Psalm 103:1 (NIV) Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!

If there is anything that is undeniable, it’s the fact that God has given His all to the people that He created and that He loves us with a love that is hard to comprehend. The very best that there was in heaven was sent to earth to rescue a people that had been soiled and tarnished by sin. That very best was He Himself. He did not send the mighty archangel, Michael or any other of His mighty hosts in heaven. He Himself came to personally save us. The Bible tells us that Jesus laid down His glory and became nothing by taking on the nature of a servant (Philippians 2:6-7). Jesus came to pay the penalty for our sins and He did it by taking upon Himself all the vile and filthy things that we all have done and thereby becoming sin itself on the cross even though He was completely pure and holy and had no sin. There was nothing greater than Himself that God could have given us and He gave it all for us with all that was within Him.

After being confronted with this unfathomable truth, what should your response be? It’s obvious that you and I should not only bless the Lord with everything within us but that everything that we do regarding our Lord and Savior Jesus should be done with all that is within us. But sadly, that is not the case among many people who call themselves Christians. The way we’ve turned things around, many feel as if they are doing God a favor by showing up at church, singing a hymn or two, praying and then getting out of there in about sixty minutes. The rest of the week it's business as usual with no outward signs of spiritual life or love for God. Many are barely alive spiritually and demonstrate no energy or enthusiasm when it comes to the things of the Lord. In light of what it cost to make salvation available to us, should we be able to get away with that?

The answer is that we shouldn’t and we won’t. Jesus gave everything for us, but He is expecting everything from us. Jesus said a lot of things concerned our level of commitment with one of them being the admonishment that He gave us when He said that if we love mother or father or son or daughter more than Him, we are not worthy of Him (Matthew 10:37). That is a good indicator of what He expects after all that He has done for us. Even that, which would seem as if Jesus is insecure or that He is needy of our love, is for our own good because when we don’t love Him with everything within us, we are not even capable of loving our mother or father and even our sons and daughters the way that we should because loves comes from Him (1 John 4:7). The best thing that we can do for our families and for ourselves is to love, serve, worship and praise our Lord Jesus with everything within us. It’s not only the right thing to do, but it’s the best thing that we can do for ourselves as giving God our all greatly enhances our own lives. Whatever you do for Jesus, do it with everything within you, just as He did what He did and continues to do what He does for us with all that is within Him and with everything that He is and that He always will be.

Pastor Joey Vazquez