Faith and Life: Picking and Choosing

Most of us know how a buffet works.  You go through, and you get to pick and choose what you want to eat.  If you don't like liver, you don't have to pick it, and if you really, really like fried chicken, you can get as much as you want.

We can be that way with the tension between our faith and how we live as Christians sometimes.  We have certain parts of our life that we don't mind living along the lines which God has said are good and which He created us to follow.  We're okay with that not murdering people.  We may struggle at times with the whole lying thing, or the lust thing, but overall, we understand that it's better not to do those things, and that people will like us more if we prove trustworthy in them.  They're kind of like green beans, okay at times, but there are times when we don't really want them.

Then, there's the liver.   Jesus says to go make disciples of all the Gentiles, and we feel like that's up to us to choose whether or not we do it.  Or He says to show love and care for our neighbor as if for our very own selves, and we really don't want to choose that for that annoying person at work, or who lives down the street.  If we choose not to help them, we start to think that God doesn't really have any strong opinion on it.

But that's the thing with God.  The parts of our life that fall under His jurisdiction are not left up to our picking and choosing.  It's all under what He says.  And the reality is, no matter how much we try, or make our best efforts, we don't do it as He says or instructs. 

I don't say this in order to drag us down, but simply to point out that we do not get to pick and choose the parts of our life that God has something to say about.  It's all a gift from Him, and He does indeed have something to say about it all.  And then, because He knows that we are unable to live it as He says and instructs, He sent His Son to live it out perfectly in our place.

So the next time you find yourself thinking that God doesn't really have a say-so in what you do in certain parts of your life, just remember that your whole life is a gift from Him.  And then, as we continually find ourselves picking and choosing, we give thanks for full and complete forgiveness through Jesus.