Oftentimes, we’re not living our best life because we’re simply pursuing the wrong things – the wrong relationships, habits, and desires.
Our spiritual, emotional, and mental appetites say a lot about the temperature of our relationship with God. And if we’re honest, much of our sin is because we want something more than we want to do what’s right in the eyes of God. We want “it” more than we want to please Him in that moment, and we want “it” because it feels good or carries a promise to feel good.
Sin often does feel good in the moment, but it hits different when the bill comes due. Spiritual maturity understands that doing what’s right doesn’t always feel good. When we’re not obeying God, we are then by default obeying the enemy, following his will and ways.
📖 Ephesians 2.2 CEV: You followed the ways of this world and obeyed the devil. He rules the world, and his spirit has power over everyone who doesn’t obey God.
Disobedience to God isn’t just doing bad things in His eyes, it’s also forfeiting the power and authority granted to us as followers of Christ. It’s subjecting ourselves to another power other than God – he (Satan) who rules the world as we know it.
Obedience to God isn't the gray area that we would sometimes believe it to be because partial obedience is still disobedience in the eyes of God. When we don’t do what God says and live how He desires us to live, we’re playing for the other team (the enemy of darkness) in those moments, and settling for a lesser than life. At the end of the day, we’re either for God and His ways or against them. As Matthew points out, we get to decide who our Lord is.
📖 Matthew 6.24 AMP: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more than the Lord].
God always wins in the end, but knowing that we're playing for the wrong team should unsettle us enough to make a course correction. Equally unsettling is the idea that we will never live our best life trying to live dual lives, serving darkness (Satan) and light (God).
Either Jesus is Lord over all [of our life], or He's not Lord at all. You will, I will, we’ll each worship something or someone because we were created to worship and attach to something bigger than ourselves. We choose what and who we submit to and who and what we pursue with our hearts. When we take our cues from the world and hunger, thirst, and pursue what the culture says we need to be our best selves, we’ve bought into the lie and we’ve missed the mark (sin).
Like Jesus, we have to understand the assignment and mission. The battle between good and evil is always for the throne (the seat of authority) of our heart. And God can't rule on the throne of our heart until we step down. Our best life is lived out when we desire and pursue the right things — all things Jesus.
A Prayer For Today
Lord, show me those things that have pulled my heart away from Yours. Change my appetite for that which hungers and thirsts for You, and ultimately, pleases You. Help me to want You more than I want “it” and anything that the world could offer. Thank You for truly being my best thing.
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