{Prodigal} Word Wednesday

Luke 15:11-24 (ESV)


"And He said, 'There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, "Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me." And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

But when he came to himself, he said, "How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.' " And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son." But the father said to his servants, "Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." And they began to celebrate.' "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNz5ejUEsKY&feature=autoplay&list=PL0731AEAA7945E0AC&index=13&playnext=6&shuffle=354213

{Consumed}

So I have pretty much failed at blogging lately...and I was doing so well. This week I have been wasting a lot of time watching TV, which flipping endlessly through channel after channel I realize is about 99% trash. One show that intrigued me tonight though, was this show on TLC called "My Strange Addiction". You may have seen it, or maybe not, but it follows people who are addicted to things, but not your typical drug or cigarette addiction. On the couple of episodes I watched, it covered everything from a woman addicted to eating couch cushions to a middle-aged woman who wore way too much makeup 24 hours a day, even to sleep in. It was ridiculous. One thing however that they all had in common was that their addictions, whatever they were, had grown so intense that they were consuming their lives. Think about that word: consume. What does that mean? According to dictionary.com it means to destroy or to exhaust.

When it comes to my relationship with God, I feel as though lately I have been in a rut. I'm simply lacking a desire to spend time with Him and lacking that passion within me, the one that is supposed to be on fire for Him and His kingdom. No matter how much I have tried, I see that all my "trying" has been weak. My efforts have failed because I have barely put in effort into it at all. What does all that have to do with "My Strange Addiction" and the word consume? Everything...at least for this blog post.

I leave for college in approximately 5 weeks. I am going to a school where I know no one and have all the opportunities in the world to be a witness to EVERYONE I meet, because everyone I come in contact with will be brand new to me, and my first impression can be Christ. Yet, how am I supposed to do that? Well, that brings us back to the whole "consume" thing. As I watched that show, I saw how their addictions were overtaking their lives, and I remembered that verse that says "For the Lord your God is a consuming fire..." {Deuteronomy 4:24} Just as an addiction can consume a person's life, God can consume it as well. I don't know about you, but I definitely want to be addicted to Christ and have my life be consumed by Him.

But let's go back to that dictionary definition: destroy and exhaust? Yep.

Destroy. Thinking of God destroying your life doesn't sound very promising, but if you think about it, it does indeed. If one is consumed by Christ, He will destroy your worldly life and bring you to a point of concern for your spiritual life. Now, that IS a good thing!

Exhaust. The word exhaust just makes me want to go take a long nap. But really exhaust means that all energy and effort is completely used up. The word exhaust applies in two ways in this situation. The first is that if you are consumed by Christ, all your energy and effort will be used up on serving the Lord and not serving your selfish desires. The second is that all of Satan's energy and effort in tempting you will be used up in vain , because if you are truly consumer by Christ, you will no longer want to go aroudnd sinning.


Starting right now, I am going to start putting so much more effort into my relationship with Christ in order that He might consume my life and set my passion for Him ablaze once again.