Everything

Matthew 10:37-39
"37"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

Luke 9:23-25
" 23Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?"

What is it that you "have" that you havn't given? Some ideas:
Time, Money, Actions, Intentions, Relationships, etc.

I recently went to a conference and, as usual, was looking for something different than what I found, spiritually speaking that is.

There was a skit that was performed based around Matthew 13:44
44"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

In the skit the man after finding the treasure goes to the owner of the field and makes and offer to buy the field the owner accepts the offer but then asks "What else have you got?" then whenever the man offers something else the owner continues to ask for more. It culminates at the point of the man offering everything he has, including his future time, retirement, girlfriend, I mean EVERYTHING. After he's offered everything to the owner, the owner accepts and then proceeds to give it all back to him but tells him to be willing to hand it over if the time comes, reminding him that it all belongs to the owner, but that he will put it into the care of the man.

Praise God. I'm always struck unexpectedly and it always cuts down to the very core.

The skit made me ask what I wasn't willing to give up, what was the deal breaker? That led me to think of the plans/hopes I have for my life, and at first I felt at ease. I mean I'd like a comfortable life, with a house, wife, kids, going to church, trying to affect the people around me, etc, etc. But that's when I realized I wasn't willing to settle for anything else. It's one thing to say that you're willing, and it's another to make that willingness a reality in your life.

And so, to omit a few of my own internal arguments and uncertainties and a lapsed period of time of thought, I can honestly say that that's a reality in my life. I think I'm beginning to understand what Paul meant about the chains that he carried. If life is roulette I've just put all my chips on Jesus and am waiting expectantly to that at the end of the night I'll be cashing out. Of course, not to say that I'm perfect, but my views are yet again changing on how I want to live my life, and how I want to serve God and others.

Once again, it's amazing how familiar words and phrases mean so much more, when the reflect the feelings and intentions of your heart.


Persevering,
-Archer