Leftovers

So I held couch church today...all by myself. Half the family is headed out of town and some others had gone to church locally, but God had me at home today for reasons not completely in my plans. What I experienced was nothing short of amazingly uncomfortable!

What the what? Did I really use the two words "amazingly" and "uncomfortable" next to each other in the same sentence? :) You are going to completely agree with me after you read some of what I read this morning.

Okay, okay, I'll get to the point.

I am going to ask you some pointed questions that I asked myself merely because we all need to be challenged this way. What way?

Why are we giving second best to God? What viable reason do we have? How much of us does God require? 10%?

You're probably ready to click the "back" button on your phone or computer browser and scrap the post altogether. Hang with me.

I am reading through the book of Matthew and as a supplemental "shot in the arm", I'm slowly working my way through Francis Chan's study "Crazy Love". If you have ever read this book before, you know EXACTLY which chapter I am referring to and read today.

Serving Leftovers To A Holy God

If you're like me, you just said "OUCH" out loud. Maybe your spine tingled, or the pit of your stomach all of the sudden felt hollow. All of the above were reactions I had....reactions of GUILT!

"Many of us believe we have as much of God as we want right now, a reasonable portion of God among all the other things in our lives. Most of our thoughts are centered on the money we want to make, the school we want to attend, the body we aspire to have, the spouse we want to marry, the kind of person we want to become....But the fact that nothing should concern us more than our relationship with God; it's about eternity, and nothing compares with that. 

GOD IS NOT SOMEONE WHO CAN BE TACKED ON TO OUR LIVES."

-F.C.-

After that last sentence, I felt like I needed to spend an hour asking God's forgiveness for putting Him on the back burner of my life so many times when I should have had Him right there, the first being I asked for assistance in times of conflict, and the answer to my problems. (That was a run on sentence....I know.)

He's not additional help and reassurance just when we need it. He's not the finishing touch when we're patching up a problem. He's not a blessing we ask for when we are planning to do something that goes against His will for our lives. He's not the add on.....He's the I AM. The IT. The EVERYTHING. And as much as God wants to be all of these things to His children, we aren't giving in. We aren't giving up, and we aren't being selfless.

How much are we supposed to give up? I mean, does God literally call us to forsake all that we have?

He wants us to forsake all that ties us to those things.....our selfishness, our prideful nature, our sense of belonging, our sense of accomplishment. More important than all of those things, He calls us to give up our shallow and selfish preconceived spirituality.

"Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.' When he [the rich man] heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked at him and said, 'How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!'"

-Luke 18:22-24-

It's not merely our 10% God wants. It is all of us. Essentially, God wants us to tithe and give of ourselves not merely out of obligation, but out of our hearts. God isn't calling for just material giving in this passage....it is a spiritual and emotional kind of giving. 

Many of us will step no farther than the latter. Our emotional life is too personal, it's all us. So so comfortable....why would we let some outside force in to disturb our comfortable life? We have a warped idea that we are owed our emotions to be only ruled by ourselves, fed by our whims, and nurtured by selfish ambition. How often even as Christians we find ourselves in this sad place.

Take this quote from Henri Nouwen (quoted on page 95 in "Crazy Love"). 

"It is hard to bear with people who stand still along the way, lose heart, and seek their happiness in little pleasures which they cling to. .... You fell sad about all that self-indulgence and self-satisfaction, for your know with an indestructible certainty that something greater is coming...." (ref. Luke 9:25)

All God seeks is you. When He has you, He has your loyalty, your heart, your hands, your feet, and your voice. There is no freer feeling than to be completely given up into the hands of God. 

"Called Me Higher"

(All Sons & Daughters)

Crazy Love by Francis Chan (website Link)