity, promptly turned it down. "Filibustering and delay in the tabulation of votes are often the only means we have for defeating bad or improper legislation." he told Edison.
The young inventor was stunned. The invention was good; he knew it and the chairman knew it. Still, it wasn't wanted. Said Edison later: "There and then I made a vow that I would never again invent anything which was not wanted." (Edison Story Source: Bits & Pieces, May 28, 1992, pp. 11-12.)
Whether wanted or not, all believers have a desperate need for God. Do you and I still see our need for God? Do we grasp the weight of that need that can only be met by Jesus? I am clearly in need of God:
…at my job
…in my family
…with my finances
…in my marriage
…in my ministry
This all requires humility! In Isaiah 57:15, God desires a spirit of humility in His children.
2. Devotion to Christ will exhibit priority
Adolph Menzel created a painting titled Frederick the Great’s Address to His Generals Before the Battle of Leuthen. This historical piece depicts Frederick’s speech to his generals in December 1757 during the Seven Years’ War before their famous battle in Silesia against the Austrians.
Menzel worked on it from 1859-1861, but never finished it. The monumental painting contains the background and the generals standing in a semi-circle, but the main figure of Frederick the Great was left blank. Menzel’s famous painting is a picture of many lives. The background of career, interests, pursuits and achievement is complete. The faces of significant people like family, friends and colleagues surround. But the central and most important figure is left incomplete—Jesus. Jesus Christ has been given a name that is above all others and rightly deserves to be the focal point of our lives. Likewise, the centrality of Christ in life is the greatest need of every person. May we never foolishly allow Him to be a blank figure in our crowded lives. (Adolph Story Source: Pulpit Helps, May 2008)
Is the Lord God clearly first in our lives? Or is everything else filled with vivid color and the Lord is left with fragments of a pencil drawing? What do we prioritize on the average day? Consider the many options we have demanding our attention: meetings, projects, phone calls, online activities like texting and social media, leisure, food, sleep, showering, exercise, family. Where does Jesus fit in your list of priorities?
The things we love the most, and to which we give the most time, reveals our list of priorities! This can be shocking or encouraging. When was the last time we evaluated our own priorities?
3. Devotion to Christ will exhibit clarity
This week I was walking the track at the YMCA when I passed an older lady who was also walking. This roughly 5-foot-tall lady was walking pretty fast, but my longer legs and wider stride made it easy to pass her. She looked at my faster stride and said, “I wish I had your gait so I could keep up with you!” (It was the second time I had passed her on the track.)
When there is true devotion to Christ, we will not be consumed with what others think about us or what others are doing. We will be consumed with Jesus. We will be consumed with the gospel – gospel speaking…gospel living…gospel investing!
The Lord does not want us to be distraught about whether other believers or other churches or other leaders approve of us or not! The Lord calls us to impact our path with the burdens and gifts He has given each of us. We are all called to the same path that leads to Him, but we are NOT all called to the same travel plan! Some have been burdened to impact the world for Christ through different means than we ourselves are led. This doesn’t mean we don’t participate in all of these needs, however, we are often led to devote more our own strength and time to some more than others, like:
…to serve God in the realm of politics
…to lead a camp ministry for local churches
…to volunteer to help abused women heal
…to foster or adopt parent-less children
…to invest in young children with Kids4Truth
…to impact teens to develop the next generation of leaders
…to counsel others using the Word of God
…to give yourself to long seasons of prayer
…to counsel others using the Word of God
…to give yourself to long seasons of prayer
All believers took the same road to get to the path of eternal life and relationship with Jesus. It is only through Jesus Christ that anyone can have forgiveness of sin and a home in heaven! However, when we are truly devoted to Christ, our travel plan on the path of life with Jesus may not look exactly like other believers…but when we are all doing the will of God, the church functions as one healthy body!
Devotion to Christ takes the focus off personal likes/dislikes and places it squarely on gospel-centered living.
Now, go back to Luke 14:34. Each believer is described as salt. What does salt do?
Salt Preserves
Salt Creates Thirst
Salt Cleanses
Are you “salty?” Are you still the salt of the earth? Do you create a thirst for God and His Word in others? Do you allow the Word of God and His Spirit to cleanse your heart and the hearts of others?
Ten days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, residents of North Platte, Nebraska heard a rumor that soldiers from their town, part of the Nebraska National Guard Company D, would be coming through on a troop train on their way to the West Coast. About five hundred people showed up at the train depot with food, gifts, letters, and love to give the boys.
When the train showed up, it was not the Nebraska National Guard Company D boys on board; it was the soldiers from the Kansas National Guard Company D. The North Platte residents decided to give out their gifts to these soldiers they did not know. It was a spontaneous act of genuine devotion that touched both the soldiers and the people who came to the depot that day.
A few days later, a 26-year-old woman named Rae Wilson wrote a letter to the editor of the local paper recounting the profound experience they’d shared that night. She then suggested the town organize a canteen, so they could do something similar for every troop train that came through. She offered to lead the effort as a volunteer.
For the next four and a half years, the people of North Platte and the surrounding communities met every troop train that came through their town. Every day, they prepared sandwiches, cookies, cold drinks, and hot coffee. They had baskets of magazines and books to give away to the soldiers, and snacks for the train. There were even birthday cakes for anyone having a special day. And they did this, some days, for as many as eight thousand soldiers and sailors.
The statistics are staggering. By the time the last train arrived on April 1, 1946, six million soldiers had been blessed by the North Platte Canteen. Forty-five thousand volunteers had served faithfully until the war was over and most of the troops had been transported home.
If the residents of North Platte were that dedicated to doing whatever they could to help win World War II and serve the soldiers, Christians should be even more committed to serve the Lord any way they can.(WWII Story Source: Once Upon a Town, Bob Greene)
We have a greater cause…do we not? May we run to the streets, the neighborhoods, and the cities abroad to let them know – “Jesus saves!”
We can model, right in front of all who see us, the dramatic impact Jesus makes on a life!
We can invest in the lives of friends and strangers, build relationships, and show them genuine love…but this all flows from the life devoted to Jesus.
Are we truly devoted to Jesus?