Thoughts of New Year's

So tomorrow is the first day back to school for me - honestly I'm not too excited about this, but one thing that I have learned at an amazing church service on New Year's Day was that I am a friend as well as a servant of the King and that as such, I have given up my rights to myself and have died to myself so that He might become greater and I might become less (John 3:30). And so the moment I wake up in the morning I should not be asking myself, "How do I feel about this day or what do I want to do today," but rather I should be asking God what He says I should do with my day....basically allowing God to have control of my life - such an easy thing to write and talk about, but for me so much harder to put into practice without trying to take back that control as soon as a situation arises where I feel that I have the strength to do it on my own and where I do not really feel the need, or even remember to ask Jesus what He says I should do about a certain situation, or what His opinions about certain parts of my life would be.

As well, I was challenged by the pastor's response to this question....sometimes people come and ask how they can know if they are really living for God - and the pastor always responds by asking if the world likes them or hates them - for the world and the religious leaders of the time sure did not particularly love Jesus at all, in fact they were the ones who plotted his death. And for me that is such a challenge because I'm not always a big fan of offending people and it is not very often where I feel extremely bold in expressing my faith - although this is sure something that I am going to work on in my life....the world hated Jesus, so if I claim to be His follower, why should or why does the world seem to like me? Power to change...