By Brittany Ulman, Founder, The Jesus Connection
How nice is it to go to the grocery store and find meals already prepared for you? Or even the ones we can order online? All we need to do is pick the one we think sounds tasty, purchase it and voilá, a meal delivered to your kitchen either via yourself or a UPS driver. Some of these meals may come with some assembly required, i.e. meal kits, or already prepared, leaving the only thing for you to do is to pop it in the microwave.
Yes, convenience is nice; little to no fuss, effort or time, which is probably why much of our world revolves around this idea of convenience (at least for those of us blessed enough to live in countries like the US, Canada and the UK).
From food to fitness routines, even our water has been transformed by the quest for convenience. Rather than walk miles to pull our water from a well and carry it back to our homes, we can swing by the gas station and grab a bottle on our way to the gym (or purchase it at the gym as there’s most likely a vending machine there as well). Once at the gym, we head to our class where an instructor, who’s already planned the workout down to the music, will tell us exactly when to move, how to move and how long to move. No thinking or planning on our part (other than what was needed to get us to the gym on time), we just show up and move. Finally, once we’re done at the gym, our next objective comes to mind: food. Some of us may stop at one of the many fast food restaurants, others will head home and either nuke one of those premade meals or order delivery. All of this with minimal planning and effort on our end, minus the actual energy spent in the workout.
Yes, convenience can be nice, especially for busy parents and front-line workers, because it takes a burden away from us. We don’t have to try to figure out how we’re going to get clean water to our children or what we need to cook a healthy meal—or find the time to make it.
Premade meals, bottled water and fitness classes may sound minute, but they give us the freedom to have one less thing to figure out. As a result, we can use that time and energy elsewhere, whether it’s focusing more on our kids, enjoying some extra rest or squeezing in another appointment or project. Plus there’s the mental release we get when someone else does the planning for once. With the ball in their court, our lives can be a little more worry-free.
Even outside our fitness and dietary habits, we appreciate it when we don’t feel the burden to make decisions and figure things out. When that part of the equation is removed, we often feel the pressure lift.
Now, I realize there are times/situations where convenience is not the best answer and our convenience-laden lifestyles have caused problems, but for the most part, convenience has been good. Not in the sense that it allows us to be lazy or less involved, but in the permission it gives us to step back and hand over the decision-making to someone else.
And that is the heart of my message today—the freedom that comes from not needing to have all the answers or figure everything out.
This freedom is a true blessing when we exercise it in the appropriate circumstances. After all, there are times when we need to know about something, understand it and make decisions based on our knowledge and understanding.
Take marriage, for example. Though you will never know everything about a person, you can and should know a great deal about them and therefore understand them before deciding to marry them. The same goes for choosing a college, accepting a job or buying a house. These are all major life decisions where we need to be knowledgeable, understand the situation (both present and future) and make a decision.
Yet even in these situations, we still have someone to whom we can turn for ultimate clarity, someone full of wisdom, patience and righteousness (Prov. 3:5-6, 16:9; Ps. 32:8; James 1:5-6). This someone helps us figure things out, but He Himself is someone we don’t need to completely understand. This is for several reasons: 1) He is far greater than our capacity to understand, and 2) our understanding of Him is not a requirement to knowing Him and having a relationship with Him. Instead, what we must do is believe in and trust Him; it’s literally that simple (John 3:16-18, 20:31; Rom. 10:9).
Who is this One, you ask?
He’s the great Lord Almighty, the One and Only God, Creator and Savior of all (1 Chr. 29:11). He is the One with whom we all need a relationship and He’s the One who is our ultimate Gift (Rom. 3:23, 6:23; John 1:10-13).
You see, God doesn’t throw out a thousand hoops you need to jump through to get to Him. He doesn’t demand you know everything about Him before you go to Him. He doesn’t even require you to read His book before you meet. What He wants from each of us is for us to want Him (Eph. 1:5, 1 Peter 2:9, 1 John 4:19). That’s it.
God Almighty wants you to want Him. He wants you to want a relationship with Him because He Himself wants a relationship with you. Not a relationship where you do all the asking and Him all the giving, but one of love, faithfulness, devotion, praise and abiding (Eph. 3:18-19).
God gives Himself to us as a gift and the gift’s name is Jesus Christ, His Son (John 3:16, Rom. 5:8).
Jesus is the Son of God the Father and He too is Himself God (John 1:1, 10:38; Isaiah 9:6). He and God the Father, along with the Holy Spirit, make up the Trinity: one God existing forever as three distinct persons (Gen. 1:1-2, Matt. 28:19, John 14:16-17).
It is because God gave us the gift of His Son Jesus, who died on the Cross to pay the penalty for our sins, that we can freely accept the gift (John 3:16-17, Heb. 9:12). And what a gift it is!
What is this gift, you ask? Sins forgiven, a soul redeemed and an eternity promised in Heaven for those who accept the gift (2 Cor. 5:21, 1 Peter 2:24). The acceptance part is what’s key. For even though God is all-powerful and Jesus’ sacrificial death all-encompassing, God magnifies His gift in allowing us the privilege to say yes or no, to accept His gift or deny it.
Each of us has that choice and no one can ever take it from us nor make it for us. God isn’t asking us to figure it all out or wrap our minds around every minute detail, all He’s doing is simply extending His gift and allowing us to decide what to do with it.
If you do accept it, He will begin to teach you and share more of Himself with you through His Word (the Bible), prayer, other people and His Spirit, whom you will receive upon accepting His gift (Acts 2:38, Rom. 10:17, 2 Tim. 3:16, Heb. 1:1-2). He won’t share everything with you because His being all-knowing is part of what makes Him God and us not, and also because we don’t have enough time here on earth to learn it all nor is it crucial that we do.
However, what we will know and understand is exactly what we need to know, when we need to know it (Matt. 6:33, Phil. 4:19). Rather than discourage, this should encourage us because it proves 1) we don’t need to have it all figured out and 2) God will care for all our needs.
It doesn’t mean everything will be smooth sailing once we accept God’s gift (for even Jesus’ disciples had to weather a storm, see Luke 8:22-25), but it does mean that in the end, it will all be good (Rom. 8:28, 1 Cor. 10:13, 1 Peter 5:6-7).
While on earth we’ll still face difficult situations because those who don’t accept God’s gift will be here as well. Even we (those who accept the gift) will not be entirely perfect (sinless) because we are still human and our ways are naturally warped to sin (Rom. 3:23, 7:15-20). Jesus’ sacrificial death on the Cross means God chooses to no longer see our soiled, sinful souls and instead sees our souls redeemed and washed clean by His Son (Heb. 8:12, 1 John 1:9).
We will still sin, yes, but our hearts will constantly be in the process of looking more like Jesus’ until He calls us home to Heaven (Eph. 4:22-24, 1 Peter 2:21, 1 John 3:2).
Through the gift of Jesus, God seals our souls with a stamp reading: “Price covered in full.” This is a beautiful, wondrous gift, and it’s one God wishes we all accept (2 Peter 3:9). But again, though the gift is His, the choice as to what you do with it is yours.
Will you choose the gift? Will you say yes to God and forever be sealed with His stamp of acceptance?
English Standard Version Bible. (2001). Crossway Bibles.