Have you ever noticed how, as humans, we try to compartmentalize our entire lives?
We ignore the sink full of dishes because we have another work deadline to hit.
We let our kids pull every toy out of the toy box knowing full well that we’ll have to be the ones putting most of them back in an hour, but at least it buys us an hour to accomplish another task.
It’s just how our brains are naturally wired. We would get too overwhelmed if we tried to “keep all the plates spinning at once,” so we get one area to where it’s good and switch our focus to another to bring it up to speed and the cycle continues.
And as believers, we often try to apply the same concept to God…
We show up to church and put in our “Sunday time” and then we thank God for our food and say our prayers before bed and we may even tithe and spend daily time in the Word. We go about our day, checking off our to do list that is somehow supposed to make us a better Christian, but then, we compartmentalize.
So many people think that as long as they check those daily boxes, they’re doing great! Especially if it’s something they manage to do daily. They’re “always” in the Word and they’re “always” at church on Sunday.
But as Christ followers, God has called us to so much more.
"Jesus answered him, 'The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'" Mark 12:29 NKJV
When it comes to God, we can’t just say, “Ok Lord, you can have xyz areas of my life and I can handle the rest.”
It doesn’t work that way.
He wants it ALL! He wants our good days, our bad days, our praises, our questions, our day job, our passions, and yes, even our skeletons.
You can’t hide anything from God, so you might as well go to Him and ask Him to help you through it.
If you’re struggling with sin, TAKE IT TO JESUS!
No, Jesus never experienced sin because He was perfect, but He’s also not going to allow you to face something you can’t overcome. I think that sometimes God gives us JUST more than we can handle so that we have to go to Him for strength and patience.
Often times, we put the things we REALLY care about in one of the boxes we don’t want God to touch.
This reminds me of the story of Job. Job lost EVERYTHING because God allowed Satan to test him. God knew that Job wouldn’t denounce His name and he allowed the death of his entire family, illness, and disparity to fall on Job BECAUSE He knew he could overcome it.
See, those are the things that I struggle with the most. It seems silly that I want to maintain control over the things that I hold most dear because you would think that I would want to entrust those things to the Almighty King.
But I struggle.
I struggle because I have non-negotiables with things like that. I know full well that God has given me every blessing in my life and can just as easily take it away.
I trust that He won’t.
But even if He did, I would praise Him anyway. And that’s one of the scariest things to admit because I don’t want to loose those that are near and dear to my heart.
And that’s where FAITH comes in.
In knowing that He can do whatever He wants to, but praying and hoping that His will is good and just in whatever that means for you.
He’s not asking us to trust in Him when it’s convenient or when it feels safe.
He’s asking us to give Him EVERYTHING, trust Him with EVERYTHING and know that He will provide and He will see us through it ALL.
Everyday, try to give one more piece of your life over to Christ. Baby steps are ok but slowly you’ll see Him provide in those areas as you begin to trust him more and more.
