At the end of my devotional reading today the writer gives the
exhortation to "... Show your gratitude [to God for his gift of life] by
earnest, Christ-like lives, and as God has bidden you to live, see to it that
you live in earnest." (By: Charles Spurgeon on Aug 8, 2013)
That got me thinking… what does earnest living look like?
So I googled it! (Because that’s what I do) and I found a great
definition:
It means: -adjective 1. serious in intention, purpose, or effort;
sincerely zealous: an earnest worker.2. showing depth and sincerity of feeling:
earnest words; an earnest entreaty. 3. seriously important; demanding or
receiving serious attention. -noun 4.full seriousness, as of intention or
purpose: to speak in earnest. (from http://wiki.answers.com/
and you know it must be true because Wiki knows everything)
At the end someone has written (yelled): WHAT EARNEST MEANS TO ME: MY
EVERYTHING...
I am pretty sure they are referring to their love for another human and
they kind of get off track, but what struck me as significant was the first thing
they said: “MY EVERYTHING"… I thought yup that's it, that is what it means
to live earnestly: everything, no part untouched, no boxes, no separation
between sacred and secular, but ALL EVERYTHING we are, think, do, say, breathe,
dance, sing... Is with/through/for Jesus!
OK that is simple to write and beautiful to sing
about but what does that actually - hitting the pavement - look like!?
Great question…
Oh you think I might have an answer? Ha! Nope… I do
have a few thoughts; obviously that’s why I am writing about it…
Thought number one: Jesus.
Great start right?
He is so much more than the Sunday school answer. He
is our everything… and speaking of being earnest, Jesus is what it means to be
earnest… think about, look at his living example when he walked this earth…
there was no separation between sacred and secular with Jesus, he glorified his
father in all he did, and didn't do… he spent blood sweating time in prayer, he
partied with the sinners, he got tired, he served, he slept and rested, he
cried, he threw a protest (the market place in the temple)… on and on, the
point is when I look to Jesus I see a man who lived his whole life, his
everything, all he did, for the love of his Father and other people…
I am going to stop at this first thought… because I
need to get started on my homework, and it’s probably my best one any how…
To wrap it up: What does it mean to live earnestly?
To love God and people with and in your everything… no separation between
Sunday mornings and Saturday nights, every moment is for the magnification of
His loving and glorious name! BE LIKE JESUS! He is after all the starter and perfecter of our faith, so we can trust and look to him to teach and help us to
live earnestly…
Yup, that’s it… I’m going to get busy earnestly
doing my homework for the love of my Father in Heaven and for the glorification
of the name of Jesus Christ my Savior and Lord God Almighty…
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