I don't want anything left

So, here's something that I've wanted to blog about before but just sort of forgot about it. Sorry. But here it is now...

At the Disciple Now weekend my church does every year, someone made the point that they want to get to Heaven and say "God, I used everything that you gave me to glorify You." That struck an extreme chord with me. I mean, I really liked it. A lot. And found it really interesting and challenging.

Imagine if you did EVERYTHING to glorify God. Everything between breathing to driving to talking to people to your hobbies. If I did everything I could to praise God, I would act soooo differently than how I do now. For example, I hate it when people pass me when I drive. It drives me nuts. I can't lie--I normally go about five over the speed limit. Sometimes more. So when people zoom past me, they're over ten at least. And I always secretly hope that there's a cop close by. Most of time there isn't. So, as my revenge on these people for passing me, I get as close as possible at the next stop sign or stop light behind them, just to make them mad. It's rude, I know. But that's just what I do. And it is NOT God-honoring by any means.

On the flipside, if everything I wrote praised God, it would be one of two things: super impactful or super corny. Now, I feel like my writing is somewhere in the middle. Verging on corny but could also help someone--even if that someone is myself. Some people have made awesome careers on writing about their faith. Donald Miller and Francine Rivers, to name just two. I doubt I'll be anything like them, but you never know. But I also realize that I don't have to write about God to glorify Him. I can just not have questionable stuff in my books. No inappropriate scenes or innuendos. No bad language. No questionable scenarios. Mention my love of God in the "About the Author" section. It's simply a matter of keeping it clean but also keeping it modern and relevant. It's a challenge but I would be praising my God with my talent for writing.

All aspects of my life should be dedicated to the Lord. But they're not. Unfortunately. I'm still praying that I can use everything I've got to praise the one who should be praised. I want to stand in front of Him with my arms out and say, "I used it all for you. I've got nothing left."