Yes, we can all agree that God knows whats best for us and certainly, many of us can agree that God can turn any situation around for his glory.

Yet in spite of this knowledge, one question is always present in the back of our minds, “why does God ask us to do things that don’t make any sense?”.

Why does God ask some of us to up and move to a different country?

Why does God ask us to periodically make large and somewhat painful tithes at church?

Why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac?

The answer to all these questions and more will soon be known to you!

But before we can answer these questions, we first have to first understand how God generally operates in our lives.

James 1:2 reads,

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

As this verse suggests, God allows hardships to periodically enter our lives so that we can be made stronger when we depend on him to guide us through them.

Yet why is this so important?

Why can’t God find some other way for us to come closer to him that doesn’t involve pain and suffering?

Yet consider this.

If I love God enough to say that I would do anything for him (thereby affirming my closeness to him), why would I find it difficult to leave my him, surrender my wealth, or even sacrifice my own son?

Indeed, I could always say that I love God with all my heart yet if I placed any of those things in such a high place in my life that I believe I couldn’t live without them, my claim about my love for God wouldn’t be very sincere now, would it?

Certainly, I could say that I have devoted my entire life to God and yet, if I draw the line at the cost of my safety, at the cost of my comfort, or at the line of my property, my claim would be nothing more than pleasing words that contained no substance.

In response to this, many Christians simply avoid making such lofty claims as loving God with their whole heart so as to avoid the responsibility that such a claim holds yet they, in doing so, deny their true Christianity.

The Bible is clear in Matthew 22:37-38,

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.

With all this in mind, the ultimate conclusion is this, God asks us to do certain things that in reality won’t ever really make any sense in order to give us a good look at our own reason for following him in the first place.

If we claim to love God, yet draw the line when he tells us to leave our homes, we don’t truly love God, we only love him for the comfort he gives us.

If we claim to love God, yet draw the line when he tells us to give our money, we don’t truly live in devotion to God, we only live in devotion to ourselves.

If we claim to love God, yet draw the line when he tells us to give up everything and come follow him, we don’t truly embody the person of Jesus, we only embody the destitution of our own humanity.

And that is no way to live.

A life that does not make God central is a life that will only end in suffering and regret.

I’ll be the first to admit that this can be hard to hear.

Modern Christianity has equivocated poverty in the pursuit of the gospel as a relic of an archaic time.

And to respond to this, I’m not saying that God will ask us to give up everything we have and live on the streets as there is much more good that we can we can accomplish by working and actively serving in our local communities.

Yet what I am saying is, if we claim to love God yet wouldn’t be willing to give up everything and live on the streets if he clearly asked us to, then we, in all honesty, have not put God first in our lives as there is something in our hearts that we value more than our relationship with him.

Again, God will more than likely never ask any of us to do that but the fact is that if we look inside ourselves and find that we wouldn’t be willing to take that leap of faith on his behalf, there is a fear in our hearts that dissuades us from truly loving him with our whole hearts.

Life is so much better when we put God first, so rather than sit around and wait for him to take away the things that distract you from him because he wants to be with you that much, be proactive and get rid of those things yourself.

God is waiting for you to desire him above all else so that he can give you the love you really deserve, the love that surpasses all imagination.

So strive to love God even more than you did yesterday and I promise you, you will not regret it.

Thanks for Reading!

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