Do You Need Incentives?

A large crowd of Jews … came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus…   John 12:9 

- “Next week, a celebrity will be speaking in our services sharing about life in Hollywood. You won’t want to miss it!”

 - “I might go to church if I could find one that started later, had a Starbucks, and made me feel good about myself.”

- “So, the Son of God is preaching. Hmm...didn’t He raise Lazarus from the dead? We want to see Lazarus!”

We would have fit right in with the crowd who wanted to see Lazarus. Jesus was about to sacrifice Himself for the sins of the world, yet the people had to have an extra incentive to seek Him. Nothing has changed. Jesus still isn’t enough to attract most crowds. (Consider the turnout for “just a prayer meeting.”) It was the same in Jesus’ day. John 6:66 is as relevant now as it was then. (Look it up). Human nature is always pushing to make the gospel man-centered. The fact that Almighty God took on human flesh and descended from heaven to be tortured to death for us is ho-hum. Our default attitude is often “Sure, God is great and what-not, but what’s in it for me? I’m too busy/tired/angry/distracted to seek Him—unless there’s a prize.” Even when Jesus was on earth healing people, performing miracles, and feeding crowds, few wanted Him for Himself. They only wanted what He could do for them. Like us, they craved the sensational. No magic tricks? No celebrities? No free stuff? No thanks.

Final Thought:  Check your heart. Is Jesus Himself enough to attract you or do you require extra incentives?

Prayer: Lord God, I’m convicted by how offensive this attitude must be to you. I take so lightly the huge sacrifice you made so that I could know you. Please forgive me and help me get to the place where I want Jesus for Himself. In His name, Amen. 

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Will Your Faith Survive?

Josh slumped in the shadows, praying the school bell would ring. This school was not like his old one. He had spent the first fifteen years of his life in a small town, seeing the same people at school, church and the grocery store. It had been easy to be a leader, obey Christ, and stand for his convictions when almost everybody else felt the same way. 

But then his family moved and everything changed. The gang of thugs that owned the hallways of this mega high school had spotted him at once and the terrorizing began. "Is that a Bible?" one of them laughed when Josh's backpack spilled open. "Hey, preacher man, show us how you turn the other cheek!" After the first slap, the bullying never stopped.

At first, he tried to ignore it, but after a couple of weeks, he got angry. Why wasn’t God helping him? He began to reevaluate what he had always thought he believed. Acting like a Christian had never required anything from him back home. It was easy, even made him popular to be the leader of his youth group. But now he wondered: Was he truly committed to Christ or to an easy lifestyle?  Was his faith real or just a hand-me-down from his Christian family? 

The more he thought about it, the less he wanted it. By fall break, he had shoved the Bible into a bottom drawer, started partying, and did whatever necessary to be accepted by the cool crowd. The seed planted in his heart had fallen on the rocky soil of personal comfort, popularity, and fun. What he had called faith was only a reflection of the faith of others. When things got tough, it was not enough.

We are called to follow Christ, not an easy lifestyle. Will your faith survive when things get tough? 

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Are You All In?

 

“… commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today.” Deut. 6:6

High atop a rocky cliff, a diver stands ready, toes over the edge, arms held high. With eyes on the choppy ocean far below, he bends and then leaps. With arms outstretched, he soars away from the jagged rocks and toward the ocean. A photographer captures this moment and forever immortalizes the image of a man suspended between earth and sky. With the cliff behind him and the water below him, he is fully committed. There is no going back. There is no plan B.

That’s the picture God paints for us in this verse. Committing ourselves wholeheartedly to the lordship of Jesus Christ means we leave behind our disobedience, our agendas, and our rights to direct our own lives. With arms outstretched, we say to God, “I’m all yours. You’re all mine. There is no going back. There is no plan B.” God never offers the option of halfway devotion. That idea is as ludicrous as a cliff diver halfway leaping. It’s not possible. We don’t give Him a vote on our decisions; we hand them over to Him and follow His orders. Leaping into the arms of Christ can be as frightening as the thought of cliff diving, but that’s what God calls faith. Without it, we cannot please God, because He is wholeheartedly committed to us too (Hebrews 11:6).

Have you tried to pretend that God is pleased with halfway commitment? Maybe it’s time to make the leap.

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