Friday, December 17, 2010

He deserves more than leftovers!

And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord." Luke 1:76

DAY 17-Don’t you just enjoy each day that we get to spend as a family hearing and learning about Jesus?  I hope you have been blessed thus far. Today we get to continue hearing the praises of Zechariah.

Zechariah: Isn’t God so good?  My wife and I can not tell you enough how wonderful it is having all of you here with us. Didn’t you enjoy hearing yesterday how wonderful our God is? Today I want to continue sharing with you how great our God is and the blessings that poured out from within about our son John.

And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord. You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins. Because of God’s tender mercy, the light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace." Luke 1:76-79

Could you imagine having such a call on your life even before you were born? Well guess what, you do have a call on your life, and you did even before you were born. It is the call to help prepare the return for Christ. It is a call to share the Great News of the Savior that has come to redeem and save us. It is a call to join with other believers and lift your voices in shouts of praise to our Heavenly Father. And that my friend is a great enough call to praise God about, because it is an honor to be a child of the Son of God.

I want to leave you with one last thing today; God should be praised and come before anything or anyone.  He does not deserve our leftovers and He does not deserve to be put off until it convenience's us. He deserves the very best we have to offer and He deserves the very first part of our day and time. Think about how you feel when someone chooses to take the best and leave you with the leftovers, though you might be thankful, you are still prone to want the very best yourself. Or how about when someone you love puts you off until it convenience's them or until they have time for you. It stinks doesn't it, it even gets old after a while and can make you become bitter and harden your heart towards them because of the lack of love, time, and attention that we all desire and want. It's not fun is it? How do you think God feels when we do it to Him?


Let me ask you something. How many times do you begin your conversation with God asking Him for what YOU want and need? Then once you finished making your "Self" requests you close with 30 seconds of thanks and praise.  I have done that so many times, but through all of this I am learning that He should be praised, honored, and adored before a single word is spoken for me or anyone else.  I am also beginning to see and experience the benefits and joy that fills my spirit when I praise Him first, because it takes the focus off of me and puts the focus on Him, where it should be in the first place.