1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ~ Romans 12:1
A common prayer in the Church is, “Use me, LORD,” but I don’t think we fully understand what this prayer means. See, God is willing to use anyone who is willing to be used. And often, we’ll be very quick to raise our hand and scream yes, I’m willing to be used. Then, we go back to our everyday lives. This isn’t what God wants. God wants a willing heart. What does that mean? King David wasn’t a perfect man by any means of the word, but he had a heart for God.
Yes, King David made many mistakes, but he always gave God His all. Not just coming to church on Sunday and maybe even raising a hand during worship. No. David gave his all, and when he was shamed by his wife, he said he would become even more undignified than that. When God dwelt in a tent, and he dwelt in a palace, he sought out a place for God’s house. He wanted desperately to build God a dwelling place, but he couldn’t. Did that stop David from giving something to God, though? No. David went and bought the ground that the future Temple would be built on. Not only did he buy it, he bought it at full price even when the owner told him he’d give it to him for free. Why didn’t David just take the land for free? Because he refused to give God an offering that cost him nothing.
Today, the Church can’t even give God more than 5 minutes before they fall asleep for the night. We can’t even make it all the way through His Word one time. We know about celebrities, cars, motorcycles, movies, video games, athletes, businessmen, etc., but we don’t know the first thing about God. Yet we pray, “Use me, LORD. Use me.” How can we pray a prayer like that and act as if we don’t even care about God? I can only imagine that’s like sending your father a letter to call you but keeping your phone off the hook so that the call can’t go through. It must feel devastating to God knowing that you gave mankind everything. You didn’t hold anything back, not even yourself, and mankind can’t even give you an hour of their day.
Dear LORD, help me to not pray empty words that sound good, but to always pray what my heart will back up. I don’t want to live my life as if You don’t matter. Please, Jesus, be the center of my life. Be the foundation on which I build my life. Help me not to be distracted by the things of this world; instead, help me to be focused on You and You alone. Please, God, don’t give up on me, though You have every right to. Please forgive me for treating You with no reverence or regard. And please help me to never do it again. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.
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