November 9

“I came to serve, to give my life as a ransom for many.” Our lives can’t ransom anyone’s life like Jesus’ could. However our lives can make an impact! John and James were going to be baptized like Jesus, but I don’t think that was talking about the kind of death since John didn’t die a martyr. It was a baptism of different proportions of sacrifice. It was thinking long and hard about the phrase, “to give his (my) life”. What does that mean? I think that I have given my life – at least most of it. Then the recurring theme this year came to me; minute by minute give your life away. What time I wake up, what I do, when I go to work, what I do for a work out, what I do when I go to work, when do I answer the phone and when do I study for the next teaching – I must give every aspect of my life to Him who has sent me to serve and give my life as a gift to the church.

Lord, I know I do sacrifice but I feel like I fail most days on the minute by minute thing. I feel like the minutes rush towards the meeting that night or the dinner time at home. I start out well and well intentioned, but I end being pulled by demands. I am asking for your strong intervention – I want to be like you, maximizing all that you have given me.