Are You Devoted To God?

By Allan E. McNabb

Last night, young people from several congregations came to our house for a Bible study, which they call a devotional.

“Devotional” is an expedient term, like “gospel meeting”, that describes the Bible study, which is geared toward encouraging devotion to God.

During the study, we talked about what it means to be devoted to God.

In this article, I want to share some of those thoughts with you, and ask, “Are you devoted to God?”

Devotion
The word “devotion” means profound dedication.

Paul, giving the reason he thought it would be better not to marry during the present distress, told the Corinthians it was for their benefit, to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.
“This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord” (1 Cor. 7:35).

Then in his second epistle, worried they could be drawn away by false teachers, Paul again references their devotion to Christ.
            “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3).

Devoted by Keeping God’s Commandments
As God’s children, we are wholly devoted to the Lord.  Therefore, we keep His commandments.

Solomon, bringing the ark of the covenant into the temple, called on the people to be wholly devoted to God by keeping His commandments.
“Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day” (1 Ki. 8:61).

Later in life, Solomon turned away from God.
“For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been” (1 Ki. 11:4).

Notice that Solomon was wholly devoted to God when keeping His commandments.  But when he turned away to other gods, and no longer kept the commands of the Lord, he was not devoted.

As God’s children, we wholly devote ourselves to God by keeping all His commandments.

We Can’t Serve Two Masters
During the sermon on the mount, Jesus tells us we can’t serve two masters.  If we try, we’ll be devoted to one, and despise the other.

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Matt. 6:24).

As Christians, we are devoted to many people and the accomplishment of many tasks.  But above all, we are devoted to God.

We are devoted to the congregation, spouses, children, jobs, neighbors, and our government.  But we don’t serve any of them as our master.

We have one Master, who is God.

Devoted to Prayer
Because we are devoted to God, we devote ourselves to prayer.

The apostles in Jerusalem asked the congregation to select men to manage distribution of food to needy widows, so they could devote themselves to prayer, and ministry of the word (Acts 6:4).

As Christians, we are devoted to prayer, whereby to stay alert and watch for our adversary, the devil.\
“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving” (Col. 4:2).

We constantly pray, steadfast in petitioning God with thankful and grateful hearts.
“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Th. 5:16-18).

Devoted to Brethren
As Christians, we’re also devoted to brethren.
“ Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor” (Rom. 12:10).

We’re dedicated to serving one another, and helping each other in every way possible.  Indeed, we are profoundly dedicated to one another.

Devoted to Every Good Work
To sum it all up, we are dedicated to every good work.

In giving the qualifications of a widow who could be put on the roll, Paul says she must have “devoted herself to every good work” (1 Tim. 5:10).

As Christians, we devote ourselves to good works, “which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).

We are devoted to God.  Therefore we keep His commandments, and devote ourselves to every good work.