Last week, Brian scored a huge win when he contacted the cable company and asked if they had a less expensive package than what we were currently subscribed to. Their response was was amazing!
Not only could they lower our bill, but we could purchase a larger package with more channels and faster internet for substantially less than we were paying before! Yes! More for less!
We had heard of people doing this; you know, calling to complain about the rate going up, and then receiving a better deal, but we’d never experienced it. Now we have! I am so proud of Brian.
Of course, the TV deal sounds great in theory – we should get a LOT more channels – but in reality, it seems something went wrong in the order because now we only get one channel: MLB. Major League Baseball. Yep. One channel. All day. Every day. MLB. At least we’re paying less.
We are living in the fullness of life: Baseball whenever we want it. Of course, we are forfeiting all of the additional entertainment that could be ours, music, news, cooking shows, travel channel, history channel, weather channel, mysteries and adventures – but who needs all that? We have baseball!
If, or hopefully when, Brian decides there might just be more to watch than baseball, I trust he will remember how to use the remote and choose to go to the trouble to find something more enlightening, more challenging, more, oh, I don’t know, not baseball! But for now, he’s content; he has MLB.
Obviously, I’m having a little fun at Brian’s expense. It’s not that bad… not really… well, sort of. OK, it is, but I know that as soon as baseball season ends – when, in November??? – that the novelty will wear off, until February and all things pre-season begins.
Seriously, I’m exaggerating and employing a little drama for the sake of making a point. However, what I don’t have to exaggerate about is when we choose to live our spiritual life in this same way.
When we became Christians, when we chose to surrender our lives to Jesus and asked him to live within us, to empower us, and to break the chains of sin in our lives, many of us simply grabbed hold of one promise out of the vast riches of our salvation: we are saved from the penalty of our sin – from eternity in hell. It’s like we have a get-out-of-jail-free card and we are content to let that be the extent of our Christian faith.
In other words, we forfeit so much because we have the one thing that we want. We are content to live in spiritual ignorance and powerlessness rather than explore all the other promises that are ours. We are living in spiritual poverty even though we are children of the King of the Universe.
We know people who live spiritually abundant and powerful lives. We see that they are joyful, peaceful, loving, kind, compassionate, generous, and always available with a word of wisdom and encouragement. But we shy away from that powerful life for ourselves. Why?
We know that to have that kind of life – that kind of power – we have to surrender, and who of us wants to give up control of our lives? We just want enough religion, enough of God, and enough salvation to keep us from going to hell. We don’t want so much that it keeps us from doing what we want to do.
We are content to watch one channel. We are content to merely be saved from something. What we fail to realize is that we have been saved to so much more.
The Apostle Paul desires that Christians know all that is ours in Christ Jesus and he prays, asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father (Colossians 1:9-12 NIV).
Does this describe your life? Do you have complete knowledge of God’s will? Do you have spiritual wisdom and understanding? Do you always honor and please the Lord? Does your life produce every kind of good fruit? Are you growing as you learn to know God better and better? Are you strengthened with his glorious power to have endurance and patience? Are you filled with joy and gratitude?
Why not? Are you content to live with your get-out-of-jail-free card while forfeiting the power and abundance that God intends for you?
In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness (Colossians 2:9 NIV). Are you forfeiting fullness? Why? At what expense? At the cost of how many victories?
Jesus came that we may have life and have it to the full (John 10:10), He paid the price for us. Will you take advantage of the power that is his, and live in abundance so that you will bring much glory to God, who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to this power that is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20 NIV).
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Marcia Furrow 