Lip Service?

I was reading in 1 Samuel about Hannah and how she dedicated Samuel to the Lord and left him at the temple with Eli. Now Hannah didn't have lots of children at the time.  As a matter of fact she prayed and cried out to the Lord for a son when she was finally blessed with Samuel.  Her only son that she loved so much.  She gave him completely to the Lord.

1 Samuel 2:20-21
New Living Translation (NLT)
20 Before they returned home, Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the Lord give you other children to take the place of this one she gave to the Lord.[e]” 21 And the Lord gave Hannah three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.

She gave up to the Lord what He had given her!  How many of us are willing to give up the things most precious to us?  To give back and dedicate to the Lord what HE gave us?  Today when we dedicate our children to the Lord we promise to raise them up in the ways of the Lord.  Hannah took this son she had prayed for for years and LEFT him at the temple to grow up in the Lord's presence.

These chapters stirred my heart.  We talk about being Christians, spreading the love of Christ, and being dedicated and obedient.  But are we really? The Lord yet again shows me a place in my heart that needs some work.  Am I truly willing to be completely dedicated in all things, with all things, all that is precious to me? Is it just lip service?

Isaiah 29:13
New Living Translation (NLT)
13 And so the Lord says,
    “These people say they are mine.
They honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
And their worship of me
    is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.

Am I DOING and being OBEDIENT to what the Lord has commanded me to do?  Does HE have ALL of me?

When we pray for the Lord to show us change we need to make in our hearts and life, it's sometimes very difficult to take.  But we should want to be molded and made by Him on a daily basis.  To be doers of the word not just hearers. To have faith with works so that it's not dead.

That's my prayer for not only myself, but for you today as well.  That we examine our hearts, be open and willing for the Lord to mold and make us.  To be willing obedient vessels to carry the gospel to a lost and dying world.

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