What are you willing to give?
What would it take for you to become bitter towards God? What would it take for you to turn your back on your faith?
This is a question I have thought a lot about recently. What do I value more than my relationship with God?
Relationships? Family? Career? Entertainment?
What if God took one of those things out of my life? What if he removed more than one? Would I be willing to give all of those for the cause of Christ?
There is a Christian song that I have heard recently that has some excellent lyrics when it comes to this thought.
If in one unfortunate moment
You took everything that I own
Everything you’ve given from heaven above
And everything that I’ve ever known
If you stripped away my ministry
My influence, my reputation
My health, my happiness
My friends, my pride and my expectation
If you caused for me to suffer
Or to suffer for the cause of the cross
If the cost of my allegiance is prison
And all my freedoms are lost
If you take the breath from my lungs
And make an end of my life
If you take the most precious part of me
And take my kids and my wife
It would crush me, it would break me
It would suffocate and cause heartache
I would taste the bitter dark providence
But you would still preserve my faith
What’s concealed in the heart of having
Is revealed in the losing of things
And I can’t even begin to imagine
The sting that kind of pain brings
I would never blame you for evil
Even if you caused me pain
I came into this world with nothing
And when I die it will be the same
I will praise your name
In the giving and taking away
If I have you I can lose everything
And still consider it gain
That last part jumps off the page at me every time I read or listen to it.
If I have you, I can lose everything, and still, consider it gain.
I think a big part of this is how close you are to the Lord. Proximity is a huge thing when it comes to our relationship with Christ.
Here are some questions I have asked myself:
Do I cherish my time in the Word?
Do I focus and enjoy time spent with my church body?
Do I pray consistently?
Do I actively trust the Lord daily?
Do I meditate on Him and truths about Him?
Those questions can help you test the health of your relationship with the Lord.
If you want to answer the question of “am I willing to give everything for Christ,” you need to first think about your relationship with Jesus.
Would you give everything to save someone you’ve never met? Probably not.
But what about your father/mother/brother/sister or someone else who you love dearly? You would probably be willing to give a considerable amount to save them if they were in danger.
The same can be said of Christ. If your relationship with Christ isn’t great, you are going to struggle if he removes a significant part of your life.
The remarkable thing is that James 4 says “draw near to God and he will draw near to you” so as God actively seeks you every day you can grow closer to Him by actively seeking him!
The better you know Him, the more confident you can be when the hard times come, because you know He has a perfect plan. This is why the unsaved legitimately have no hope when they go through trials.
But we have hope, and his name is Jesus.
And if you grow a relationship with Him, everything else will begin to look small, and he will look really really big.
That is how, you could give everything this life has to offer. If only He asked.
Dual Citizen 