M-My turn now-Steven Curtis Chapman

Last weekend, our church hosted a beautiful baby dedication for Joseph. There is one thing that hasn‘t stopped going throughout my mind since then. I am realizing that the first step in dedicating my son to the Lord is giving my life to Him every day of my life.

I believe there is a misconception in the church that following Jesus is one choice for the rest of your life. Yes, there is the initial decision to follow Jesus, but on a day to day level, it is choosing to follow Jesus every moment of every hour.

Chapman states in the song , My turn now”, that following Jesus is giving our lives away in light of what he has done for us. Jesus gave his love and life away on the cross, dying for our sins.

Jesus calls us to follow his example in Luke 9:23, “ Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me”.

Following Jesus is a call to daily surrender. Taking up our cross makes dying to our selfish desires and finding life in following Jesus with our lives.

What does it mean on a practical level to die to self and follow Jesus?

I don’t know about you, but there have been people in my life I have needed to forgive. God has been teaching me through my wife that to forgive others is to not dwell on the past any longer and move on. It is not forgetting what they have done, but choosing to love them as Christ loves you-with unconditional and self-less love.

Today it is our turn to give our lives away. To some of us, it means forgiving those who have wronged us. Others, it may involve eating more healthy in order to be fully energized in serving others.

Regardless, may we find in giving our lives away, the life we wanted all along. A life full of meaning, purpose, and significance, not in making us known, but Jesus known.