It is a sad truth in our lives that we sometimes become more devoted to things other than God and His glory. It is easy to do. In the world, there are people who are devoted to movie stars. They admire them and elevate them to a status of extreme honor and adoration. People are far too often devoted to sports teams, almost to the point of reference. We become devoted to political parties, ideologies, causes, and even cars. Devotion is all around us in the world. Some of it is good and some of it is not. Good examples of devotion can be found in the love of a mother for her children and of a father for his family. Bad examples can be found in extreme devotion to cars, houses, appearance, money, and possessions. It is in our nature to become obsessed with things.
Now, there is nothing wrong with being devoted to something – unless that devotion becomes an obsession. If it does, it pushes out proper behavior and proper adoration of God. This then becomes sinful. There should be nothing that holds more devotion in our lives than the Lord. Everything else must follow far behind.
When you look at your own heart and look for what is most important to you, what you devote the most time to, what you find? To what are you most devoted? When I look inward, I become a bit uncomfortable. Though there are things that require greater amounts of time than worship and adoration to God (i.e., work, sleep), what is most critical? What is most important? I find that sometimes that the thing I feel most intensely devoted to isn’t the Lord.
Yes, it is very easy to get out of sync regarding the Christian walk. It is easy, very easy, to become devoted to something so much that it infringes on one’s relationship with Christ. When we realize that, we must take a step back, reassess what is most important to us, and once again look to the cross of Christ where His love and patience abound.
I’m reminded of a very important Scripture. “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself,” (2 Tim. 2:13). And another, “What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?” (Rom. 3:3). And still another, “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,” (1 Cor. 1:9).
The priority of our devotion should always be God first. Notice the last verse above where it states that God desires we have fellowship with Jesus Christ. This fellowship is the Greek word koinonia. It means “intimacy and communion.” God wants this intimacy and communion with us. He wants our devotion to Him because it is only in this intimacy with the Lord Jesus that we can truly know what proper devotion really is, and thereby experience the wonderful joy of the Lord’s grace in a great way.
We need to look to the cross where we see the wonderful demonstration of God’s loving devotion to us. It is there that we see a perfect devotion, a perfect devotion combined with perfect love — that brings glory to God.
Are you seeking God? Are you devoting yourself to Him?
