Monday, May 9, 2016

What if...?

What if I woke up tomorrow and everything was different? What if I lost my job? Lost my house? My savings vanished? What if our whole American system collapsed? What if there was a nuclear holocaust and I was one of the survivors?

If those things - or worse - happened, what would be my response? Would I, as Job's wife suggested (Job 2:9), "curse God and die"?

How morbid, right? Then let me phrase the question another way, a way suggested by one of our worship songs at church yesterday. It was my first time attending this church, Christ Fellowship in West Palm Beach and it was an awesome time of singing! So as we were singing, the words just jumped out at me as if the Lord were speaking directly to me:
Should this life hold nothing but my Savior,
I will praise you always.
And then later in the same song (What A Savior, Hillsong Worship),
Should this life I live hold nothing but the cross
Where Jesus took my shame,
Then with arms stretched wide and my hands held high,
My every breath will breathe again.
So here's the thing - when I sing that, how much do I mean it? It's easy to say all we need is Jesus. It makes for a nice emotional song on Sunday morning. But really. If life held NOTHNG but Jesus - nothing - would I praise him? Would you?

But that's what real faith is. Repenting and believing in Jesus - salvation - is not a formula to give us "fire insurance." Or just a ticket to heaven. It's not saying the magic words in a prayer and then going on our merry way. It's turning to him with our whole lives. And when we do that, we realize that we exist for his glory, not for our comfort.

Knowing that Jesus is all we need is where real freedom is. Because once we reach that point, we don't have a fret about elections. Or the economy. Or ISIS. Or anything else.

Take it all, but give me Jesus. Did you sing that Sunday? Did you mean it?

Then, as Frankie says.....relax.