Have you ever taken a moment to consider what you're giving to God. Your life, and everything in it, is a gift from God and what you do with that life is your gift back to Him. Do you go to church every Sunday and just sort of go through the motions of singing when everyone else sings, bow in prayer when instructed, or partake of a matza cracker and Welches grap juice when the tray is passed? What about throughout the week, do you still serve Him outside of the 4 walls of the church, and if so, what does that servitude look like?
In chapter 5 of Crazy Love Mr. Chan challenges readers to consider what kind of love they are giving to the One who IS love. He begins by ruffling a few feathers by presenting His view that lukewarm Christians, Christians who half heartedly serve God but also half heartedly serve the world, are not Christians at all. You might find this view to be fairly presumptuous, being that ultimately God will judge the lives of both believers and unbeliever and therefor it is not our job, however before you can jump on the train traveling down the "Offensive Line", He gives thorough scriptural evidence of the Lord's disgust for the lukewarm variety "Christian". The Scriptures warn of trying to serve two masters, of having no God's before the One God, of our God being a jealous God, of God spitting out the lukewarm....need I go on? Mr. Chan actually dissects the passage on "spitting out" and reveals that the greek word for spitting isnt merely a popcorn kernal pytalise but rather a "gaging, hurling, or wretching." Are you ok with being "hurled" out of God's mouth? Take time to read through the Gospels and you will most likely come to the same conclusion that he did: "My conclusion? Jesus' call to commitment is clear: He wants all or nothing. The thought of a person calling himself a "Christian" without following Christ is absurd." Following Christ = following all that God has commanded...not just a few things...all things.
We shouldnt desire to follow Christ or to follow His commands out of fear for our salvation. God doesnt ask us to serve Him out of guilt or fear. He wants us to LOVE Him and therefore follow His commands out of that love.
- "God doesnt just want us to have good theology; He wants us to know and love Him."
So here comes the doozie of a look at the everyday Christian's approach to giving to God:
- "It's easy to fill ourselves up with other things and then give God whatever is left. Hosea 13:6 says, 'When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied they became proud; then they forgot me.' God gets a scrap or two only because we feel guilty for giving Him nothing. A mumbled 3 minute prayer at the end of the day, when we are already asleep. Two crumpled-up dollar bills thrown as an after thought in the church's fund for the poor. Fetch, God!"
Wow. Were you struck and humbled by this as much as I was? How true this is. I dont think that we do this intentionally, atleast not all of us, but I think we get so caught up in the busyness of our lives that we sit down at the end of the day and realize, "Oh ya, God, I forgot about you today....Here's a thought or prayer or donation for You. Thanks!"
- " Leftovers are not merely inadequate; from God's point of view (and lest we forget, He is the only one that matters) , they're evil. Let's stop calling it "a busy schedule" or "bills" or "forgetfulness". It's called evil. "
It takes a renewing of the mind from thinking consistently earthbound to thinking and living in light of eternity. The enemy is sneaky and throws whatever he can into our path to keep us forgetting to remember who we serve. If he can get us to serve money, or career, or family, or success, then he's done his job of turning our eyes from Jesus and turning our eyes to him. Remember that we are only on earth on a day pass. This is not our home and we were never meant to try and make it as such. We as Christians are in desperate need of a paradigm shift.
Point blank, NOTHING should be more important to us than our relationship with God. He is not an added element to our lives... He should be the main element in our lives. He should not be an after thought, but an only thought.
Let's make a plan to quit serving our Majestic Creator a ziplocked bag full of frostbitten faithfulness. It's time to give Him our first fruits and not our brown bananas.
No comments:
Post a Comment