What is stopping you from fully submitting and committing to God?
You believe that Christ is your Lord and Savior. You believe that God loves you and has plans to prosper you and not to harm you. You know that God sent his Son to Earth to not only save us by the cross but also by modeling who God is and who he wants us to be.
So why do you only have a toe in the holy water? What’s stopping you from yelling “CANNONBALL!!” and jumping into the deep end?
Many guys let the regrets, resentments, and personal failings of the past stop them from ever living like their Heavenly Father wants them to live.
Were you hurt so bad in the past that you’ve decided its safer to just not trust anyone ever again, including God?
Have you let yourself and your loved ones down so many times that your heavy burden of shame disqualifies you from a deep relationship with God?
Have you committed sins so heinous that you can never fully forgive yourself?
Or have you just gotten so comfortable with your lukewarm faith that it’s become a habit?
In Philippians chapter 3: 7-14, Paul aka former persecutor of Christians and all-around example of who Jesus said not to be, tells us “7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith… 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
He is saying that his life before Christ, all of his personal accomplishments and his sins, everything he was, is forgotten and forgiven. Paul is completely focused on what is ahead of him; what God is calling him towards.
The man who wrote most of the New Testament is telling us the most important thing he did; “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
I know you’ve been hurt, betrayed and dismissed in your life. It’s ok, so have I.
I know you’ve hurt and betrayed others. It’s ok, so have I.
I know you still harbor regrets and shame that eat away at you and hold you back from forgetting what is behind you and fully committing to what God is calling you towards. Heck, you may not even hear God’s voice because it’s drowned out by your own negative self-talk and insecurities.
As a relatively new Christian, these are things I struggle with too. But I’m learning that God doesn’t want me to live a small, selfish life. He wants me to live a BIG life of loving Him and loving my neighbors.
I was dipping my toe in the water for years, believing IN God, but not believing what he was telling me, that I was forgiven, that he loved me completely and eternally. The only thing keeping me from having the unimaginable peace and joy that are my birthright as a child of God was my own stubbornness, ego, and fear.
It’s time to get your toe out of the water, walk to the deep end, and cannonball.
With Gratitude,
Jeremiah