Intentions.

Lately, I’ve been considering something. When I pray to God and tell Him that I love Him and am so thankful for all that He does for me, what are my intentions? Am I loving God for who He is, or am I loving Him because of what He does for me?

God has given me so very much. I spent my whole last post talking about all the blessings that He has given me, and I’m pretty sure that doesn’t even begin to skim the surface. Typically when I pray, I am either thanking God for what He has done, or asking Him to do something more for me. When I think back, it seems like a lot of my prayers are simply focused on asking God to use all His power to help me; either thanking Him for what He has done, or asking Him to solve even more of my never ending problems. Even When I pray to thank God for things like His love and wisdom, I feel like it’s typically because I am seeing myself benefitting from these attributes of Him.

The more I consider this idea, the more confused I become. I don’t want to have a faith where my main motivation is simply the benefits I reap for myself. I want to have a relationship with God where HE is front and center, and I am simply on the sidelines. I think I need to truly get it through my head that this is not about me. God has blessed me with so many things not to benefit myself, but to share it with others. This life isn’t about me one single bit! Rather, it is all about being a servant, following in Jesus’ example, and serving everyone around me for Christ. That is what matters, not how much my relationship with God can benefit me.