Go “all in” with God!

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I don’t know about you, but when I’m waiting on God for something I usually want Him to deliver without me having to commit everything to Him in the process. The obvious reason for this is that I’m hesitant to relinquish complete control to God because that would mean I’d no longer have full control of my life (as if I ever did). The problem with trying to live that way, especially as one who is seeking to follow Jesus, is that the Bible speaks clearly against it. Psalm 37:3-5 puts it this way: “Trust in the LORD and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust Him, and He will help you.” Notice the order there. Before we simply expect God to act on our behalf, it’s clear that He wants us to be “all in” with Him.

I’d imagine for most believers this seems rather obvious, and yet this presents a prime example of “easier said than done.” While we may have little trouble intellectualizing that concept, the difficulty emerges when we attempt to put it into practice. Perhaps what’s standing in our way is that illusion of control to which we’re desperately trying to cling. Or maybe it’s pride which simply won’t allow us to acknowledge our dependence on another being (including a Higher Being). Or it could be that there’s a certain sin with which we’re struggling, so we’re waiting to go “all in” until we’ve got our act cleaned up. The problem with each of these approaches is that they represent us putting up roadblocks to God’s work in our lives. Now yes, God obviously can, and has, acted on our behalf even while we were living in outright opposition to Him (Romans 5:8), but for the most part God desires that we not hold anything back from Him when we’re seeking His will for our lives. My question then is what would it look like in your life if you actually went “all in” with God?

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Well, it would look like this! Now I recognize that it may be a little strange to use a gambling image when I’m talking about faith-related things; or, then again, maybe it’s not. I’d bet many, if not most, of us live our lives more like we’re seated at the poker table than like we’re kneeling at the throne of God. For the most part we choose to play it safe with very little risk, like my mom whose only venture into gambling entails a brief stint at the penny slots while passing through Vegas. Every once in awhile we might muster the courage to take a significant risk in life, and yet we often do so with fingers crossed hoping that luck is on our side. But we need to be reminded that the One who created the heavens and the earth, the One who simply spoke all things into existence, is on our side! As such, we should live with the confidence to “push all our chips to the center of the table” as a sign of the trust we have in God.

My use of this imagery is not meant to imply that I view God as the great Casino Boss in the sky who’s just waiting for us to surrender control so that He can shower us with riches. Far from! But as we read in the Psalm above, I do believe that God desires to give us our heart’s desires…that is, after we’ve learned to delight in Him first. That means that God doesn’t want to be some afterthought when it comes to our relationships, careers, finances, etc., but rather He desires that we put Him first in every decision that we make. The reason for this is because His ultimate desire is to be our first love because that’s precisely what we represent for Him. Just as God gave everything for us when He sent His beloved Son, Jesus, to die on the cross, what God desires is for us to give Him all of ourselves in return. Not a portion. Not the majority. But everything! Although I’ll admit that I have yet to do that myself, I know that in doing so not only will God be glorified, but that I too will experience life in all its fullness.

So I want to leave you with the 2 questions that I’m currently asking myself: What is it at this moment that’s keeping you from going “all in” with God? And what might your life look like if you did?!

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Published by Rev in Real Life

My ideal description of myself would be that I'm a follower of Jesus, a devoted husband, a loving father, a loyal friend, and a passionate pastor. While I trust all those are true of me, the reality is that I've also gotta claim the descriptor of a broken sinner. Although I wish I could part ways with that title, the fact remains that as a human being I'm stuck with it (and so are you). But here's the good news: while that may describe us, it by no means defines us because of God's grace. So I guess the best way I can put it is that I'm a prime example of someone who, although far from perfect, is daily trying to believe that I'm beloved by God and to love others in response. My goal with this blog is to be real. Too often pastors have a hard time connecting with people because we don't seem relatable (sometimes justified, sometimes not). I'd have to say that one of the greatest things I can be told as a pastor is that I'm "real", which simply means that others can relate to me. This isn't always the case for pastors given that we've historically been granted the title "reverend", which means worthy of reverence (honor or respect). Now while I absolutely believe that being a pastor is a high calling and that pastors should seek to be godly, what I want is to be regarded as "real" because that's what will truly open the door for me to be able to share about Jesus. I'm using the handle "Rev in Real Life" because I intend to speak to matters of faith in real life. I promise to do my part to be authentic, and I welcome your authentic responses in return. This whole authentic thing is so important to me because I believe that the only way for Jesus to take root in hearts is when we're real about our brokenness and recognize that He's our only Way to healing and wholeness. My hope is that my words resonate and point you to God's amazing grace. As you can see from the pic, I have a beautiful wife, Marisa, and three amazing little kids, Emmaus, Grayson and Aubrey. We currently live in Washington state.

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