Giving Up, or Giving it Up?

What do you need to give up in your life? I mean, really think about it. Is it pride, selfishness, fear? Now, what are you willing to give up?

I’ve always had a problem with pride, I care about how others see me, and I want that image to be really good. I want others to know that I do well in school, to think of me as pretty and athletic, and to see me as a spiritually strong individual. I want others to be impressed by what I’ve done, who I am, and even by how God uses me. Pride is an issue for me, and I need to give it up.

I want to get to the point where I not only sacrifice things in my life, but I sacrifice my whole life itself--not necessarily physically, but mentally, deep in my soul. I want others to see and truly experience God through me regardless of whether they remember me as the medium or not. I want to be poured out as an offering for Him, giving all of myself for His sake no matter what that means for my image. 

My mind may want that, but my soul, the truest part of me, doesn’t yet, for my pride is too great. I want to make God’s will my passion, but I can’t because it might mean no one will notice me, it might mean that people I love will reject me, and it might mean I have to experience vulnerability and pain that a thick pride would save me from. So I must ask God to change my will to His and remember that God knows what He’s doing; God always notices me, Jesus will never reject me, and my vulnerability reveals to me my constant, desperate need for Christ.

Sometimes He places us away from the spotlight of men so it will not destroy us. He wants the light inside us to shine brighter than the one shining on us. So with this in mind, I ask myself again, am I totally and completely prepared to let my love for Christ be my first and only focus in life and be content in whatever situation He puts me in, knowing that I am an offering being poured out for Him?

The choice is ours; will we give up or give it up?