eternal life. Jesus answered:
19 You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Do not defraud,' 'Honor your father and your mother.' "
20 And he answered and said to Him, "Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth."
21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me."
22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Jesus penetrated the heart of this man, someone who had apparently done a lot of good things - he had kept God's commandments. But, Jesus knew the man was holding back, he wasn't willing to totally surrender - and Jesus used the image in the latter part of verse 21 to "take up the cross..." Even before He died on a cross, Jesus was discussing the type of death that He requires from each of us - to lay down our lives and allow Him to have His way, to accept Him as Lord and Savior and continue to live a life of surrender and discipleship.
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In Luke chapter 9, Jesus used the image of a cross to signify total surrender to Himself. He taught:
23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
When God gets involved in our lives, that means that Jesus will often change the course of our lives - as we take up our cross and follow Him, there may be some radical alterations along the way.
The author of the book, Radical, David Platt, spoke recently at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Global Missions Week, according to Baptist Press. Platt is the President of the International Mission Board, and the article reports that Platt related that giving one's life as a "blank check" to God may seem like extraordinary devotion, but a commitment to go wherever God leads is the "elementary essence of what it means to follow Christ."
Platt underscored his meaning of a "blank check" by citing flooding in Yemen, fighting in Iraq and persecution of Christians in Pakistan from the day's headlines. He said, "To be clear,...when you say 'wherever' to God, you're saying I'll go and take my family to Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan. I'll go into the heart of ISIS. I'll go into Boko Haram territory of West Africa. I'll go wherever You want me to go.'"
Platt realizes such a commitment can be frightening, and he urged the audience to understand who the "Me" is in Jesus' "follow Me" commandment. Based on the initial chapters of the book of Matthew, Platt said Jesus is Savior; Messiah; Son of David; Son of Abraham; the center of all history; fully human; fully divine; light of the World; and a dozen other descriptors of His divinity. He said, "When you realize who He is, you realize the utter foolishness of putting any conditions on obedience to this King.... Followers of Jesus don't always know where they're going, but they always know who they're with."
Brent Kapps is an accountant, and he understands the concept of a "blank check" in the financial realm. And, his family has now begun to experience it in the spiritual realm. Baptist Press reports that he and his wife, Brianna, have offered their lives as "blank checks" before the Lord.
He is quoted as saying: "Our call is a call of obedience," adding, "We don't want to miss the opportunity to be salt and light wherever God places us."
Brent served at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC, for nearly six years, eventually becoming an associate vice president. The family will soon be working with the IMB, joining a team of workers who provide humanitarian aid and community development in areas of Central Asia left in shambles by years of war. Kapps will fill a need for an accountant for the team.
He said, "I want to show people that I am here because I love [their] country...We will be able to help serve vital needs and help the country rebuild."
This concept of offering our lives as a "blank check," to be used of the Lord, can communicate powerfully about obeying God in a sacrificial, yet exciting manner. I don't know how often someone actually makes a "blank check" available, but if you were to do something like that - to have someone fill in the blank, you would want to make sure that it is someone you trust.
Well, we can totally trust God with our lives. When we turn our lives over to Him, we are surrendering to Someone who loves us, who knows what's best for us, and who will take our lives and perform His will to His glory. And, when we surrender all the resources from our spiritual bank account and allow the riches of heaven to be deposited there, it is certainly a transaction to works to His advantage - and ours.
So, we can be challenged to measure the extent to which we have surrendered our lives. If Jesus is our Lord and we regard God as our Heavenly Father, then we can freely make ourselves available to be used for His glory. We are weak, but He is strong. We are insufficient in and of ourselves, we cannot save ourselves, but He is totally sufficient to meet all of our needs, and to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all we ask or think. He wants to write His story on the "blank check" of our lives.
23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
When God gets involved in our lives, that means that Jesus will often change the course of our lives - as we take up our cross and follow Him, there may be some radical alterations along the way.
The author of the book, Radical, David Platt, spoke recently at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Global Missions Week, according to Baptist Press. Platt is the President of the International Mission Board, and the article reports that Platt related that giving one's life as a "blank check" to God may seem like extraordinary devotion, but a commitment to go wherever God leads is the "elementary essence of what it means to follow Christ."
Platt underscored his meaning of a "blank check" by citing flooding in Yemen, fighting in Iraq and persecution of Christians in Pakistan from the day's headlines. He said, "To be clear,...when you say 'wherever' to God, you're saying I'll go and take my family to Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan. I'll go into the heart of ISIS. I'll go into Boko Haram territory of West Africa. I'll go wherever You want me to go.'"
Brent Kapps is an accountant, and he understands the concept of a "blank check" in the financial realm. And, his family has now begun to experience it in the spiritual realm. Baptist Press reports that he and his wife, Brianna, have offered their lives as "blank checks" before the Lord.
He is quoted as saying: "Our call is a call of obedience," adding, "We don't want to miss the opportunity to be salt and light wherever God places us."
Brent served at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC, for nearly six years, eventually becoming an associate vice president. The family will soon be working with the IMB, joining a team of workers who provide humanitarian aid and community development in areas of Central Asia left in shambles by years of war. Kapps will fill a need for an accountant for the team.
He said, "I want to show people that I am here because I love [their] country...We will be able to help serve vital needs and help the country rebuild."
This concept of offering our lives as a "blank check," to be used of the Lord, can communicate powerfully about obeying God in a sacrificial, yet exciting manner. I don't know how often someone actually makes a "blank check" available, but if you were to do something like that - to have someone fill in the blank, you would want to make sure that it is someone you trust.
Well, we can totally trust God with our lives. When we turn our lives over to Him, we are surrendering to Someone who loves us, who knows what's best for us, and who will take our lives and perform His will to His glory. And, when we surrender all the resources from our spiritual bank account and allow the riches of heaven to be deposited there, it is certainly a transaction to works to His advantage - and ours.
So, we can be challenged to measure the extent to which we have surrendered our lives. If Jesus is our Lord and we regard God as our Heavenly Father, then we can freely make ourselves available to be used for His glory. We are weak, but He is strong. We are insufficient in and of ourselves, we cannot save ourselves, but He is totally sufficient to meet all of our needs, and to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all we ask or think. He wants to write His story on the "blank check" of our lives.
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