How much is too much?
How little can I give and still survive. How long can I stay safe? How often can I be drowned in his presence, yet still come out alive to the desires of my flesh, wants of my human nature, cravings of the blind? How long can I turn a deaf ear to the maker of all things, who gave me the breathe of life?
When does it end? When does this routined surrender, yet not fully (still scared), life end.
After you enter the skatepark you likely end up at the top of the bowl, about to drop in. If you don’t lean forward enough and hear your front wheels of the board his the ramp, going almost a straight vertical towards the ground, you’ll fall. With everything you have, you can’t hold back or you will fall. You have to trust that your board will hold you and fully commit. If you try to save yourself by leaning backwards, the concrete will be your best friend.
The same thing goes with your relationship with Jesus Christ. There is nothing he cannot see. There is nothing he doesn’t know. Everything you are, he fully accepts and calls you his own. The biggest request is just you. It’s all of you. Jesus took everything that we deserved, and suffered. He was separated from the father, felt to be forsaken by the only one he truly loved. The physical pain he felt was nothing in comparison to the feeling of being forsaken by his father, who loved him.
Jesus did this so that we could be free. Free doesn’t look like “believing in Him.” It doesn’t look like going to church every Sunday or attending bible study. All of these things are important, but they won’t get you full freedom. The only way to full freedom is through Christ.
Sometimes we don’t see what we are truly living in, until we ask God to reveal it to us. A common life is lived half in chains, half in grace. It’s a good life, and a life lived with Christ, but there is something still missing. It’s an ache in the soul for more. It’s a place in your heart where you know he hasn’t been. It’s a place that is only occupied by the flesh, not by the father. This is where we die. You cannot, CANNOT, access freedom until you fully die to everything else in your life that you have ever, will ever, desire to ever, or do ever serve that isn’t Jesus Christ. Once you die to every piece of you that you know isn’t acting out of the spirit of God, you will come alive. Once you sacrifice whatever it is in your life that holds you back from that full sprint towards him, you will find freedom. It will be a beautiful thing. He waits for us and he longs for us.
Out of all things, he desires our love, our attention, or companionship.
Why do we live a life of fear? What could be the worst thing about giving up everything?
Losing something? No, because anything that we are to lose, is nothing compared to Him.
Freedom takes courage, and courage takes a heart that longs to see the kingdom come. Live without chains, so that you can run. Sprint fully into His presence and I promise you won’t regret it. It may cost you your life, and every sacrifice, but God is the giver of life. It is not our life to live, it is His.
