He Wants it All

April 9, 2017

Today is Palm Sunday. As I was getting ready for church a song came on and I heard the line “He wants it all.” That line struck me. Our Lord wants it all from us. Everything. Not some things, everything. He wants us to trust Him with our hearts, our lives, our dreams, our families and our hopes. He wants it all. He deserves it. He died for us.  

Our Heavenly Father is not a halfway God, Christ is not a halfway Savior and we are not filled halfway with the Holy Spirit. Over 2000 years ago, when Christ journeyed to the cross, He went the FULL journey. He did not halfway give His life; He gave it all, fully. He suffered and died for you and for me. At anytime He could have stopped on His way to the cross, but He didn’t. Yet there are places in our lives where we have hung STOP signs. Areas that we tuck away so that we can rule and reign over them. Areas of our lives we try to control in our own strength. Areas where we act as if we don’t trust Him to take care of what we need. We know that His plans are good, better than we can imagine yet we resist. Why? Pride, the need for control, fear and stubbornness cause us to refuse to abdicate the throne of our lives. We sing about Him sitting on the throne, but does He? Does He sit on the throne of our lives or have we shoved Him aside and sat down ourselves? Have we shoved him aside in place of our jobs, our perceived successes, our desires and/or our fear? If He is our Lord then He is Lord of all of our lives. All of it, not part of it, not half of it. He did not pay half of the price so why do we give Him half of our lives?

As I think about this week, Passion week, I am reminded of His sacrifice. The Romans could have never crucified Him if He didn’t allow them too. They did not have the power to take His life. He laid it down willingly. He gave it out of His love for us. That is PASSION. He came after us, His lost children with a passion. Can we say that we go after Him with the same passion? Does our Sunday best look like our Monday through Saturday best? Do we only lift our hearts in praise in worship, open our bibles and pray on certain days of the week or certain times of the year? Do we seek Him in good times or only in times of struggle and trial? Do we put Him in a box and give Him limited access to our hearts, our lives, and our thoughts or does He have full access? Can we say that we give Him all of us or do we go halfway?

This is a gut check for me. An opportunity to examine myself and ask The Lord to cleanse my heart and show me where I am only going halfway. Hopefully it is for you too.

The Bible says it is in Him I LIVE and MOVE and HAVE MY BEING. (Acts 17:28) But I must ask myself, DO I? Do I really LIVE in Him and MOVE in Him and HAVE my being in Him with everything? As I sit here and think about this, I know there are places in my life that I have failed to surrender the controls. Things that I feel like I can take care of myself and in the process, I fail to consult the one that KNOWS the answers. The one that has already gone ahead of me and walked the journey I am about to take. The freedom we have, the freedom we talk about and sing about in Christ is a 24/7 freedom, but if we don’t give Him all access we are not able to experience the true freedom He has for us. He paid for our freedom, yet we still have places in our lives where we live in bondage to our circumstances because we are working within our limitations instead of trusting Him in His unlimited grace. Grace is a gift that cost us nothing, but cost Him greatly. 

As we celebrate the King that came to save. That willingly suffered and died for us. That was resurrected on the third day to new life to give us new life. Realize it was all for us. He didn’t need to do any of this. He wasn’t lost in sin, he wasn’t headed for hell an eternity separated from God. We were. He came for us with passion. All the way.

Heavenly Father thank you for loving us enough to send your son Jesus Christ to die for our sins and to resurrect us in new life. What a precious gift you have given us. Lord, I ask you to examine me, show me the areas in my life where I have only gone halfway. Show me the areas I have not even moved an inch in, where I am holding on to things and bearing things that I need to give to you. Show me where I have replaced you on the throne of my life with something or someone else. Lord give me a deeper understanding of the price that was paid for me. I know I can never pay it back but help me to live a life completely surrendered to you in ALL things. Lord I want to go ALL the way! I want to give you ALL of me. Increase your spirit in my life and decrease my pride, stubbornness and need to control. Increase your guidance in my life and help me to walk in obedience even when it is outside of my comfort zone. Fear won’t stop me from giving it all to you. I praise you and thank you for coming after me with passion. Lord increase my passion as I seek after you and your kingdom. Thank you Lord. In Jesus name, Amen