Hopelessly devoted to you.
Today I was listening to some classic tunes from the film Top Gun. It brought back some great memories of years gone by. In the weird way my mind works at times, I ended up humming the classic Grease song by Olivia Newton John "Hopelessly devoted to you." It was sad I know but we have all done something as equally cheesy.
Anyway with those the only four words of the song that I know they began to go round in my head. I began to think about the words I was singing.
What am I devoted to?
Is there a hopelessness about my devotion, an unrequited love.
Or is it a devotion that brings hope?
As we move into a brand new year I need to check-
- The direction of my devotion
- That my devotion level is high.
- That my devotion is filled with hope.
Direction of devotion
What am I devoting my life to? Not just the grand ideas and values that I have but how does that translate to my everyday life. To my time, my finances, my language & my emotional buy-in.
The direction of my devotion must always line up with the Word of God, our plumb-line. What does the Bible tell us that our life should be devoted to?
Firstly it should be given over and devoted to God. There should be no thing and no one that comes before him. When God asked Abraham for his son God didn't want the sacrifice, He wanted to know of Abraham's totally obedience. Who was higher in Abraham's devotion, his son Isaac or his God, Yahweh. God asks us the same question. Who receives your devotion?
There are other people or things that need our devotion. Are we devoted to our spouse? Are we devoted to them above our children. Tough question but a Biblical principle.
Acts 2 :42 informs us of what the early church community devoted themselves to.
The teaching the apostles had reached from Jesus
The fellowship- not just fellowship, but THE fellowship.
The breaking of bread- keeping what Christ had done for them at the centre of their thinking.
Prayer- close, intimate, regular communication with God.
Does our life follow similar patterns?
Devotion level
I'm not really sure if you can measure the level of devotion. Are we just devoted or not? Whether we can measure it or not, people around us should be able to look at our lives and be able to see that there is something slightly unbalanced about our lives as devoted people are never balanced people.
Hope filled devotion
Does my devotion cause my life to be filled with hope whatever the circumstances around seem to show? Hebrews 11 shows us a group of people who were devoted to someone that caused their lives to be filled with the actions of faith and the certainty of hope.
Lately, probably more than ever, I am filled with the hope of what Christ is doing and where He is leading us as a church. Circumstances would not seem to show this. In seven Sundays we will be without a venue, finances are incredibly tight and we are still in the grip of a global recession.
So my hope cannot come from circumstances. My hope MUST come from someone that is bigger than my or even world circumstances.
The only way that our devotion can be hope-filled is to place it on the rock of ages, the God of eternity, the healer of the sick, the provider, the grace giver, the releaser of the captives, the forgiver of sinners, the lifter of the downtrodden, the home builder for the homeless, the only giver of hope who is totally worthy of our devotion
So my question is how will your world see the object of your devotion today?
