“You should love Him, your True God, with all your heart and soul, with
every ounce of your strength.” –Deuteronomy 6:5 VOICE
In many cases, going
“all-in” means taking a chance on the unknown, stepping out of our comfort
zone, or risking the label of “fanatic”.
“He who will not risk
cannot win.” – Rear Admiral John Paul Jones
When I worked for
Community Action Program in Oregon one of my clients had a calendar in his
bathroom that had a beautiful painting of a schooner sailing ship with the
caption on the bottom that read, “How can you expect your ship to come in if
you haven’t sent one out?”
Another analogy is if we
are always sitting on the sidelines we will not be able to play in the
game. Brothers and sisters, our Coach,
the Almighty God, has called us out of the sidelines and into the game. Do you hear his call?
“Cast thy bread upon the
waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” – Ecclesiastes 11:1 (KJV)
Another example of “all-in”
is seen in Jesus after the Passover Supper at the Mount of Olives in the Garden
of Gethsemane. When He and His disciples
first entered the garden “he said unto
them, ‘Pray that ye enter not into temptation’.” Then he went off to pray. Read about His prayer. He showed He was “all-in”. Even when He asked about changing the
situation He still submitted to the Lord, “…nevertheless,
not My will but Thine be done.”
After agonizing a bit he came back to them. Did He find them praying as He
instructed? No, He found them sleeping. He then “said
unto them, ‘Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation’,”
but then it was too late because the authorities came up to arrest Jesus at
that moment. Were the disciples
“all-in”? No, for if they had been they
would have been spiritually prepared for what happened next. (Luke 22)
“Ye shall walk after the Lord your
God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice and ye shall
serve him, and cleave unto him.” – Deuteronomy 13:4 (KJV)
So, in conclusion, are
you ready to move on in your walk with the Lord? Are you ready to risk the things of this
world to gain the things of heaven? Are
you ready to love the Lord “…with all
your heart and soul, with every ounce of your strength”? Are you ready to go “all-in” with God?
