This week we’re talking about wholehearted commitment– what it looks like, what the Bible says, and how we can go “all in” with our faith. I’m going to touch on three areas which specifically highlight why God desires this for our lives. On Monday, we explored the WIIFM mentality and how it’s so seductive in today’s society. Today, Part 2. Hope you enjoy reading!

Most of us want a balanced life that we can control, that is safe, and that does not involve suffering. Would you describe yourself as totally in love with Jesus Christ? Or do the words half-hearted, lukewarm, and partially committed fit better? Lukewarm faith is prevalent, no doubt. I’ve been in that boat (head faith vs. faith lived out) and don’t want to get back in. In fact, John talks about “lukewarm” when he speaks about the church in Laodicea:

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Rev 3:15-16)

Let’s put it this way: have you ever sipped lukewarm coffee? It’s nasty. Most of the time it is spit-it-from-your-mouth nasty! That is the picture that is painted in the above passage. Like the coffee, God feels that way about being lukewarm. Instead of this lackluster, tepid and half-hearted living, He wants lives that are radical, unbalanced, and overboard. Those three words characterize what wholehearted commitment looks like.

In his book Crazy Love, Francis Chan challenges the lukewarm person with the some of the following questions:

• Do you find yourself more often than not, choosing what is popular over what is right?
• Do you desire to fit in both at church and outside of church?
• Do you care more about what people think of your actions than what God thinks of your hearts and lives?
• Are you moved by stories about people who do radical things for Christ, yet you don’t act?
• Do you think doing what God says in His word is for “extreme” Christians, not average ones?
• Do you rarely share your faith with your neighbors and friends because you don’t want to be rejected or make people feel uncomfortable?

I’ll be honest: I am a people-pleaser. It’s hard for me to say no when people ask things of me. So caring what people think of my actions (rather than what God thinks of my heart) is something that challenges me the most.

Lukewarm people call “radical” what Jesus expected of all His followers. Chances are, at times you may feel lukewarm. We are all flawed human beings, but there is a difference between a life that is characterized by these sorts of habits and a life that is in the process of being radically transformed. I want the latter!

What does your love look like? Instead of a complacent existence, let’s chose to be radical. Let’s chose to live an unbalanced and overboard life for Christ.

Which one of Chan’s questions resonates with you the most?

I was at a kickoff meeting for work last week, where they highlighted ECM, Open Source, and all the future industry collaboration trends and tools that will come about with social content management. Being new to the company, I learned a lot and met a ton of people. One key phrase kept coming up over and over, and seemed to stick in my mind:

Content is the conversation.

Part of the central offering of my company revolves around the tracking and storing of electronic documents (pieces of content). What those four words are saying is that the content that enterprises will soon want to manage is actually the conversation that revolves around those specific documents (an article, picture, file, blog post, etc.). Without saying, these content-pieces have become the central placeholders in what drive conversation.

I felt that is completely translatable to this blog. Conversation flows, for the most part, by means of a specific piece of content–a story, an experience, a verse, a quote, a video. Around the interwebs, we continue to hear buzzwords like community, collaboration, and connectivity. These drivers deliver some of the core messages that are central to our blogs.

We focus our conversations around the prestige of a conference, the namesake of a popular church, or the controversial themes of an upcoming book. As Christians, however, our central piece of content is and should be the Cross. All conversation flows because of it. Because the cross, we are…

…free.
…accepted.
…redeemed.
…drawn near.
…adopted as sons.

In today’s day and age, internet content changes by the day. Videos are becoming accessible. Podcasts can be streamed from across the country. Pictures can be emailed and downloaded within seconds across the world. The relevance of the internet and blogs is so different than it was 5 years ago.

What blows my mind, however, is that even 2000 years later the Cross is still relevant. It is still so divinely complex, yet incredibly simple. People are still being redeemed. Lives are still being renewed. Relationships are still being restored. Hearts are still being transformed. Today I am thankful that because of the cross, I am adopted as a son — no expectation of perfection, no struggle with complacency, no fear of failure, can separate me from His relentless love.

Fill in the blank: Because of the cross, I am ____________.