Devotional -

King of My Life ( 18 November )

About this Devotional
But some Jews were jealous and gathered worthless loafers from the streets and formed a mob. They set the whole city in an uproar and attacked the home of a man named Jason, in an attempt to find Paul and Silas and bring them out to the people. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city authorities and shouted, "These men have caused trouble everywhere! Now they have come to our city, and Jason has kept them in his house. They are all breaking the laws of the Emperor, saying that there is another king, whose name is Jesus." With these words they threw the crowd and the city authorities in an uproar.
Acts 17:5-8

The Jews in Thessalonica understood exactly what Paul was preaching: Jesus is the King of Kings. We sometimes forget that Jesus is also the king of our lives.

Every person in the world belongs to one of three categories. The first is made up of those who have never submitted to the kingship of Jesus. These people say, "This is my life, and I will live it as I want." They do not believe in Jesus at all and so are not saved.

In the second category are people who have only partially submitted to the kingship of Jesus. For them Jesus is the Lord of their fate and their eternal life, but not Lord of their lives. Jesus only dwells in their hearts, but he has no authority there. About such people Jesus says, "I know that you are neither cold nor hot. . . . But because you are lukewarm, . . . I am going to spit you out of my mouth!" (Revelation 3:15-16). These are extremely difficult words.

The third category is made up of people who have indeed completely submitted to Jesus' kingship! (Romans 12:1) says, "Because of God's great mercy to us I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer."

This verse tells us that we are to give our body to God. As we do so, we become living proof to our nation that we are giving glory to Jesus. Unfortunately the opposite is also true: our body can give proof that we are bringing shame to Jesus. What part of our body or how much of it is God interested in?

In the Torah, what part of the body of a sacrificial victim was brought as a burnt offering? All of it! God wants absolutely all of our body.

We need to develop the attitude that when God calls us, we say to him, "First of all, the answer is yes, Father. Now, what do you want me to do?" When God requires, for example, that we forgive our enemies, we must say, "the answer is yes," no questions asked. Whatever God demands, we must say yes and then go do it. This is to be a living sacrifice, true and genuine to Jesus, the king of our lives.

- 18 NOVEMBER -