by: Sandy Domelle
When you think about the Christian life, there are many keys that can help change and guide us through life. When I look at my key ring, on it I have many keys. The key ring represents you and your Christian life. On my key ring, I have many keys that open many doors just as there are also many keys that we need in our Christian life.
I have a key to my house, car, post office, church nursery, etc. All of these are necessary keys. I have one key that is a master key to the bedrooms. It will unlock any of the doors if they get locked and pulled shut. In the Christian life, there is a master key; it’s salvation. Once we have the master key of salvation, we will obtain many new keys that unlock things in our Christian life that will help us to grow.
When we get saved, we should want to change and grow to be more of what God created us to be. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
When we move into a new house, we usually get rid of the keys to the old house because we don’t have a need for them. The new Christian shouldn’t need the keys of their old lifestyle; they look for the new keys that open new doors. The Devil doesn’t want us to obtain these new keys, so he offers brighter and prettier keys at times to get our attention off the keys that we need. Maybe it’s a shiny key of a new job that pays well, but will keep you out of church.
Do you know that the Devil also provides keys that he doesn’t always tell you what they will lead to? Those keys lead to doubt, fear, loneliness, discouragement, negativity, depression, worldliness, etc. When you unlock those doors, they will draw you into thinking only of yourself. They will keep you so focused on your personal problems that you won’t be seeking the keys in your Christian life to help you, encourage you and make you excited about serving the Lord.
One of the keys that I love in the Christian life is desire. Desire is a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen. I desire greatly to have God in my life, and I want to see things happen in my life that matter to Him. But, I do know that many people have lost their passion, zeal and ultimately their desire to live for Him.
When I say desire, most of you think of “things” that you desire to have. Maybe it’s a new house, new car, new job, new toys for recreation, or a Hawaiian trip. Those are things that benefit us physically and emotionally, but not spiritually.
Do you know how many good Christians have lost their desire? When someone loses their desire, it’s usually due to bad circumstances or by being defeated by the Devil. When we lose something, it doesn’t mean that we can’t find it again. For some Christians the trials of life come, hardships come, death comes, loss of job, financial problems come, things that weigh heavy on us and through these circumstances we lose our desire and we just want to maintain. Once the maintaining hits, many times you quit doing the things you’ve done, and you lose the desire of serving the Lord that you once had.
Let me give you four areas of desire that we should work on.
1. Love the Lord. Do you wake up in the morning and start your day with Him because your love for Him motivates you throughout the day? Does your love for the Lord show through you, and do people know that you love the Lord? There should be something very different about you because you are full of His love and your desire to please Him pushes you.
2. Seek the Lord. Do you spend time in God’s Word daily? Somewhere in your day you need to find time to read your Bible and talk to the Lord. Your desire to love Him and be a good Christian comes from communicating with Him. If you aren’t daily thinking of the Lord and spending time with Him, your desire to be like Him won’t be as strong. The more focused you are on something, the more it demands your attention.
3. Seek His truth. As you seek the Lord, do you seek His truth? If you seek truth, you will know why you believe what you do because it’s in you. You won’t question authority; you won’t let the world’s philosophy pull you. You will not be easily swayed. My God is not an opportunist. He doesn’t give me truth in the Bible for me to use when I want to or when it works best for me. His Word shows me the way I need to live, and if you live a life of principle, truth comes easy. Those who usually buck the truths that come from God’s Word usually buck authority. If you truly desire to be what you should be, seek truth as you seek the Lord.
4. Serve the Lord. There is no greater opportunity to be what we should be in the Christian life than to serve the Lord. Serving the Lord can be teaching a Sunday school class, working a bus route, cleaning the church, etc. These are all things you do at church. But you can serve Him daily by telling others about Him, by encouraging others who are struggling, or by praying and loving others.
Too many Christians get in the “maintaining” mode, and they sit on the sidelines at church. Maybe it’s time for some of you to ask your preacher what you can do to help at church. Maybe you can teach Sunday school, be a greeter as the people come in, or maybe you can work a nursery. Preachers are always looking for people to help. It makes it easier for him when he has volunteers.
A great way to serve the Lord is to show up for soul winning. Every soul winner is needed, and being used to win someone to the Lord is one of greatest rewards in serving the Lord.
Where is your desire today? Is it on the things of the world? Is it focused on “things” you really want, or is it on Jesus?