Let Go of the Veto!
The accusation of
cheap grace strikes deep. I’ve been a
Christian for many years, and have loved Jesus and served him to varying
degrees throughout that time. When
comparing myself to other people (even people in church), I always felt like I
measured up pretty well.
But the theme of
surrendering all for Jesus and following him wholeheartedly kept coming
up. I realized that while I might have
been a “good Christian” who prayed, read my Bible, served in church ministries,
etc., I was holding out on God.
Veto Power
I retained my
right to decided how I would follow him.
If he sprang any wild ideas of sending me to some far away country, or
having me discuss the gospel with a real live person (instead of just inviting
them to church)—well, that was the beauty of the veto.
I became drawn to
the description in Exodus 21:2-6 of God’s law demanding that masters of Hebrew
slaves must, after seven years, give those slaves their freedom. However, the freed slave had the option of
choosing to stay with the master and remain in his service. A pierced ear sealed the deal, and the
relationship became forever. What struck
me was that the relationship between a master and a willing servant is not
one-way. Of course the servant must
serve and obey the master completely.
However, the master also has responsibilities to care for the servant,
be fair, and to provide for his needs.
I finally decided
that being a “good-enough” Christian was lukewarm and worthless to God—he wants
all of me. So I decided to let go, and
let him have everything (even *gulp* my veto power).
Right around the
time I was meditating on this, I was asked to speak at Bethlehem, and my
knee-jerk reaction was, “no way!”
Instead, I sensed that God wanted me to do it. It was the first test of the master/servant
arrangement. Even though I was terrified
to speak in front of such a huge crowd, I told God, “Okay, you got me into
this, it’s up to you to get me through it!
I am going to trust you.” Guess
what—I was completely calm! I
knew—knew—that God had my back. I have
no idea if people got anything out of my words that night, but I but I sure
learned from the experience.
The Beautiful
Paradox
It doesn’t make
any sense, but since I took the final plunge in faith, I have never felt so
free. There’s a lightness to my heart—a
restful confidence—that I never anticipated.
I finally get what Jesus means when he says, “If you want to hang on to
your life, you will lose it. But if you
give up your life for my sake, you will save it.” (Luke 9:24 NLT).
