Happy New Year! The Glory Goes to God.

We hope this finds you having enjoyed a wonderful Christmas and New Year's break.  For us on the full time staff it included a lot of travels to see family, a fantastic counselor reunion (photos coming soon), and a little bit of ice hockey on Lake Gloria.  We hope your time was filled with fun, relaxation, time with family, and most importantly the knowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord and our Emmanuel, God with us.  


Reminder:
We want to remind you as we start this new year how important it is to be connecting with our Lord Jesus every day.  This is what it means to be in relationship with Him.  The whole reason Summer's Best Two Weeks exists is to see all of us grow in our love for Jesus Christ and be committed to living our lives differently.  We live differently because of Jesus's love for us and our love for Him.  Towards this end we will continue to be posting devotional verses every week.  We strongly encourage you to take time to read your Bibles.  You don't have to read every passage we post, but we encourage you to pick at least one passage (Old Testament, New Testament, Psalm, or Proverb) each day to read and reflect on.  You can easily copy and print each week's devotional passages and stick them in your Bible.  We will continue to post a devotional reflection each week on one of those passages.  We look forward to digging into God's Word together.

First Devotional of 2011
"A son honors his father, and a servant his master.  If then I am a father, where is my honor?" Malachi 1:6

We were made to honor, to love, to worship God.  Another way of saying it is, "The Glory Goes to God".  Have you ever finished a competition and known that you did not give your very best, that you put forth a mediocre effort?  Imagine how frustrated your team around you felt if they knew that you gave far less than your best.  How much more is God, our Creator, upset when we use our gifts and talents He has given us in a mediocre fashion.  In this passage from Malachi, God is upset by His people's refusal to give Him the honor He deserves.  He deserves to have their very best, to be worshiped with excellence. Instead what God received from His people was pathetic.  They were offering sacrifices to him that were unacceptable.  Instead of bringing their best sheep to offer before God, they brought lame, sickly, blind, and stolen sheep.

God wants our best.  We do not live in Old Testament times so none of us will be or should sacrifice sheep, but we are asked to give the best of ourselves towards God's purposes.  Romans 12:1 calls us to "present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."  God wants us to give our all to Him and for Him.  To live in such a way that people see from our lives and our actions that God is glorious.  So whatever we apply ourselves to this new year, be it orchestra, Sunday AM worship, athletics, youth group, leadership positions, relationships with friends and family, work, or leisure, let us do it in a way that honors our Lord and Savior by giving our best.  Let us remember that the glory goes to God.