Responding to God

Often in life, we equate a response to a nodding of the head, or a voiced agreement.

But truly responding is so much more than a verbal affirmation or a visual suggestion that one is listening.

In fact, when we look into what it really means to respond, we find that listening is truly only half of the equation.

Just because someone listens does not mean they are responding. A true response requires action. A true response results in activity, something getting done.

In 2 Timothy 4, Paul is instructing Timothy in how to lead people, and in verse 6 he says something that sounds a little strange at first:

2Timothy 4:6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.

Paul says I am being POURED OUT like a drink offering. By saying this phrase, Paul is actually giving us a visual description of the word RESPOND.

The root meaning of the word RESPOND means to make a covenant, to give ones self as an offering, to be poured out!

WOW!Paul is actually showing us that a Response to God is a pouring out of ourselves.

John the Baptist said it this way, "I must decrease so that He may increase".

Romans 12:1 encourages us "...in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—THIS is your spiritual act of worship."

Our response to God is not just an "Amen" on a Sunday morning, or hands lifted as we sing, it is a daily pouring out of our own desires and goals so that we can be filled with His desires and goals for us.

It is a daily sacrifice of self for the sake of God's purpose through us.

We see this idea as Jesus prayed in Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Jesus poured himself out so that He could be filled with God's purpose and plan.

How are you responding to God today? Have you emptied yourself of your dreams so that God can fill you with His? Have you released control of your situation so that God can bring Wisdom and Peace?

Let me encourage you today to Respond to God, not just in words, but in action, in love and in deeds!