Christians NEED to devote their lives to this …

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What are you devoted to?

Don’t take that word lightly.

Who or what, in your life, do you have a sincere devotion to?

The Apostle Paul identifies something that every Christian needs to truly devote their lives to:

Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. – Colossians 4:2.

As disciples of Jesus, we need to devote our lives to an ongoing conversation with God!

Prayer, simply put, is talking to God, and talking to God is so important, so necessary, so essential to our lives that it should one of our greatest devotions. Yet, prayer so often gets the scraps of our time and attention, when it needs to be so much more. The truth of that fact is captured in this story by Chris Horton …

    I volunteered to feed a group of 49 high school boys for four weeks as we toured across the United States. Needless to say, this required endless visits to Sam’s Clubs and Costcos. And the visits were always rushed, involving multiple carts and a lot of grabbing things off the aisle, moving as fast as I could towards check out. There seemed to never be enough time and there was always the very real possibility that in my rush, I would forget something important and the meal would be a disaster.

    Sometimes I find myself approaching my prayer life in this fashion. Always hurried, including as much and as many people as possible, with the nagging feeling that something or someone may be left out; rushing for check out so I can begin the work.

    Instead of Costco or Sam’s Club, maybe our prayer time should be more like a visit to Starbucks with a friend; a time to develop a relationship. After all, Christ didn’t ask the disciples to pray for Him or a hundred other concerns. Rather, He told them it was the time they spent with Him, abiding with Him, that would bear the most fruit.

Not only did Jesus create us, but we have been born again in Him, and it is from Him that our lives come forth and flourish. Time with Him is essential to living!

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing,” John 15:5.

What is prayer like in your life – is it something that’s a rush, a hassle, and gets thrown in haphazardly, or do you have a Starbucks-style devotion to prayer?

Scotty