Jesus. He doesn’t call us to partially surrender our lives. He calls us to give Him EVERYTHING. In giving Him everything, He shows you who you really are. And when we find out who we really are, there is no stopping what He can do through you. There is so much we miss out on when we don’t know who we are.
When I first “gave” my life to Christ, I was excited. That lasted about 3 months and then faith quickly became a routine for me. But that moment when I “gave” my life to Christ at age 15 was the moment a seed was planted and the moment I became a convert. I gave Him some parts of me that I did want and He was faithful to take them (because He’s just that good), but I never actually gave Him my life. As I said, I became a convert, not a follower. I, by all intensive purposes and actions, was a Christian. I didn’t know who I was because I looked to the world. I was told to look at Christ to know who I was, but I was never shown that. Over and over people told me to look to Him, but when I needed an example of how to do that, I would see them looking to the same thing I was. Which was the world. But then that changed when my surroundings changed. A lot of things happened and maybe I’ll write about it one day, but for now, I’ll just get to the point.
I started going to a thing called Ramp Up on Saturday nights. There, I met a man that I love dearly. His name is David Meeks. He was one of the first people that I had met that truly looked to Christ to see who they were and found their identity in Him. Which meant that I finally had the example I was seeking after (even though at the time I didn’t know I was looking for it). Every time I asked Him for advice, he would say some really wise thing and then tell me to go to the Lord. And every time I looked to him for an example of doing that, he was right there doing exactly what he told me to do. Which was going to Christ.
This opened up what I’m wanting to talk about. Knowing Christ and going after Him is what this life is all about. You are made alive in Him! You are made righteous in and through Him! We should celebrate that! The pursuit of Christ is pursuing the Father’s will. And the Father’s will is for us to know who we are. The only way for us to know who we are is for us to pursue Christ! And in that pursuit of Christ, we naturally do the Father’s will. This stuff changes lives! It surely changed mine.
Seeing David Meeks go after Jesus lead him to know who he is. And in him knowing who he was in Christ lead me to want to know who I was in Christ. Which lead me to truly surrender everything and become a true follower of Christ. You see, the pursuit of Christ is powerful! He can use you to effectively reach people without you even knowing it. It’s Jesus working through you to do the Father’s will.
I’ve noticed we are quick to say, “He can’t use me like that.” I have been guilty of saying that myself. Which is easy because you get tricked into thinking you are what you did in the past, but in reality, once you die to yourself and give it all to Him you are what He did. Which means while pursuing Him and knowing Him, you begin to know who you are and that makes it easier for the Holy Spirit to work through you and affect those around you without you even knowing it!
This stuff is so powerful! Because we won’t let the Gospel change our thinking, our thinking has no way to change our lives, so we stay the same. We justify what we believe by the way we live instead of the way Christ lived. Let Him show you who you are. If Christ is in you, you no longer have to worry about what to say or what to do because He’s got you! Holy Spirit will speak through you. Stay focused and go after Him and He will take care of the rest. Christ in you is the hope of glory.
Thanks for reading! I hope and pray someone gets something out of this. Until next time.
And again, if you would like to help support me in what the Lord is pushing me into by donating, here are the way you can do that!
Venmo: @tylerslebeau
PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/tylerslebeau
And if you don’t have those options, you can send money/checks to this address: 406 Lakeside Dr, Carriere, MS 39426, USA
Also, here’s the blog where I explain what I’m fundraising for and the big picture behind it!
Blog: https://tylerlebeau.theworldrace.org/post/fundraising-again-and-the-dream-gods-put-on-my-heart
