Manna Monday- Is Jesus All to You?

Last night we had a wonderful time of praise and worship at my church. The choir sang for an entire hour and led the congregation in worship through song. I always get a picture of what heaven must be like when we have this annual time of praise and worship. There is nothing like it!!!!! As I sing scripture and praise songs, I am constantly questioning my heart as I sing. Being active in worship is asking questions and responding to truth. So many times it's easy to go through the motions and sing, "Yes, Lord, You are everything to us" but come Monday morning, Jesus is not even called upon in prayer. He is simply an afterthought... not the first thought. He is not everything to us. If He was, we would acknowledge Him first. It is easier to sing that He is all to us than to live with Him being all to us. Let me tell you how I came about this post.

During Praise 150 last night there was a song titled "All to Us." One thing about worshipping through song is that when we bring our whole heart to God through song and place all our focus on Him, worship through song can be a very cleansing time. It was a time of renewal for me last night as I sang on praise team. A phrase in one of the songs we sang captured my heart. It simply said, "Jesus, You're All to Us."  I kept asking myself as I sang, " Jesus, I want you to be everything to me, but sometimes Lord I admit you are not everything to me. I fail to acknowledge you. Forgive me. Sometimes you are my last thought when I am busy or running behind or have too much to do. Jesus I want you to be ALL to me ALL the time." I kept asking myself "Jesus, Are you really ALL to me?"

What does it really mean for Jesus to be ALL to us?
You have to look at the life of Paul. He was content in every situation good or bad because Jesus WAS everything to him. Jesus was his best thought, his first thought, the One He lived for. Jesus was the reason he lived, he breathed, he preached. Jesus guided his living. Jesus guided his choices. Jesus impacted his love for others. Jesus was his purpose for living and everything he did pointed to Jesus.

It's easy to praise God in the sanctuary when everything is going great in life. For some believers, Jesus becomes like a great accessory that they can add to their amazingly good life. But Jesus isn't an accessory. He is God (John 1:1; John 10:30-33). Think about these questions:

• When you have all the material possessions you want... Is Jesus ALL to you?
• When your 401K is growing continually.... is Jesus ALL to you?
• When your job is going well and you have no financial needs, is Jesus ALL to you?
• When you have no health issues and you can physically do anything, is Jesus ALL to you?
• Does Jesus mean more to you than your family? than your home? Is Jesus ALL to you...more than these?

Jesus is to be everything to us. He is to be more than the food that we eat and the clothes that we wear. He is to be our joy, our peace, our hope. He is to be our comfort. He is to be everything to us ALL the time, not some of the time.

Is Jesus ALL to you? I want to be like Paul who said, "For me to live IS Christ..." Philippians 1:21.