Leaving Sundays: Crazy Love - Serving Leftovers to a Holy God

That statement made me say: Ouch. I also confessed to God at the end of the chapter that I too am lukewarm.

But you know what? I always felt something wasn't quite right with attending church every Sunday with no testimony or conviction.  I always felt like it was just out  of obligation and duty but not because of some bigger reason.

I always felt like there was more to the story.

As Chan says Jesus told us to go into the world and make disciples. He didn't say just make sure they become Christians who get to go to heaven without having to commit to anything.

Luke 14:33So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own

You Gots to Give it Up 

As I lie here recovering from surgery, I realize how true this statement is. If you're going to live a life of obedience, then you're going to have to give it all up.

You're going to have to give up the life you thought you were going to live.

You're going to have to give up the timeline that you thought you were on.

You're going to have to give up people you thought would have made you happy but in reality would have brought your downfall.

You may have to give up your biggest dreams or wait a long time to see them happen

You're going to have to give up materialistic markers of success

You're going to have to get comfortable with getting uncomfortable.

You're going to have to take risks and trust God.

This will not happen if you just attend church every Sunday. The most you'll get with that is empty platitudes and catchphrases designed for the surface level Christian crowd along with invitations for the next social event.

Offering Leftovers

I recently watched an awards show where people got up and kept praising God and thanking Him.. I kind of side eyed them and it seemed to get old and annoying after a while.

First much of the music these people were making did not glorify God. In fact, in my opinion much of it is poison to young people.

But I thought about that. Maybe that's how God feels about us. We're running around thanking God while we aren't exactly glorifying Him with our lives.

While it's easy critical of people for praising God under questionable circumstances, don't many of us do the same?

We may sacrifice an hour or two a week for church

We may sacrifice a few dollars for the Lord

But are we ready to sacrifice what we truly want?

I'm coming up on my 36th birthday and I've had surgery that did relate to my fertility. I do not know if I will ever have my chance to be a mother but I've made my choice. I do not want to marry outside of God’s will or create an Ishmael. Period.

Now being a Mommy is something I want but I'm willing to sacrifice if need be. Sure I see all of the horror stories and that forever alone could be a "thing:.

But then I think about the other possibility: what if on the other side of obedience is a story that glorifies God and inspires others to also live a life of obedience and surrender?

Lukewarm and ok with it

Francis Chan says that what scares him most are people who are Lukewarm and don't even care. It's kind of like the people at the awards show. They know their music isn't uplifting anybody or glorifying God but they don't care. They're getting money and living the life so it's all good.

Again we can be critical of these folks but how many of us would be willing to give up our lives and what we are doing  to fully follow God especially if we don't know how things will turn out.

We aren't sure if it's worth it or if we can trust God.

We will just have to WAIT AND SEE