ALL IN!
What about you
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man
traveling to a far country, who called his own
servants and delivered his goods to them.
And to one he gave five talents, to another two,
and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money.
Matthew 25:14-18 New King James Version (NKJV)
“After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
“He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
“Then he who received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.
“‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
Matthew 25:19-30 (NKJV)
USE IT OR LOSE IT!
God wants us to take what we’ve been given and DO something with it.
The ultimate All In is God’s self
The Gospel costs nothing. You can’t earn it or buy it. It can only be received as a free gift compliments of God’s grace. It doesn’t cost anything, but it demands everything. It demands that we go “all in,” a term that simply means placing all that you have into God’s hands. Pushing it all in. And that’s where we get stuck – spiritual no man’s land. We’re afraid that if we go all in that we might miss out on what this life has to offer. It’s not true. The only thing you’ll miss out on is everything God has to offer. And the good news is this: if you don’t hold out on God, God won’t hold out on you.
No one has ever sacrificed anything for God. If you always get back more than you gave up, have you sacrificed anything at all? The eternal reward always outweighs the temporal sacrifice.
At the end of the day, our greatest regret will be whatever we didn’t give back to God. What we didn’t push back across the table to Him. Eternity will reveal that holding out is losing out.
The messaged of All In is simple:
if Jesus is not Lord of all then Jesus is not Lord at all.
It’s all or nothing. It’s now or never. Kneeling at the foot of the cross of Christ and surrendering to His Lordship is a radical act of dethroning yourself and enthroning Christ as King.
It’s also an act of disowning yourself. Nothing belongs to you. Not even you.
For many years, I thought I was following Jesus. I wasn’t.
I had invited Jesus to follow me. I call it inverted Christianity. And it’s a subtle form of selfishness that masquerades as spirituality. That’s when I sold out and bought in. When did we start believing that the gospel is an insurance plan?
It’s a daring plan. Jesus did not die just to keep us safe.
He died to make us dangerous.
All In, by Mark Batterson
ARE YOU ALL IN FOR JESUS?