Giving Everything. - Monday 18 June

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
Matthew 13:45.

When I was a student, I spent one summer Interrailing across Europe with three friends. Long hours in trains made for lengthy discussions. I remember one conversation with my friend Donald about belief – he said he believed 95% that Christianity was true and thought that was as much as anyone could be expected to believe. I took issue with this and said that really Christianity was “all or nothing”, Jesus can’t be partly Lord, and he had to decide one way or the other.

I still believe that. But if I look at my life and the lives of most Christians around me I can understand how he came to that conclusion. After all, if we really believed fully in Jesus’ victory over sin and death, that God is with us every second of the day, that we are going to spend eternity with him, would we be living as we do? I think most of us who call ourselves Christians will mentally agree with those statements, and at times have had an emotional heartfelt response, but do our lives match what we say? I think the sad reality is that many of us live in semi-backslidden way. But don’t despair, because God’s Grace is immense!

I saw a documentary a little while ago about folk who live right on the San Andreas Fault. They all knew of the dangers, that one day there will be an enormous tearing apart of the earth, but they still chose to stay there. They didn’t have some sort of death wish but they weren’t worried about a potential earthquake, they just put reality to the back of their minds. I sometimes wonder if we live our Christian lives a bit like that, knowing the reality of God but putting him to the back of our minds and not letting him affect what we do.

We have found the Pearl of great price. We have a wonderful God who we are going to spend eternity with. Surely that demands us engaging our hearts and minds, and giving the Lord our all

Jon Seaton, 17/06/2007

Feedback:

	Sheree Burgess	18/06/2007 06:24
Thanks for that reminder Jon that we as christians are living on a power greater than that contained in the San Andreas fault. I used to think that givng more to God meant me making a supreme effort to live my life His way. Now I know that it means letting Him take over. In turning myself over and trusting Him I realise that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Sheree
	Anon. (Guest)	18/06/2007 08:29
Jon, I think you have hit the nail on the head! We can be so "happy" to be saved that we sit back in comfort and forget the great price ... Certainly we must always determine to, and strive to make the supreme effort, but knowing that when we fail we are forgiven. God's grace forgives us for our past, but doesn't give us permission to be spiritually lazy in the future. A light burden doesn't mean an easy life - but a life driven by passion for Christ. If our heart is in our work, then our work becomes easy.
	Della Hudson (Guest)	18/06/2007 08:39
Thanks Jon. We had a great sermon yesterday of which the part that caused me to think most was "being crucified with Christ". When Christ died on the cross it was the end of his own personal plans as it should be for us too. Logically it is a price worth paying for the 'Pearl' but it is so hard to hand over control in practice.