Surrender

    I have found that sometimes God speaks truth to you in subtle, gentle ways. Other times he kind of bludgeons you over the head with it. The latter has been happening recently. I got home from 3 weeks of travel, and sort of began thinking about all that had happened: Christmas with my family, visiting friends in Colorado; and something began stirring in my head. God was trying to tell me something. I realized that I got EVERYTHING I wanted for Christmas. That has never happened, nor do I think it should. But I got all the presents I wanted, I got to see all the people I wanted to, and at the end I was left asking why? Slowly but surely the answer came saying, "Matt I have given you EVERY earthly possession you could possibly desire. I have surrounded you with people who love and care about you. I want you to focus on ME. You don't need to give any attention to that other stuff. I am right in front of you. And there isn't any excuse you can claim. You cannot claim school overbearing you, you cannot claim exhaustion or busyness or work. It's time you got back to ME." That was enough for me to stop and acknowledge God as being in control, but it did not stop there. Only a couple of days later the sermon at my church was based on 1 John 3:1 "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!" God didn't give us the bare minimum amount of love that we would need, he lavished us with love.

    In the sermon the parable about the prodigal son was also used as an example. This is one of my most fond parables, one I am very familiar with, and yet I had never thought about the story this way: in the story there are two examples of lavish, extravagant living. One is earthly lavishness, and one is Godly lavishness. The younger son receives his inheritance from the father and spares no expense as he squanders that wealth. He is only concerned with the things the world has to offer him. (This is where I start to squirm in my chair.) But he turns back and heads for home, hoping for the minimum amount of forgiveness, of grace. But when he returns his father is waiting for him. Upon his return lavishes him with a robe, the family ring, sandals, and a feast. The father greatly exceeds what the son was expecting. This is God waving his hands in front of my face and saying "Hey! Hello in there! All that crap will get you nowhere, and fast. I'm trying to lavish you with my love, if you will only let me!" I give up, I surrender. I want the love I've been cheating myself of. I want you, Lord.