What Gives?

Do you ever hear the same message so frequently you just have to stop?

Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9:23

Over the last week or so, we have heard a constant refrain from God: What is standing between you and God? Are you willing to give it away?

We went to a movie Friday. We saw the latest Kendrick Brothers movie, The Forge. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it! In the movie, a young man was asked what was preventing him from going deeper with God. For him, it was his gaming system. It was the one thing that occupied his time and his mind, way too much to allow God to have His way in His life. It was preventing him from going deeper with God.

Then Sunday came. We heard the same message from the pastor. Actually, we heard the same message from three different pastors over the weekend. What is it that God is asking you to surrender? What is it that is keeping you from knowing Him deeply, fully, intimately? Are you willing to lay it on the altar, to sacrifice it fully and completely to gain more of me?

While we continue to contemplate the question, I want to encourage you to ask yourself the same question. Are you willing to surrender anything to go deeper with God? 

I think we in the Western world have subconsciously adapted a watered-down version of the gospel. Too often, we think following God is all about the blessings. We think He is like a genie in a bottle who is required to give us what we wish every time we rub the lamp. We treat Him more like that genie than we do the Omnipotent God of the Universe.

But it’s time for that to change. Our country–our world–is in desperate need of the goodness of God! We need to see His presence rest on us! This world needs to see genuine Christians who love in spite of our political positions. This world needs to experience the life-changing love of a God who offers grace instead of casting stones at the woman caught in adultery. This world needs people who are completely sold out in their faith, willing to take extravagant steps to follow the God we claim to serve.

So are you willing? Or are you caught up in your own little world, living your life of comfort and ease? Are you clinging tightly to your rights, your freedom to indulge in all the things this world offers?

Or maybe you are clinging tightly to the religious trappings of this life. Maybe you’ve been raised in a tradition that–even though they won’t say it–emphasizes works and rules over relationship. Maybe you are so caught up in the traditions that have been passed down that you are missing the love and freedom our Savior came to offer.

I don’t know where you are. But I do know where I am.

I am desperate for more of Him.

I am desperate to know I am experiencing Him fully on this side of heaven.

I am desperate to hear the sweet whispers of my Father each and every day.

I am desperate to know He is in control of this crazy life that sometimes it feels like it is spinning hopelessly out of control.

I am desperate to put aside the traditions I’ve been taught and simply know Him.

I am desperate to see Him do what only He can do, in my life and in the lives of those around me.

I am desperate to experience the life-giving water.

I am desperate to taste the Bread of Life.

I am desperate to do whatever He calls me to do.

So I search. I seek His face, asking Him what it is I am clinging to that is preventing me from knowing Him better. I beg Him to make it clear to me so I can set it at the altar.

As an offering. An offering to show I am completely His. An offering that clearly shows my heart is not divided, but it is His.

I am desperate to know exactly what gives–or more precisely, what I need to give to experience the perfect, life-changing presence of the one who gives more than I could ever understand.