“Nothing is free!”
Those were the words that made me stop and think when I was a young girl after I ran to tell my parents that we got a “free meal” with our tickets to the game. My dad laughed and pointed to the price of the tickets and said, “You might think the meal is free. That is what they want you to think…but the price of the ticket pays for the “free” meal too.” LOL! I had not paid for the ticket …my dad had paid…and even though he didn’t go to college…he understood…marketing…and because he paid for the ticket…he taught me a valuable lesson:
Nothing is free. I might not be the one to pay for something but someone did.
The gift of salvation …to receive….Jesus as our Lord and Savior…IS a “free gift” to us. We don’t have to work for it. But very often, in fact quite VERY often, we forget that there was a HUGE price tag on the “free gift” that God offers. In fact, it is the greatest price tag of all–the death of his Son on a cruel cross. Once again…nothing is free.
Even though we don’t have to work or pay anything for salvation….we frequently don’t value the gift. Sometimes I think it is because we don’t have any skin in the game. As Christians, we all, including me, myself and I, need to wake up and realize if, “Jesus hung on the cross…we can certainly carry ours!” In Luke 9:23-24 it clearly states, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross DAILY and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”
A relationship with Christ doesn’t come on our terms. It comes on God’s terms (denying self). When did Christians buy into the idea that God wants to send us to safe places to do easy things? When did we drink the “Kool-Aid” that promised comfort and safety and equated it with “denying self”?
Faithfulness to God does not mean living behind safe walls. It is more about “storming the gates of hell”. Stepping out. TRUSTING GOD…and not ourselves. Following Jesus is about dethroning ourselves and enthroning God to His rightful place in our lives. And from experience of being in both places, having God on the throne and dethroning myself, I can say that He has guided me to do things that first, I would have never done with my own thinking. And second, could have never done in my own strength.
God’s ways are not supposed to always make sense to us. If they did, HOW WOULD we TRULY SEE HIM? We would be self-reliant and that is NOT where God wants us to live. In my experience, HE calls us to do things….that are radical…so that we are SURE to experience the supernatural.
I encourage you to ask yourself this question: “Have I experienced the supernatural in my life?” If the answer is “NO,” or “Not Lately,” then there is a real strong possibility that you are not experiencing the fullness of Christ and denying self.
For the last several years I have blindly said “yes” to God. When I say blindly, I mean seeking Him, being still to listen and doing the things He has told me to do….that I really didn’t feel qualified nor equipped to do. One time in particular He told me to send an email. I will never forget writing it and then reading it and thinking, “Wow! I can’t believe I wrote that.” Seriously, when I reread the email, I could not believe that I had penned it. LOL…I didn’t…I saw God in that email…then I remember my fingers trembling as I pressed send. I was shaking and as I heard the “swish” of my computer confirming the send….I felt a peace and comfort that comes from obedience. That act required me to totally trust God with the “outcome” of that email.
The outcome is still manifesting. I look back over the four years since I sent that email, and I cannot imagine my life today If I hadn’t obeyed…and trusted even though I was shaking. That one step of obedience, even when I was fearful and stepping anyway, has flooded my life with a richness and fullness that I could not have fathomed. It has strengthened my “YES” to God because it was the “radical” step that led me to see the POWER, LOVE, and PLAN that God has for me. One that I could NOT have orchestrated.
It REQUIRED…ME TO JUMP….NO TURING BACK…TO BE “ALL IN !”
It is my true desire to STRONGLY encourage you to examine your life. NO MATTER what your age. Are you asking God to join you in your plans? Or are you saying to God, “Here I am. Send me”?
It is only in the latter response…and it will require you to step even if you feel fearful….where you will experience the “supernatural” in your life. An ALL IN response not only will radically change your days (“it is a daily thing”), but it could change the course of history and the legacy of others. God cannot give back what you don’t give up. I encourage you to be “All IN!”