anyone who sacrifices home, family, fields—whatever—because of me will get it all back a hundred times over, not to mention the considerable bonus of eternal life.
Matthew 19:29 (The Message Version)
The default inclination of our flesh is most often an expectancy that spirituality always involves loss. So we lift our hands to the Lord, still clutching the portions of our lives we consider precious and we ask for strength to let them go for His sake. That is indeed how it feels sometimes and the Lord receives and honors the faith that prompts us to look to Him within this frame of reference. But is this mindset an accurate picture of what is happening?
Spending time with the Lord the other day I asked Him to change my paradigm. I said to Him, “Lord, I don’t want to imagine impending disaster or loss when I surrender my day to You and release all claims upon its contents or outcomes. Instead, I want to consider it submitting to Your good intentions and better plans for me. I want to envision myself being cradled in your hands and enveloped in abundant grace.”
My preferred imagery is in fact more reflective of the truth. God only takes from us what He intends to give back in much greater measure, much better shape and much increased value. That is His character. That is His history. That is His pleasure. We give Him the standard version and He returns to us the deluxe. We give Him the base and He give us the bonus. We give Him eggs and He gives us a souffle. It’s not always returned in the same form, but it is always returned better than the original. Sooner or later we will see this to be true. For as sure as God is God, we will never be able to “outdo” Him.
Not seeing it? Not feeling it? That has no bearing on the truth of the matter. The truth is God is always more faithful, more giving, more loving and more powerful than we give Him credit for. So the psalmists asks Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD or fully declare His praise? (Psalm 106:2). I don’t think he was really expecting a response because in our hearts we already know the answer: No one!
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