Am I willing to lose it all? Can I bet my entire life on a single hand?
That's what God asks us to do for Him. Correction, it's what He expects us to do for Him. Being willing to give up everything is something I can say "yes" to, but it comes after a very very long and drawn out hesitation. Because God is a loving and gracious God, nine times out of ten, He probably wouldn't ask this of me. BUT, there is a possibly and if asked, a hesitation cannot be present. Reading through the call stories found in the gospels, I envy His disciples and their willingness.
"As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called to them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him."
-Matthew 4:18-22
You catch the bold words? At once...immediately? Therein lies the difference between me and Christ's disciples. That hesitance that I mentioned...yeah, that doesn't fit into the definition for either of those words. In fact, it's the antonym. So what does that tell me about my heart? It needs to be re-evaluated. Why can't I just let go of these things? Without a doubt, without a pause. It's because I haven't come to grips with the fact that none of it's mine. All of it is a gift, a gift I don't deserve. But yet, because Satan is such an amazing liar, he puts the notion in my mind that I do own these things and I have a right to them. We have a right to absolutely nothing if we call ourselves Christians.
"Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it." -Luke 17:33
We have to be willing to:
Get Up
Leave Everything
Follow Jesus
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