What do you spend most of your free time doing? What are your hobbies? What kind of material do you read, study and meditate on? What do you think about - what's on your mind? When you find the answer to these questions you will find what you are most devoted to.

Let's take a look in the bible and see what God says we should be devoted to.

I Chronicles 22:19a "Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God." (NIV)

The first, and most important thing, we are to be devoted to is God. We owe God all our devotion. But I'm afraid He is usually the last thing on our list of 'things' to do for the day. We usually leave our devotion and prayer time until everything else is done then it is late at night and we are too tired and sleepy to do more than 'say a prayer' before we fall wearily into bed. God expects us to set aside some time for Him. Yes, the Sabbath is His, too, but he wants us to renew our minds each day by meditating in His Word and spending time with Him. We shouldn't just give him what is left over at the end of the day! If you really love Him you will devote your heart to seek Him by setting aside some time for Him. You spend time on what you care about.

Romans 12:10-18 "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (NIV)

We are to be devoted to each other. We are to esteem others above ourselves. We are to respect each other and not think we are better than others. We are all to serve the Lord together! I have seen so much division in so many churches because these verses are not practiced. There is to be no competition in the church. We are not competing to see who can do it best, we are all working together to glorify God, help the community and bring in the lost. While we should absolutely not be lacking in zeal when serving the Lord, at the same time we need to be careful of our brothers and sisters in Christ and make sure they are being included. There is plenty of work for everyone to do and everyone likes to feel needed, even the elderly in the church!

"Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." We are so blessed. When we see someone who is in need we should automatically reach out to them. When God gives to you, you should want to give to someone less fortunate. You cannot out give God! The word hospitable means: "Disposed to treat guests with warmth and generosity." A lot of us today are too busy to have guests. We spend most of our time working. I remember when we used to have company several nights a week but it's much less than that now. What are you doing with your time? Are you spending it on the people around you or the things around you? We should be willing to rejoice with people when they are happy but also to mourn with those who are sad and not be so proud that we can't associate with people we feel aren't as good as we are. In fact, we should never feel we are better than anyone else! We are all created equal and are to live in peace and harmony with each other.

Our devotion extends not only to our family and friends but to our enemies as well. If our enemy is hungry we are to feed him; if he is thirsty we are to give him something to drink. We are not to return evil for evil, this is the way of the world, but overcome evil with good. The unsaved are not expecting this kind of reaction thus it says it would be like heaping coals of fire on their heads. I hope you're not just reading this but really thinking about it! "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love." (NIV) Puts a whole new meaning on the word "devotion."

Colossians 4:2 "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." (NIV)

This comes back to devotion to God. If we are devoted to God we will talk to Him. God is not somewhere far away observing our actions from heaven. He is close to us and wants us to come to Him as a friend, confide in Him and ask Him for our needs. He gave us a model prayer in Matthew 6:

"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." (KJV)

I Timothy 4:13 "Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching." (NIV)

Have you ever noticed how little public reading of the scriptures there is today? Most ministers read three or four verses from the bible and then preach a forty-five minute sermon. In the day this scripture was written, the people were not all privileged to own Scriptures. The Scriptures were read to the people in the temple on the Sabbath. The King James Version doesn't say "public reading of the Scripture." Here is how it reads: "Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine." (If you are wondering why I am using the NIV for this devotion instead of the KJV, which I normally use, it is because the NIV has many more references using the word devotion than the KJV.) If we are devoted to God, we will be devoted to reading and studying the Word of God. We should also look forward to hearing the Word expounded upon whether by a minister or a teacher, which means we look forward to going to the church of our choice.

Titus 3:8,14 "This is a trustworthy saying, And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives." (NIV)

Last but not least, we are to devote ourselves to doing good. Of course, we remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 19:17 when someone called him "Good Master." He said, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God:" Although we are not good on our own the blood of Christ makes us good and pure and clean and we are to devote our lives to doing good. Ephesians 2:8 says: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast." It's true we are not saved by works but that doesn't mean we aren't supposed to do good works. James 2:17 & 18 says: "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works." On one hand, a person can be full of good works but not saved but on the other hand, if you are saved you will want to devote yourself to doing good. That doesn't mean you have to quit your job and go save the whales but it does mean when an opportunity presents itself to help someone in need or do some other good deed you will volunteer if possible.

Genesis 3:1-3 "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, "You must not eat from any tree in the garden?"
The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, "You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die."
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (NIV)

Adam and Eve were the first people to be fully devoted to God. Satan didn't like that so he decided to put an end to their evening walks in the garden. He still doesn't like it when people are devoted to God today. He will do anything to distract you during your devotion time. The phone will ring, the kids will cry or fight or have a million questions they have to ask you right now, company will drop in or you will find your mind beginning to wander or you will suddenly become sleepy for no reason. Try to set aside a time for your devotion when there will be the least distractions. Sometimes this isn't possible, especially if there are small children in the house. Don't let Satan get the upper hand. Be patient with yourself during devotion time. When you feel yourself becoming distracted, recognize the problem and deal with it without frustration. When you become emotionally frustrated it may prevent you from concentrating on and finishing your devotion time. If you can deal with the phone, the child or what ever the distraction is quickly and without emotion you can get back to your devotion time and defeat Satan's purpose. Make no mistake, when you begin to spend more time with God, he will try to stop you! But God knows you are putting forth the effort to meet with Him and He will bless you for it!