Each year in January, Abogar’s board of directors comes together for a few days in San Diego, California to plan out the annual budget, goals, and strategy to keep Abogar moving forward. Since our beginning as a ministry 14 years ago (March 1st, 2012), each year we have chosen a theme that we sense God calling us to focus upon. This year’s theme was impressed upon me pretty distinctly, and I would like to share about it with you… Wholeheartedly Submitted!
I want to break down the 2026 theme by each word, so I will start with ‘wholeheartedly’. In the old testament of the Bible, in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, we encounter a foundational and core passage (the shema) of the whole bible, as it is considered the core and crux, and of primal importance, in instruction to humanity from God. As we consider the word, ‘wholeheartedly’, I can not think of a better text that brings light to the meaning of the word wholeheartedly. Though the word wholeheartedly contains the word ‘heart’, what is really meant in this word is one’s entire being… heart, soul, mind, and strength. As Jesus reiterated the shema in His earthly ministry, He included the word ‘mind’ to capture the fullness and totality of how we are to love our God (Mark 12:30, Matthew 22:37). 2 Corinthians 10:5 shows us the importance and power of taking our thoughts (mind) captive and bringing it into obedience to Jesus. The shema not only shares the ‘how’ but also the ‘when’… when you sit at home, walk along the road, lie down, and get up… always! This is not a mediocre, lukewarm, casual approach in life, but rather a life expressed with intentionality with our full being… “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31). The idea of wholeheartedly doing something is also restated in the book of Revelations (3:16), where God’s rejection is encountered by those who have been lukewarm, mediocre, and not living wholeheartedly (hot or cold). So, to me, wholeheartedly refers to a full intentionality of using our full being in whatever we do… full conviction, consideration, concentration, and commitment.
The second word of Abogar’s 2026 theme… submitted… is a hard one for humanity to fully embrace and live out. To truly be submitted is to take a position of self-denial and a surrender to someone or something else. One of my favorite examples of what submission looks like is from Jesus Himself. On the night of His betrayal, in a garden conversation with God the Father, Jesus pleads for God to remove the weight of the salvific act that He was about to undergo, but then His words resound loudly… ‘…yet not my will, but Your will be done.’ (Luke 22:42b). THAT is what it means to be submitted. Jesus sets an amazing example of what He had already called His disciples to… “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24, Luke 9:23). Jesus submitted Himself to the will and plan of God the Father, and calls us to die to ourselves daily (self-denial) and to follow Him. Jesus showed us that it is not easy. This requires great commitment and integrity, to live in a position and posture of surrendering our pride, plans, pursuits, and pleasure daily and walking out a complete obedience to God Almighty. We are called to deny ourselves (die to ourselves), take up our crosses, and follow Jesus!
As we join the two words together… wholeheartedly submitted… another word has come to my mind and heart repeatedly these past couple of months… Abide. Abide is a word to me the helps define what it means to be wholeheartedly submitted to God. To abide requires longsuffering and endurance, commitment and integrity, intentionality and determination. Some translations of the Bible have changed the word abide to the word remain, and I feel like it mitigates the impact and importance of Jesus’ call for us to abide in Him (John 15:4-11 NKJV). It seems more of a position of intentional participation and belonging to someone or something. Jesus used the analogy of the vine and the branches. As long as the branches remain connected, belong, and are a part of the vine they can be productive and alive. As we abide, remain connected, belong, and are a part of the life and plan of Jesus… ‘in Him we live and move and have our being.’ (Acts 17:28). Abiding is staying the course, and to do so our posture and position before God must be to be wholeheartedly submitted to whatever, wherever, however, and whenever He shall call us!
Abogar has a firm commitment to being wholeheartedly submitted to God’s plan and call for us as a ministry, and we will strive to abide in Him and obey Him, no matter where, when, how, what, or why He calls us! In my personal life, I, Jesse Rivers, am also wholeheartedly submitted to the call and authority of Jesus Christ in and through my life, no matter where, when, how, what, or why He calls me. How about you? Do you live wholeheartedly? Are you hot or cold, or are you lukewarm? Is your life submitted to your own plans and purposes, or to Jesus Christ? To what or whom are you wholeheartedly submitted? As for me and my house, as for Abogar International Ministries, we are wholeheartedly submitted to following and serving Jesus Christ!
