sanctification

Lately, the reality that I have absolutely nothing to offer Christ...is really leaving me in a broken state. But right after that state comes the realization of God's amazing grace.
Christ gave absolutely everything, and how much do we give Him?!
we are to give ourselves as a LIVING sacrifice...daily dieing to ourselves and taking up our own cross.

my eyes are being opened to the utter selfishness in human beings, particularly myself. and this realization is making me hate selfishness so much more. It causes so much hurt and destroys people and destroys the glory of God. Yet we are all guilty of being selfish. And this will probably be a sin we will forever struggle with, but my prayer is that we may actually be stripped from selfish thinking and really learn how to put Jesus and other's before ourselves, before our own thoughts and desires. and to make our lives completely not about us, because we are not here to please ourselves, but to please our Loving, Holy Father above.

I think we also forget, in that Christ has given us everything and sacrificed everything for us (among many...He became a man...limiting His Godly attributes, He died the most the brutal death, He was beaten, He was misunderstood, He has given us His Holy Spirit and made a way for us to be with the Father, He has made us righteous...), He also demands a lot from us. Which is only right.
I think in the Western World, we so often (whether we realize it or not) take the words of Jesus, and commands, and somehow think that they are a choice for us to make...We think that what Jesus has commanded, is our own choice whether we act like or what He says. But the reality of it is...we have no choice in the matter of how we, who have accepted Christ as our Savior, live our lives. Jesus tells us how we are to live all throughout the New Testament. and His commands given, are just that...COMMANDS! (to demand, to order authoritively)

Obedience pleases our God.

So I ask the question, what are we giving to God?!
I have recently fallen in love with a couple songs...one is The Stand by Hillsong, and my favorite line in it is
"So what can I say, what can I do? But offer this heart O God completely to you."
Jesus deserves our whole heart. When the weight of all that Jesus has done and given for/to us realy resonates in our hearts and not just our minds, that is when we truly will be changed from the inside out and surrender all we are. and this is an on-going surrender.