Decisions

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While reading My Utmost for His Highest the other day something caught my eye and ear. We often hear at the end of services or after giving a testimony, “Have you made a decision for Jesus Christ?” and then of course there is an invitation to accept Jesus and everyone is happy, possibly tears, and the like. This isn’t a bad thing; I just think the wording needs to be changed, so that the seriousness of the occasion can emerge and bear greater weight. It all sounds so sanctified and holy, but is that what He wants? Are we to simply make a decision? It sounds mundane, like its just another box checked, “Oh hey I just made a decision for Christ, check.” Umm, no. When we come to the Holy, real, and loving Christ who was brutally scourged and humiliatingly hung on the cross, so that we could live an abundantly richer life here and now and forever its not a “decision” we make, it’s a yielding of self.
It gets to the point that we can no longer live under the pressure of the world without Him, so we, sometimes literally when we come to know Jesus, buckle and fall to our knees from the relief He gives. When we run the gauntlet of life so fast and neglect to give our burdens to the only One who can do anything about them we feel drained, burnt out, and just weary. You ever come home from a difficult day of work and just collapse on the couch? It feels amazing right!? Or how about those of you that run? At the end of a race or just a great run you often get that runners high, right? Yielding to Jesus, not just deciding to accept Him, is like these things times a gazillion! We come to Him feeling defeated and burnt out and gaze at His face and just collapse, relieved and in utter awe of His magnificence and holiness.

So today, don’t just check the box by saying a prayer or doing a devotional, but search your life and find that one thing that is holding you back from yielding to Him fully and let him lead you into the more abundant life.

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