Consume It All

Do not eat any of the meat raw or boiled in water.  The whole animal — including the head, legs, and internal organs — must be roasted over a fire.  Do not leave any of it until the next morning.  Burn whatever is not eaten before morning.  — Exodus 12:9-10

Just before the Passover, the Lord gave Israel some specific instructions.  The instructions were to kill a lamb, put some of the blood over the door post, and cook and eat the lamb…ALL of the lamb.  They were to eat ALL of it!  That’s kind of gross.  At least if some of it was too gross…they had the option to burn it.

Now, I don’t read that ANYBODY said “I don’t feel like putting the blood on my door post.”  Nobody said “I’m going to boil the meat anyway…I like it that way.”  Nobody complained about having to eat certain parts.  It is pretty clear that everyone obeyed the Lord‘s commands to the best of their ability.  Being saved was obviously more important than their comfort.

Today, I don’t see a whole lot of Christians taking ALL of God’s Word seriously.  Don’t get me wrong, I think it takes some time to develop a reverence for God’s Holy Book.  I left mine sitting on my dresser brand new for years before I started to consume it.  Even then, I only read the parts I could halfway understand.  I read the parts I liked.  In no way did I attempt to consume the whole thing.

That is, until I just didn’t enjoy life.  I was all too aware that I was doing this halfway thing.  I fit in with the guys on the weekend when that was convenient.  I fit in with the church group when that was convenient.  I was trying to have the best of both worlds.  I was taking the parts of the Bible that talked about how good He was and hoping like crazy He was just winking at my sin…I know now that He wasn’t.

I hear quite often about God’s grace.  Most of the time it is misused by people who want to justify their immoral actions.  Most people want to be sexually immoral.  They want to be able to watch anything and listen to everything in the name of entertainment.   They want to be able to talk any way they want and do anything they want to do.  But most importantly, they want God to be okay with it.  Maybe this isn’t true with you…but it was true with me.  I made sure back then that I only listened to people who would make my sin sound justifiable, and most of all would say things like “God is okay with it…He knows we’re human and that we make mistakes.”  Mistakes are one thing…willful disobedience is entirely another.

I say all that to say this:  I don’t want God’s grace to mean that I can willfully sin and have Him overlook it and be okay with it.  I want God’s grace to be this ridiculous, massive amount of power that gives me strength to overcome the sin that is so prevalent in the majority of men today.  God delivered me from sexual immorality, so why would I want to go back to filth just “because I can still go to Heaven if I do” or “He will forgive me.”  I don’t want to sit around and watch movies that take His name in vain and say “well…He’s okay with it…everybody else watches this.”  I want to get this sick feeling inside my stomach when I hear His name being misused.  I want to want to turn it off.  I want to want to walk out of the theater.  I want to want to eat the whole lamb.  I want to eat the tasty parts that are easy to eat because I like them, and I want to eat the bitter parts that don’t go down so well.  If God wants me to do hard things…I want to want to do them.  If God wants me to forgive someone who has seriously wronged me…I want to want to forgive them.  In light of how He has so freely forgiven me…how can I not?

I know people get seriously turned off to this “holiness” stuff.  But, I have had many transitions in my walk with the Lord that I had to ask myself…am I going to do it my way?  A.k.a…the easy way that comes natural to me.  Or, am I going to do it God’s way?  A.k.a…the hard way.  In most of life‘s tough decisions that I have faced so far, I believe I have chosen God’s way.  Not one time…not ONE SINGLE TIME has it ever let me down.  Yes, I’ll admit that I complained about it in the short term…but in the long term it ALWAYS worked out for my good.  Anything God has asked me to do that was hard has only served to ultimately benefit me.

Today, simply evaluate your relationship with God.  Is there anything in your life that is keeping you from God’s best?   Are you feeling His Presence?  Are you being obedient to the best of your knowledge and ability?  Is there any area of your life that is not clean?  Do you honor the entire Word of God?  Or, do you pick and choose?

Only you and God know.

If you are going to consume God’s Word…

Consume it all.

Later

Adam