But anyway, he talks a lot about how we take the Gospel, and we take what Jesus says to us, and we take bits and pieces of it-the pieces of it that appeal to us.
We take the pretty things, the ones that sparkle in the sun, or the ones that taste good- but we leave the ugly, the nasty ones behind.
We accept his grace, but we don't truly give our entire lives to him. Because that's scary.
And I just molded this analogy in my mind somehow, and felt the need to share it for whatever reason.
You have this cousin. And you know she really can't stand you. She's whiny, she's disrespectful and thinks she hung the moon. She's rude, and she's never grateful for anything.
But, in an attempt to get to know her better (because she's family), you decide to take her on a trip.
Now, this trip is fully paid for by you. You've paid for the whole thing, the gas money to get to the place, the hotel, the food, everything.
So, you tell her about it. You tell her that you'd love to spend some time with her, develop a relationship with her, that the trip is fully paid for.
She's ecstatic I mean a fully paid trip? She's in! And she's starting to like you a little better too.. I mean you're the one paying for it!
But then you say this, "You can come with me, but I want one thing from you. I want- I need- you to listen to me the whole week. Because you're younger than me, I'm responsible for you, and so what I say goes. The whole time. I need you to trust me."
She stares at you. Thinks about it.
Then she nods.
She'll do it.
So, you go. You have fun, and everything goes great for the first couple of days.
Then, on the third day, you decide to go to the beach. She swims farther out than you, and later into the day, you can start to see the tide coming in.
You yell out to her, "Come in! The tide's coming in, it's going to be dangerous!"
She looks at you.
Looks at the water.
Looks at you.
Purses her lips.
Your heart beat quickens as you realize what's about to happen.
She shakes her head. Walks even farther out- right into dangers.
She doesn't trust you, she's making her own rules. She's playing God. She trusts herself more than she trusts you.
That's what we all struggle with. "You" is God in this analogy, and the "cousin" is us.
We're whiny, disrespectful, rude human beings. But since God created us, he wants a relationship with us. He loves us, and so he pays for our vacation- Jesus paid for Heaven for us on the cross.
We hesitantly agree to trust him on the trip.
And then we hit a snag. We hit something where we think we know better.
We start to question God and question whether he really knows best.
It's in that moment, where our faith is tested.
Where we see if we're any different than when we first started the trip.
Here's what it all comes down to:
In the analogy: Has your cousin's relationship with you gotten stronger? Does she trust you more now than before?
In reality: Has my relationship with God gotten stronger than when I first accepted him as my Savior?
How much will I trust him with?
Will I only trust him with the simple pretty situations? Or will I trust him with the nasty parts too?
He asks for it all. The pretty, and the gory.
He just wants us to trust him, totally and completely. And He'll take care of the rest.
