This cartoon was sent to me recently, and while it made me smile, it has an important lesson too.  It is very easy to say we give it all to God, but secretly hang on to something (be it financial security, our jobs, activities, lifestyle, whatever).  In baptism we are meant to die to all that has gone before, and become a totally new creation in Christ, and indeed do.  But we are still the same person after baptism as before, and still subject to the same temptations and problems as before.

Therefore we need continually to be examining ourselves to see if we have got a little something that is "ours".  It is hard to do, and we need to be brutally honest with ourselves, because giving up a long ingrained habits hurts.  We can easily fool ourselves into believing "it's not a problem", "God gave me that", "We are not meant to avoid hardships" (oh yes dear friends, sometimes we hang on to our pains as well as our pleasures), but God blesses us when we do release these things to him, because it frees us to do the things HE wants, and not what we think he wants.

God wants us all, from the tip of the highest hair on our head, to the very bottom of the soles of our feet, and everything that we touch and do to be his too.

Its a hard challenge, and we will fail on the way at times, but God knows this and asks not for perfection from us (for only he can do that) but rather we try to do the best we can in Him to do our best for Him, that he may work His best in us.

God Bless you,
 

Richard