Too much for God?

People tend to believe that God doesn't expect too much from us. We live as though going the extra miles with Him is something inappropriately extravagant. We discounted our commitments to God because we thought, we're doing just fine. We blunt, "Surely, God would not be mad if you miss one Friday night out." And usually worse, we mistakably put our feet on God's shoes saying, "I don't think God is pleased when we do too much for Him. We can serve Him once or twice a week. Let's say Sundays. But to do it everyday, consuming all our time for church, is just too much!"

In Malachi 1, God is reminding us how to serve Him ideally. He harshly accuses us of not honoring Him and even despising His mighty  Name. And so we say, "Who? Us? When did we ever despise your name?" (v.6) I thought I was loving you just enough?

And God, who knows our deepest desires and the core of our being says, "Everytime you say, 'Don't bother bringing anything very valuable to offer to God!' 8 You tell the people, 'Lame animals are all right to offer on the altar of the Lord---yes, even the sick and the blind ones.'" (v.7-8)

Didn't we just serve Him all right and fair enough?

We've lost our revelation of Christ! Because if we really know His glory, His power, His omnipotence, we will not treat Him like a double-pay paycheck we get only every holidays! But no, we unconsciously viewed Him just as somebody special, together with the other special things and people we tagged in our lives. We degrade His value by prioritizing other aspects of our tiny world. We act as if we can downsize His nature by giving Him what we thought is enough for Him, leaving Him residues of our self-consumed, much pre-occupied life.o

What God desires from us are not our halfhearted commitment, lukewarm faith, not genuine surrender, discounted submission and self-centered devotion. He wants our everything: every beat of our hearts, every breath that we breathe, and every moment that we live!

So many times we rob from God what is due to Him. We rob Him of His tithes, His respect, and His sovereignty in our lives. Most of the time too, we serve leftovers to God! We give just a portion of our abundance, a spare time of our long weekdays and a scrap devotion after the things we put on top of Him; our job, education, relationships, ambitions, life goals to name some of it. But something is better than nothing, right?

We ought to know that this life is not ours! He is our Father and our Master! And as His loving servant, we can never take control, it must be Him! We, on the passenger seat or even at the backseat, can't direct the driver what to do. We ought to just let Him drive our lives and just rest.

The Story of Mary tells us much on how to really pleasingly worship our God.

"Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume."~John 12:3

I love how Mary lavished her love for Christ. She poured her love to Jesus even when it costed her the most valuable thing she inherited. She gave it all away to Christ simply because she knows that Jesus is more worth than a bottle of an expensive perfume. He deserves our best, our everything. She gave up what the world thought was necessary and valuable, in exchange for what really matters; her soul.

"But the fact that nothing should concern us more than our relationship with God; it's about ETERNITY, and nothing compares with that. God is not someone who can be tacked on to our lives." ~Francis Chan

But then there is always this Judas Iscariot in our lives who's gonna stop us from lavishing extravagantly for God, reminding us our desires to hold on to our riches, our finances, our acquisitions, our achievements and our valuables in this earthly life. (v.4-6)

I am really sick to my stomach whenever I hear people say to me, "Kim, you're doing too much and over what is necessary. Chill out and enjoy life." People who knows less, so to speak. They totally don't understand what they were talking about.

As much as it makes me sick, it also breaks my heart knowing that these people know nothing about truly being a follower of Christ. They settle with their okay devotions, not even concerning the thoughts of fully submitting to the Father. They assumed all their lives that they are Good Soils and that Heaven awaits for them because they live fairly, they give to the poor and they don't kill, cheat or hurt people. But God has been warning us that "not everybody who calls me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of God. Only those who do My will." And yes, we can do and put on our Christian-y costumes but leave our hearts far away from God.

I agree much with Francis Chan when he wrote:

"God is holy. In heaven exists a Being who decides whether or not I take another breath. This holy God deserves excellence, the very best I have."

I don't even think I serve God enough with my too much. I do not even consider myself giving back even an enough percentage of love to Him. Even my whole lifetime can't be enough to reimburse Him what He'd given me.

But I won't try any harder. I don't need to be His Child, for I already am! I just simply want to rest on this truth and lay my head on His arms"The solution is not to push yourself into behaving perfectly; the solution is to cultivate your love for God.", said Francis.

God said, if we are to worship Him without our lives totally surrendered to Him, it's better to not worship at all. It's senseless for us to give every sacrifices if our motivation is not backed up with the overflowing love we have for Him and if we don't value Him more than anything else. Our worship must not be backed up by our guilt to giving nothing, instead because beyond the extremities of our ability, we can't simply give enough to repay Him of all the amazing things He has done in our lives.

To "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind." is not just a phrase to be memorized, instead it is a quote to live by.

I would be much willing to be called as someone so obsessed with God, crazy about Jesus or crazy about my church, than to be called someone-in-love-with-the-world. That's not the kind of label I desire God to witness me in His last days.

For I know, the only well-spent time, money, and love are when they are spent in return to God's love. You know you never wasted what you lavished for Him.