All In

One of the biggest lies is that you have to give up your whole self, your whole life, to change fundamentally who you are as a person, to follow God.  That is bunk, to put it politely.  Quite the opposite is true.  It's when we find God that He strips all the artificial layers away and frees us to be the person He has called us to be. 

When I was in high school, I was a different person.  I hated life, I was extraordinarily shy, and I hated being around people.  Today, nearly thirteen years after encountering God personally, I love my life, most people consider me an extrovert, and I genuinely enjoy the company of others.  What happened?  I didn't change and then come to God.  The moment I encountered God personally, I started to change from the inside out. 

I was blessed because I wasn't in church when I met God face to face.  No one handed me a 'track' (some of you know what I'm talking about), no one invited me to church, and, frankly, I don't remember anyone in my life really talking about God at the time.  When I didn't even know what I was looking for, He found me.  He found me gazing at the stars late one summer night, hating my life, and saying, "God, if you're really out there, do something with my life!  Anything!"  I didn't hear an audible voice in that moment, my bushes didn't light on fire, the sky didn't open up, but I had an inward peace that defied my human understanding.  I will never forget that peace.  It was something I had never felt before, but at the very core of my being, I have carried with me every day since.  The peace didn't make sense from an outward vantage point, because nothing in my life outwardly had changed.  I still went to the same school, same classes, knew the same people.  But suddenly, gradually, my perspective started to change. 

The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.  ~ Matthew 4:16

Light entered my life.  I could see things about situations and literature and people that I'd never seen before.  You see, when you're in darkness, you don't notice it until the light comes on.  The attic is perfectly clean, to our knowledge, until we shine a flashlight and see the cobwebs and creeping things.  That's what happened to me.  I saw the cobwebs and creeping things in my life and, over time, I was released from them.  God loosed the fear of public speaking, the fear of people, and His love is still ridding me of the fear of eating in public.  Just being real with you.  What I'm saying is I wasn't put into bondage when I came to God.  The light shone through and I was set free.  I didn't know that I was captive.  I was blind to it!  But then I saw and was set free.  Once you've glimpsed freedom, you can't help but run to it.  When you taste freedom, bondage loses its grip on you.    

Coming to God doesn't mean you have to drop every fun thing and your social life as you know it, to sit in a boring service and live a life of Puritanism.  Coming to God, or allowing Him to come to you, releases you to pursue your dreams. It frees you from your fears and lets the real you shine through.

If you're running from God, because you think He's going to run the fun out of your life, shake off those chains.  Maybe your heart is pounding right now at the thought of letting go of things as you know them.  Know that, with God, whatever you let go, you're trading up for something so much better.  He cannot help but increase you, prosper you, heal you, and transform your life.

Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.  ~ Psalm 126:5