This week saw the wrap up of the Democratic convention. In a magnanimous gesture, Hillary Clinton
moved to have Barak Obama accepted as the nominee by acclamation. She did NOT have to do this. She had already given her endorsement speech
and it was brilliant. Everyone already
respects her, and those that will vote the ticket have already made the
decision to do so. So why offer this
olive branch well after defeat? Why
choose to give even more, when more is no longer even expected? This is the mark of true character. Character is revealed in the dark times not
in the joyous ones. And she went above
and beyond with this move, making an historic event, even more historic. She has given it all, for the sake of her
belief in this country. Like her, or
hate her, you have to admit this was an act of grace in defeat.
Right after Christ departed this world ascending back to
join His Father, the early Christian church was small, young, and
energetic. They pooled their money
together. Not just their cash, but their
food, their land, their livestock, even their clothing. They formed what would now be known as a
collective. And the church used the
proceeds to take care of its members, and fund mission trips to other cities to
spread the gospel and grow the movement.
These early pioneers thought nothing of giving EVERYTHING they owned to
the work. Their time, their skills,
their labor, their savings, their money, and when persecution for their beliefs
came – they gave up their lives – singing.
My goodness what a contrast to the “believers” of today! We couch potatoes can hardly be bothered to
wake up early to get to church once a week on time. The thought of selling our homes, our cars,
our things, and giving every red cent to the church is no longer a sign of
devotion – it is grounds for forced commitment on the basis of insanity.
What changed? Is it
just the passing of time? Is it that the
church as an institution is plagued with all the crime, perversion, and misdeeds
of the world so that making this gesture would be pointless now? Is it that none of us have spent any
face-to-face time with Christ and we live so long since He was here that we
have lost faith and passion? Or is it
just something else?
We seem to suffer from a condition of general apathy where
nothing much moves us. We choose not to
feel too much, choose not to love too much, so that inevitably we do not hurt
too much. In part it is a coping
mechanism. But it is also a barrier to
really living. And it is not just
limited to our emotional expressions, it infects our general character. We do not run when we can walk. We do not struggle if we can avoid it. We seek ease, consistency, and routine. We work, but most, only as hard as we need to
in order to survive. Where it comes to
challenges to do more with ourselves and our lives we pause. This is the state we exist in, one of
pause. We ponder our next move for a
while, anxious not to make the wrong one.
We consider the cost of our move, the consequences, the amount of energy
it will require. Then move only as we
are required to do. We couch our
hesitancy in cynicism, but call it pragmatism.
We reason that no one is expected to give 100% anymore to
anything. Marriages are 50:50 propositions. Tithe is only 10%. Taxes even at the high end are no more than
38%. Sales tax much less than that. Even the government understands it cannot
take 100% of your money, or your time, or …
We expect 100% effort only from our athletes in the games we watch, but
almost never play ourselves. We may
issue platitudes in the office of demanding 110% of our employees, but
management never matches this level of commitment, and remains stunned that
employees do the same. No, we live in an
age of lowered expectations. We are all
guilty of it. We all participate in
it. And the disease is incredibly
infectious.
But what would our lives look like, if we chose to change
and become 100% type people? What if we
began by choosing to love full-out, at 100%, nothing held back, nothing held in
reserve, face to the wind and ignore the torpedoes. What if we gave our wife, our husband, our
partner 100% of our lives. The world
would not know how to respond. Indeed
our loved ones would not know how to respond, being they probably have never
seen this kind of thing from us before.
But what if. Forgetting their
response, what would giving 100%, giving it all, giving everything do to us? What if the difference between squandering
life and living life is about the difference between how you live today and
living at 100%.
Scripture wisely advises that whatever you find to do, do it
100%. God says he prefers hot or cold as
opposed to lukewarm. He can deal with
hot or cold. He can deal with people who
are committed. People who give it
all. That nut Saul was living as he
believed the right way to do, literally killing Christians for their
beliefs. He killed us, in the name of
God. But he was not left to die, a
Christian killer. He was brought to the
truth on the road to Damascus and became a 100% Christian – the even nuttier
kind that writes entire volumes of the Bible itself. He did not stop being a 100% guy, he just got
turned around and pointed in the right direction.
Ever wonder where the Paul’s are in this generation? Where is our Moses? The concept of giving it all has been
abandoned in our churches. The widow who
gave 2 mites as it was ALL she had, is admired, then forgotten by our folks and
our families. We leave the sermon and
re-engage in “real” life never even considering giving more than we have
already – let alone giving it all. It
takes trust to give it all. It takes
faith to give it all. And it takes
giving it all if we are ever going to see ourselves rid of this addictive
disease we call sin. No, I do not mean
giving all our money. That would be
inspiring but would not make us less evil.
I mean giving up 100% of our very characters, our very personalities,
allowing God to enter and change the core of who we are. This level of commitment to God effects the
change we so desperately need. It is
when we allow Him to change our own desires, our thoughts, our motives, that we
begin to see a different us emerge.
Giving money is easy. Try giving who
you are.
Ever seen a young child at play? They throw themselves into the moment having
fun without second thought, without hesitation.
The simplest of things become toys.
A stranger can immediately become a friend. A child knows how to live better than all our
wisdom, caution, and “pragmatism” has taught us. They have absolute “faith” in their parents
that no harm will come their way. They
know while on the playground that mom or dad is just over there, and will be at
their side in a minute should a problem arise.
And what is more, they are correct.
But it does not change for us. We
have an infinite Father, our God-parent, our Creator, our Savior, who is just
“over there” and will empty heaven itself to spare us pain or trouble. His love is so deep that He commits 100% of
Himself to you, just you. He would die
for you, to save you, and in fact, He did.
Our God is a 100% kind of God.
When we live that way, we learn what living is really ALL
about. We stop existing and start
living. We find meaning. We know truth. 100% is not just a rare word. It is a statement about who you are. It is a yard stick from which you can measure
the meaning in your own life, in your own legacy. The recent pop song – “Live like you were
dying” talks about going skydiving, offering forgiveness, loving deeper. Why?
Because you realize your time on this planet is limited (in this case
more severely than normal). No. It is living without fear, without
hesitation. 100% kind of living.
Instead of grounds for commitment to the insane asylum, we
should start looking at living 100% as the only way to avoid insanity. Where it comes to giving to God, we need to
lose the complacency of “some” and find the absolute thrill of 100%. The risk, the high, the joy, give it all and
watch. Allow God to change the core of
who you are and watch what emerges from the old shell of you. 100% is the only alternative that makes any
sense to me …
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