I started teaching this phrase to my triplets when they were very young. I wanted them to have in their hearts that more, more, more won’t make you content. I know that family and friends can disappoint us, but the premise of this saying is simply that material things won’t make us happy, but what will bring more contentment is relationship and things that last – time with family, time with friends, Jesus. There is a lot more fullness in life when we aren’t continually longing for the next thing. A great reminder this Christmas season.
I try to remind my kids (and myself!) that even when you get that thing you’ve always wanted, it will soon lose its appeal and you’ll long for the next thing. We should absolutely enjoy the gifts God has given us, and I sure love exchanging gifts at Christmas, but let’s always remember where our true treasures lie because that is where our hearts will be also.
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)
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Some of you might have heard the phrase, “Give It to Jesus,” if there is something you have been struggling with.
You’re venting or expressing your heart, and then you hear, “Give it to Jesus.” As though you haven’t done that because you’re still struggling.
I’ve thought about that phrase, and I think it can mean a number of things.
Yes, you might experience immediate freedom from something when you “give” it to the Lord, sharing it with him with open hands.
Or, the freedom might come for only a moment once you “give” it to Him, or pray about it, only to find yourself struggling once again with that thing, that heartache, that pain.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you haven’t “given it to the Lord.” It could just mean that you’re human and feel and have emotions, and that some things just take time.
And that’s okay.
If the Lord thought we didn’t need to come to him daily about things, he might have said, “Give us this year our yearly bread.”
But, that’s not what he says at all. Jesus says, “Gives us THIS DAY our DAILY bread.”
We are meant to come again and again to Jesus.
So, then, what does it mean to give it to Jesus? I think it means that when that heartache, that pain, that struggle rises in our minds and hearts, we ask the Lord to walk with us, to help us, to free us, to restore us, to strengthen us, again, and again and again. And, that, is where the healing comes.
And, that, is giving it to the Lord.
Yes, the Lord can work a miracle by setting you free in an instant, but he can also work a miracle by setting you free a moment at a time as you walk step by step with the Lord, and that is beautiful.
And, that, is giving it to the Lord.
Even if some pain and struggle remain.
That is just what he wants of us – to keep coming to Him.
Oh how the Lord wants you to really live by letting him into your heart to become your Savior, your peace, simply by asking him to. How he wants to walk with you because He loves you, in whatever you are dealing with, to set you free…
Day by day.
Moment by moment.
Jesus, set us free. Thank you that you have set us free to live in eternity with you when we ask you to be our Savior. Lord, set us free here and now too. Moment by moment, we give our pains and struggles and heartaches to you. Lord, release us. Help us experience the freedom you have come to give us. In Jesus’ Name, amen.
“It is for freedom that I have set you free.” Jesus
Linsey Driskill 