Serving Leftovers To A Holy God

That is the title of a chapter in Francis Chan’s book, Crazy Love. And I have to admit, it makes me wince. It happens more often than I like to think. When I finish doing what I want to do, then I’ll give God a few minutes of my time. Spend ten, twenty minutes reading the Bible, count my blessings, and tell Him goodnight. Next morning, it’s back to the me show.
So often, we fail to prioritize our relationship with God. It’s almost like once we’re saved, that’s it; we don’t have to do anything more. Jesus loves me, try to live a good life, then I go to heaven and party for eternity. Whoopee!
Um, no.
Life is hard, and being a Christian is no exception. In some ways, it’s harder. We have a moral standard that we strive to live by. We are mocked and ridiculed by a world that doesn’t recognize us. We have to work and wait to receive our reward. Yes, we hold fast to our beautiful hope in God, but it is difficult in a world full of temptations.
Our relationship with Christ is more than just a ticket to heaven. He wants us to know Him, love Him, worship, and glorify Him. As Francis Chan says,
         “[God] wants all or nothing. The thought of a person calling himself a 'Christian' without being a devoted follower of Christ is absurd.”
This life is about God. Period. We were created by Him for Him. To have a real and personal relationship with Him. Living for God doesn’t start when we go to heaven; it starts now.
  I have failed and continue to fail. I keep wanting to give more time to God, but I keep not doing it. I become selfish, hoarding away my time for my own pleasures. Reading a novel somehow is more appealing than reading His word.
If you don’t eat for a very long time, you sometimes don’t even feel hungry anymore. Your body is trying to cope without the food. But as soon as you start eating again, you realize just how famished you were.
When we don’t read the Bible often, we begin to lose our hunger. Distractions pull us away, and we forget about spending time with our King. If this is where you are right now, go spend an hour reading your Bible. I think you’ll realize that you’ve been starving for it all along.
Pour yourself into your relationship with God. Don’t give Him your leftover time; give Him your first time. Your first thought. Give Him all that you are.
Because it’s all you have to give.


        “The core problem isn’t the fact that we’re lukewarm, halfhearted, or stagnant Christians. The crux of it all is why we are this way, and it is because we have an inaccurate view of God. We see Him as a benevolent Being who is satisfied when people manage to fit Him into their lives in some small way. We forget that God never had an identity crisis. He knows that He’s great and deserves to be the center of our lives.” ~Francis Chan

~Riah