Dear God,
As the result of Adam, allowing Satan to seduce him into sin; which was forever in its consequences thereafter, for all the progeny to come; every one of us since then is born naturally sinning, with the expectation of hardship and in the end eternal death, not a life in beauty and eternal life as You had planned for the human race at creation.
Soon Christmas is celebrated, and many people miss the beautiful story of surrender, sacrifice and absolute love, by You God the Father and Jesus. You could not leave us to suffer and eternal death, so in love and sacrifice toward the entire human race, You gave Your only Son to this world, so that He could become the Lamb of sacrifice, on our behalf.
As I behold the divine sacrifice I behold, that nothing was withheld, You the Father of God could not give more, and Jesus came to earth having offered Himself willingly on behalf of all of earth. He could not give more than His whole self in representing His Father in His life and ministry, then in allowing Himself to put to death, taking upon Himself all the sins of earth.
So many times I hold back, maybe even thinking I am giving my Saviour all in surrender, and then I perceive my selfishness and self-interest is still intruding and motivating some actions. You gladly bring me to acknowledgement, and repentance with confession, and we together have me start over. 2 Corinthians 5: 15 “He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” When we truly love, we give ourselves to the one we love, and as Jesus surrendered all for me, I in love wish to give all of my allegiance to Him.
When I give Jesus my heart and ask Him to be my Pilot and allow Him to fill me with His love, love becomes my motivating force for change within my sinful heart, and out workings. Romans 6: 12 “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.”
Jesus today I again invite You to have my heart, and free me from my attachment to self and sin, so that all the nasty, envious self-focused thoughts, words and behaviours can be replaced by Your loving ones. Romans 6: 16 “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness.”
Amen