Today, I was listening to an awesome David Platt sermon on the Great Commission (video/links below), and he brought up the common, almost over-used illustration of giving our lives to God as a blank check.
"As followers of Christ we have sacrificed the right to determine the direction of our life. The language we use all the time is blank check. Every one of our lives, a blank check on the table, no strings attached. Our plans, our possessions, our bank accounts, where we live, our lifestyle, our future, our dreams, our ambitions, all on the table. Whatever you want me to do, God, whatever you want me to give, wherever you want me to go, no strings attached. This is not for super-Christians, this is for every follower of Christ. This is what it means to follow Christ."As I listened to David Platt rattle off this list of stuff to give to God (which he did incredibly quickly, making this transcript very difficult to do), my initial reaction was, "I don't think giving any of those things over to God would be very difficult." To a large part, this is true. I don't really care much for money and I'm not really attached to any type of lifestyle or a particular line of work. But what would I have a hard time writing on my blank check? Reputation and recognition. This probably isn't surprising to most of you who know me, as this is something that I've struggled with my entire life. And like most deep heart issues, it isn't something that can be fixed simply by behavior, but it's something that requires a reorientation of the heart, which often is frustratingly slow.
I plan to write more on this subject at some point in the future (I already started a blank draft for it last week!), so I won't delve much deeper into this. But I ask you: What do you have a hard time putting on that blank check?
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