Jesus demands that we surrender all of our life to him. He doesn’t want a small portion of who you are. It’s like this — when you’re trying to climb out of a river that has a steep bank, you have to get a foothold on something to start the climb. And once you get the foothold, you can climb up the bank and walk all around.

Some of us, when we invited Jesus into our lives, simply gave him a foothold, but we’re resisting his efforts to step fully up onto the bank so he can fully access our lives. Jesus isn’t willing to stand there on that foothold. He wants you to give him all of your life.

You may think you’ve surrendered all of your life to him, but the truth is, you’re still hanging on to some parts of your life. Jesus isn’t upset with you. He simply wants to work with you to help you uncover areas that you still need to surrender to him.

There will be struggles and battles, but the outcome will never be in question. God has promised that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6 NIV).

You have just enough time to do God’s will while you’re here on Earth. You’ve been given just enough time to fulfill your purpose. When you try to do more than God planned for you, it’s only natural that you will find yourself constantly out of time or stressed over your schedule.

My prayer for you is that you will find relief from stress and a new sense of satisfaction as you do only the things God created you to do.

You also must learn to admire without having to acquire. You need to learn to rejoice in other people’s prosperity without getting jealous and envious and feeling like you have to have it, too.

This is one of the great principles that Americans don’t understand. You don’t have to own it to enjoy it! Maybe you like to vacation in the mountains. Why do you have to go buy a mountain cabin when you can just rent or even borrow it the one time a year you go to the mountains? Ownership isn’t the only way to enjoy it.

It’s not just a good idea to stop comparing; it’s a commandment. Exodus 20:17 says, “You shall not covet . . . anything that belongs to your neighbor” (NIV).

Coveting means the uncontrolled desire to acquire. It’s such an important sin to avoid that it’s included in the Ten Commandments. The word “covet” in Greek means “to grab or to grasp so tightly that your hands are tight; you can’t even let it go.” If God ever gives you something and he tells you to give it away and you can’t, you don’t own it — it owns you.

God is not saying you should never have a desire for something. That’s not Christianity; that’s Buddhism. Desires are not wrong. In fact, your desires come from God. But when a desire is uncontrolled, it becomes coveting. When you desire something that is not yours, that’s evil. But a desire is not a negative thing.

Nothing can be accomplished unless you desire to do it. You can’t become more like Christ without desiring to become more like Christ. For instance, you can’t be a more loving person without desiring to be a more loving person. You can’t be a more generous person without desiring to be a more generous person. Desire is not bad until it is uncontrolled and you think you’ve got to have more, more, more. The root of that kind of desire is in comparing yourself to others.

You can’t have a contented life until you learn not to compare. Why should you never compare? Because comparing always leads to coveting.