“If you want more of Jesus, give Him more of yourself.” ~
I am a card player. You may not know that about me because I rarely have the time to play cards with anyone else. When I was in college and graduate school, though, I used to enjoy playing. But not all the time. I was one of those frustrated card players when it came to playing with a partner. Games like Bridge or Euchre would be fantastic if my partner was doing what I wanted him to do. I would become very irritable, though, if my partner was “messing up”.
There are certain “rules” to bidding. There are certain rules about playing the first card. It takes a lot of concentration to see what your partner is signaling. There were times that my partner completely missed my intentions and we ended up losing the hand or even the game. Of course, I would say, “Why didn’t you play the other card? You heard what I said as I was bidding.” My partner, of course, would say that he missed the exchange completely.
And then, there were the times when the shoe was on the other foot. My partner may have been signaling something that I did not want, not at all. Yet, the manner in which he was bidding made it look like he had a superior hand to play. Should I trust him or shouldn’t I? Can I trust him with the cards that I am holding in my hand? Of course not. So, I would bid something different and cause us to lose the hand or the game.
“If you want more of Jesus, give Him more of yourself.” Jesus is in the “game of life” with us. He is our partner. He holds an exceptional hand. We should not spend all of our time getting Him to trust us. We need to work on trusting Him. We need to surrender ourselves to Him so that He can guide us through the perils of life.
If we try to force our own hand, we could end up failing miserably. If we decide to do something other than what we should do, we will go astray. The best way to go through life is to focus on our partner, Jesus, and to follow His lead.
FAITH ACTION: Dedicate all your thoughts, words, and deeds to God at the very beginning of your day. Continue to ask Him for guidance to say and do the right thing.