Devotionals

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In life we tend to have a lot that is taking place at the same time and we constantly have choices that we must make. The Webster – Merriam Dictionary defines big picture as: “the entire perspective on a situation or issue —used with the”. Before I looked up this definition in the dictionary I had this in mind. For quite some time I have been reminding friends that we see the fragments, but God sees the whole.

When I was younger, about 7 or 8, my godmother would send me 500 and 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles for gifts. I used to hate those things. The picture on the box looked interesting; however, the task of putting the puzzle together never got completed. The pieces frustrated me because I could not get them all to fit. There were times when I’d force pieces together and this was discouraging because it was clear that they did not fit. On the other hand there was something that was beautiful about pieces coming together that fit. Pieces that fit together looked right and felt right, everything was smooth and flat.

My feelings about puzzles have changed since I was 7 or 8. Today I know that puzzles come together better when I put the border in place first and fill in the rest afterwards. There are a lot of puzzles in life. They work best when we take our time to do them. It is a work of diligence. There are people who do puzzles and glue them to a piece of cardboard and frame them as a reminder of their diligence.

Sometimes you may look around you and think to yourself that you are missing out in life. You may find yourself wanting to rebel against what you know that God wants of you. You may, at times, place your will above the will of God. At times I experience this struggle. A struggle is a good thing because it means that you have not given up. We know that we are not saved by works because Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us:
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.

However, our love to God is reflected by our fruit of obedience to Him; in John 14:15 Jesus says these words:
If ye love me, keep my commandments.

We find these words in John 14:23:
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

I challenge each of us to reflect on our relationship with Christ. Are we spending time with Him? Are we falling in love with Jesus afresh? Let us spend some time thanking Him for His great love for us. You see when we fall in love with Jesus we will do what He wants of us because we understand that we are in a relationship with Him. Love overcomes legalism. God shows us His love by warning us of things that we are to avoid doing because they will only lead to our hurt.

God wants to be the focus of our lives; will you allow Him to be?

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