Who's First?

"Pick me, pick me!" As most of us can remember, when we were children we always wanted to picked first to be put on the best kickball team or the best "Red Rover" team. We always knew, even as a child, that when we were picked first then we would have the best chance of winning whatever game was being played. As adults the scenario is the same, but we get the chance to pick ourselves first. To many, this is a hard task because we are torn between choosing what is best for us or what is best for our friend. In most cases, we would meekly choose our friend, but deep down inside we really wanted to put ourselves first.

As Christians, we know that we are supposed to put God first, but still fall short. In Isaiah 6:8, we read about how Isaiah called out to God, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah, being filled with the Spirit, submitted himself COMPLETELY to God's service. He didn't say, "Lord, I will go when it is convenient for me" or "Lord, I will follow you as long as my friends go with me." He gave his life up completely to His service. No matter how difficult his task would be, he said, "Here am I, Lord. Send me!" Can you imagine if Christians followed Isaiah's example? If we all COMPLETELY gave up our lives to follow Him? Only God can fathom the numerous amounts of people that would possibly come to know Him through those that truly surrendered their lives to His service.

Every day I thank God to have been raised in this amazing country!! I thank God for giving America a strong Christian foundation that provided me the freedom to worship as I pleased. Sadly, this freedom becomes a hindrance to Christians because it gives us "flexibility" to go to church when we feel like it or the "flexibility" to pick and choose what we will do for Christ. We need to be getting into His word DAILY and developing a relationship with Him, so that when we say, "Here am I, Lord. Send me!!" we would truly be willing to do whatever it takes to follow Him. We need to develop such a close relationship with Christ that when we follow Him, we would know that we are following a "friend" that would help me reach out to those who need to hear the Good News!!

Instead of picking ourselves first and giving into our own selfish desires, we need to FIRST surrender to Christ and HIS desires for our lives. The best part of being a mission church and church plant is having the desire to reach new people and get out of our "comfort zone" a little bit. God can't be completely evident in our lives until we break down all of our barriers and all the excuses we put up and begin to look to Him for comfort. This week, make it your goal to seek out new ways to choose God over yourself and to pick Him first as you follow Him.