Abandon

How far will you let me go?
How abandoned will you let me be?
-Misty Edwards


What is holding you back from being completely devoted to Jesus?

The other day I found myself pondering sanctification--the process by which we become like Him whom we love. I am drastically different than I used to be; hopefully different in a good way, the way He is. I came across as very legalistic when I was first learning about God's ways: do this, do not do this, because God says so. Over time, the relational aspect of being a Christian has grown in my life: obeying out of love for Christ and trust in his goodness, with a somewhat more nuanced understanding of right and wrong.

Yet even now there are days when my living rightly is not particularly righteous. It is easy to slip into a holding pattern, perhaps obeying God's principles out of habit, but not consciously choosing to serve and love him. On those days, when I'm living by a moral law because that's just what I do...what's the point? Like Paul said, I am nothing, no better than a randomly clanging cymbal. Love is what makes this Christianity what it is...

And, oh, what love this is! Worth any price, any lengths of devotion, any suffering, any perseverance. How can I get more? Is there anything in me that is stopping the free flow of the cascading power of God's love in my life? I know there's more, for the depths of God are limitless, far beyond the reach of any dusty human. The law is merely the hollow form: the cross is the heart and the life and the glory for the people of God. Grounded in and centered on Christ, trusting God for everything, white as snow because of the cross, knees on the ground in gratitude and humility--if only we could maintain this posture, what glories and graces could be seen? It's there...just beyond...

How far will he let us go? How abandoned will he let us be?