all in

what does it look like to be "all in" something? if you are swimming and you are all in, you are fully submerged. you are completely surrounded by water. so if we take that analogy and then think about our spiritual lives, what do we see?

am i fully submerged in God?
am i completely surrounded by God?

and even yet,

am i completely surrendered to God? am i all in? or do i keep playing the christian game b/c i am wanting God to fit into my agenda?

ouch.

this is all coming from a podcast i watched this morning by Andy Stanley called, can you guess? All In.

ive grown up in the church. ive known about God my whole life. i'm very thankful for that but there are times i wonder if my walk would be different if i had come to know the Lord later in life. i have the knowledge of God but lately have been challenged to discover what i believe. Not to just know about God but to really know him.

Andy made some rather bold statements in his sermon. maybe they aren't so bold, maybe they are just truth. truth that needs to be heard.

Great faith is great surrender.
Faith is confidence that God will do what He says He will do.
Surrender is where the peace is.
The authenticity of your following will be manifested through your surrender.
Get in or get out.

while i could probably write buckets on every single one of these, the thing that stuck out the most to me was the example of the backpack he used.

He pulled out a backpack and said that God lived in the backpack. we took God where we wanted and only let Him out when we needed Him. when it was convienent of us. when we needed Him. we are being users. what an insult to God.

If we live without God or live with a backpack verison of God, why do we get upset when He doesn't show up in the one little area where we do let Him in? God wants to be in all areas. He needs to be in all areas. And if i say i believe and have faith that God is who he says he is then shouldn't i want to relinquish control? Being a true follower of christ leads to surrender. it has to.

at the very end of the sermon, andy posed this idea, what would it look like if you were to walk away from God? try it on your own for awhile and see where it gets you. living with a backpack God is like living without God anyway. but most people don't want to leave the "security" that the backpack God gives them. also he mentioned that living with a backpack God is actually scary than living in a surrendered relationship. he talked about how the idea of surrender is scary and thats why most people continue to live the way they do.

and to be honest, i've often toyed with the very idea of striking out on my own. but something has always stopped me though. i think its b/c deep down i know what i believe and i know its good. but on my lunch break God decided to meet me and answer the biggest question i have right now. he led me to 1 john 2:24:

"See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father."

so i'm going to leave you with these questions to ponder over your own life just as i am pondering them over mine:

Where is my faith?
Am I living with a backpack verison of God?
What areas of my life am I unwilling to surrender to God?
What would it look like to live by faith financially, relationally, professionally, morally, at home, as a parent?