crazy love, pt3

the hardest chapter: serving leftovers to a holy God

Chan said this chapter was the hardest one for him to write. It was hard to swallow, too. He writes, "As I see it, a lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron; there's no such thing. To put it plainly, churchgoers who are 'lukewarm' are not Christians. We will not see them in heaven." And he goes on to give his reasoning (Revelation 3:15-18, John 14:15, James 2:19, 1 John 2:3-4, Matthew 16:24-25, Luke 14:33), which accurately backs up what he claims. I look at myself as this: either I'm growing or I'm not; I don't see how becoming a Christian and then sitting still can really exist. "Habitual sin" is a term Jim used in Sunday School once this past year. We all have lukewarm tendencies, and we all sin, but are our sinful tendencies habits without repentance?

Jerry Bridges writes a chapter on the proof of love in his Transforming Grace book that went well with Chan's leftovers chapter. The section on Law and Grace had a good explanation of obedience, failing, grace, legalism, etc. His question: Under the reign of grace, is the moral will of God, considered as a whole, a request or a command? And his answer: The word request connotes desire; whereas the word command connotes authority to require. We are commanded to obey. Obedience is not optional, rather a response to our salvation. And lukewarm partial-obedience doesn't sound like it can still be called obedience either.

Chunks of text from Chan:

God wants our best, deserves our best, and demands our best. From the beginning of time, He has been clear that some offerings are acceptable to Him and others are not.

It's easy to fill ourselves up with other things and then give God whatever is left.... God gets a scrap or two only because we feel guilty for giving Him nothing. A mumbled three-minute prayer at the end of the day, when we are already half asleep... [The priests of Malachi's day] assumed God was pleased because they had sacrificed something. God described this practice as evil. Leftovers are not merely inadequate; from God's point of view (and lest we forget, His is the only one who matters), they're evil. Let's stop calling it "a busy schedule" or "bills" or "forgetfulness." It's called evil. God is holy. In heaven exists a Being who decides whether or not I take another breath. This holy God deserves excellence, the very best I have. "But something is better than nothing!" some protest. Really, is it? Does anyone enjoy token praise? I sure don't. I'd rather you not say anything than compliment me out of obligation or guilt. Why would we think God is any different?

God wants to saturate us with Himself. Am I allowing Him to saturate me? Am I giving Him every part of my day, my mind, my life, or just the leftovers?