She stood in line at the airport, waiting for her bags to be screened. She had no idea which items in her bags she was allowed to bring with her and which ones she wasn’t. Everything she owned was in those bags. She was about to depart for America, leaving her third-world country behind. Since she had no idea which items might be prohibited, she knew that she could lose many of her most prized possessions. She could even lose everything that she owned. But she voluntarily gave those bags to security, knowing that she had to get on that flight! Belongings or not, she was not willing to miss this opportunity!
As I mentioned in the previous post, we will look at whether everything we give to God is actually gone, some specifics about what we need to give up, and the results of being unwilling to give everything to God.
Just as in the story above, when we give everything to God, we might not know which items He will take from us and which ones we will continue to have in our lives. Yet everything that God takes away from us He takes for our own good. He knows us so well that He knows exactly what will pull us away from Him and harm us. When we are saved, we are generally not called to move out of our homes and leave our belongings, families, and jobs behind. Some things absolutely need to be left behind. With other things, such as the neutral things and the good things in our lives, we need to ensure that nothing is more important than God in our lives.
First of all, if there are any sins in our lives that we are holding onto, we need to let go of those. Repentance in the Bible means changing our minds about sin. It means that, if you have been pursuing sex outside of marriage, you change your mind – you now agree with God that it is sin, and you turn away from it. If you have been living dishonestly, you change your mind about that life and turn away from that dishonesty. Whatever the sin may be, repentance turns us away from that sin and toward God instead. The Bible is very clear that we need to repent. We see in Matthew 3:2 that John the Baptist said “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” In Mark 1:15, Jesus Himself said “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” The Bible speaks of repentance dozens of times. In Romans 2:4 and 5 we read “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.” Luke 13:1 – 5 says “About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee as they were offering sacrifices at the Temple.‘Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?’ Jesus asked. ‘Is that why they suffered?Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem?No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.” We cannot decide to follow God while still holding onto our sins.
But what if those sins are too difficult to let go of? What if we have addictions? What if our sins are so deeply ingrained that we cannot just shake them off? I have some good news for you – we are not saved by being good enough! We are saved through Jesus’s death on the cross! He has the power to break the chains of sin and addiction and to wash us and make us like Him! If you have not been saved, you are a slave to sin. YOU DON’T HAVE THE POWER TO BREAK FREE FROM SIN! JESUS SETS YOU FREE! In John 8:34 – 36, we read “Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.” Romans 8:1 – 4 says, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.” Don’t ever think that you are too sinful to receive salvation! God saves sinners! You simply need to repent – you need to decide to turn away from your sin – then allow God to make the changes. You have probably heard the phrase “ready, willing, and able.” We need to be ready and willing to give our problems to God; He will provide the “able.”
Now, we have talked about giving up our sin, but what about things that aren’t actually “bad?” Mark 10:17 – 27 tells of the rich young ruler. This man wanted to be saved, but Jesus told him that he must give up his possessions, and the man went away sad. There is nothing wrong with money. It is not evil in and of itself. We see in 1 Timothy 6:10 that “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” It is not the money that is evil, but the love of it. So the rich young ruler’s wealth was not the problem; however, since he loved and probably trusted in his wealth too much – since he put it above God – he went away sad. So even if something is not bad, that thing cannot hold a more important place than God in our lives!
What about things which are actually good? We’re not talking about sins here, or even neutral things like money. What about actual good things, like family, for instance? The bottom line is that God cannot be second to anything else in our lives, including even our friends and our families! Jesus said in Luke 14:26, “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.” Nothing – not even those good things – can come before God. We need to be willing to give everything to Him.
But what if we refuse to give things to God? Remember that the rich young ruler went away sad, as he was unwilling to give up his possessions. Remember also what Jesus said in Luke 13:5, when He said, “I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.” Refusing to give things to God is certainly not the answer. What if you truly want to trust God enough to give everything to Him, but your faith is just not strong enough? Ask God for help! We read in Mark 9:24 that “The father instantly cried out, ‘I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” Go to God. Ask Him for help in overcoming your unbelief as you sincerely seek Him.
In my previous post, I told the story of a homeless man who was rescued from certain death by a pilot who, as cruel as it seemed at the time, pitched the man’s belongings over a cliff because the man was unwilling to part with those belongings. That story was a picture of God’s mercy in my own life. I had something that I was unwilling to give to God. It wasn’t necessarily bad, but it meant more to me than anything else, including God. I knew that I needed to give it to God, but I couldn’t do it. God, in His mercy, though it seemed incredibly cruel at the time, took what I would not give up and discarded it. I knew that nothing in my life could be above God, but when I was unable to give that to God, God did what I could not do on my own. Looking back at that story, I do still miss my bird, and I hope that someday God will restore that friendship; but that failed friendship can never compare to a relationship with God!
Be ready and willing, and ask God for help, since He is able!
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