Much of You

I actually wrote this post over a week ago, but I kind of struggled with whether or not I should actually publish it. I've found that sometimes when I need to empty my head, I can just write without actually making it public and suddenly everything is so much better. I don't really have a good reason to post it now, and I already feel like I'm in a different place than I was when I wrote it, but it's a pretty good reminder to me of my true purpose. In everything I say, in everything I do, I want to make much of Jesus.

Why does it take so long to realize that when there seems to be a recurring theme in one's life it is probably God trying to tell them something? Maybe it's just me!

This summer I read Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper. It's a great book, but don't read it unless you're ready to be challenged to see your life and relationship with God in a whole new way. After reading it, I'm still not quite sure if maybe I'm supposed to be living in a hut in Africa teaching orphaned children instead of living in a big house in the 'burbs teaching "rich" (comparatively speaking) kids! Anyway, one of the main points of the book is that we are to live in a way, wherever you are, that makes much of Jesus.

I believe the staff at my church is reading/has read this book too, so I've heard the phrase "making much of Jesus" several times in the last month or so. Then, from I don't know where, Steven Curtis Chapman's Much of You popped into my head yesterday. Finally, last night as I was getting ready for bed I began to relive my day, my week, my month and I realized something that made me very sad: I've been living in a way that makes much of ME. Sometimes knowingly, sometimes with no real clue that's what I was doing - but it's all the same.

I've definitely been a "glass half-empty" kind of person lately and last night it kind of all came together at once. I know that God is good, and I'm praying that He will continue to reveal Himself to me and teach me truth. Slowly, but surely (because God's good like that) I know He's going to fill me back up.