We broken humans often get ourselves into a fix-it mentality. When our personal or professional lives are a mess, we try to find a quick fix that we can apply so we can move on. When those fixes fail, we come to find out that the problem is—gasp!—us, and there’s no quick fix for that. 

So then we focus on fixing those parts of ourselves that affect those situations. Your spouse doesn’t like it when you’re negative, so you focus on being more upbeat around him. Or your boss doesn’t like it when you blow off a deadline, so you focus on being more punctual in the workplace.

What we miss is that we’re engaging in situational behavior modification, not the underlying issues of the heart. So when life crumbles—your spouse walks out, your boss hands you a pink slip, your kids stop returning your calls—we’re blindsided because we fail to recognize the heart issues that never got addressed.

When confronted with the underlying issues, it’s easy to say, “Why bother?” Your marriage may already be over. Your job is already someone else’s. Your relationship with your kids can never be the same. Why change? What’s the point in trying to deal with all that now? 

I’ll tell you what the point is: Christ is the point. We don’t try to be the best we can be for the sake of a person or a job or an opportunity. We must be compelled by the love and grace of Christ. He alone must be our goal and our hope, and He deserves our complete submission and worship.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or face – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. – 1 Peter 1:3-5

 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. – James 4:7

I was talking recently to someone about my integrity. While trying to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, I wanted to emphasize that it wasn’t simply a matter of my being married to my husband; it’s a matter of my being betrothed to the King of Kings. My commitment to Him exceeds any earthly commitment and simultaneously solidifies all earthly commitments. The minute that I allow my vision to lie elsewhere, I’m sunk.

If you’re not wanting to be all that you can be for the sake of God’s glory, check your spiritual pulse. Remember, your horizontal relationships will always reflect your vertical relationship. Get right with the Lord, and the rest will follow.

P.S. – Check out my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/halffullandoverflowing.