No Fences
Our King is totally serious not just about saving us, but about helping us serve him wholeheartedly.
It's becoming quite popular for dog owners to install invisible fences. These sensor wires buried in the perimeter of a dog owner’s yard gently jolt a receiver on a dog's collar if the dog walks near it. "I'm letting my dog have some freedom," one pet owner proclaimed.
Some freedom. Is there really freedom if it's only a half-freedom? Is a dog really free if he is unhooked from the long chain, but still confined to the backyard? Is the devil telling us the truth when he plants in our minds the thought that Jesus forgives some of our sins but not all of them? Is the world right when it says that God only loves good people? "Some freedom" is no freedom. Jesus our king "loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood" (Revelation 1:5). With Jesus, we aren’t kind of free. "The blood of Jesus ... purifies us from all sin." (1 John 1:7) We are totally free from sin. Now called to serve our King wholeheartedly.
Wholehearted devotion to our King is a challenge, however, in a world filled with idols that want our heart, our security, our greater interest. "I can serve two masters," our weak flesh convinces us, "I can half serve God and half serve my interests and wants and needs." Half service is half-hearted service. Financial offerings given to God that are determined by what I first spend elsewhere are leftover scraps of lukewarm faith. A half-commitment to my spouse that is willing to give only what is convenient for me to give is an insult to the true meaning of love. Pouring out praises and prayers to God and hearing his Word on Sunday morning is half-hearted, hypocritical worship if it isn't my habit the other six days of the week. We're only kidding ourselves if we feel that we have properly responded to Jesus' call for wholehearted devotion to him above all others.
Who, then, can be saved? Those whose salvation is in the hands of Jesus who can do all things. Since he loves us despite our sins, he has totally freed us from our guilt and shame and punishment. Our King isn't satisfied by just canceling our condemnation, however, so that free from hell's curse we can relax peacefully forever (though that would have been enough). He doesn't just want us free to be saved, but he wants us free to serve.
So Jesus gives us a new birth into a living and active Christian existence. He grants us an exalted position in his kingdom, which enables us to give him worship and honor and thanks and praise. He "has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father" (Revelation 1:6).
We're not mere peasants impossibly called to bring riches into the kingdom treasury; we're kingly priests. Wealthy and connected. Powerful and motivated. From the moment we touch our toes on the cold bedroom floor to the time we collapse on the bed that night exhausted from the day's work – we are equipped as God's kings and priests to do his will. Our King is totally serious not just about saving us, but about helping us serve him wholeheartedly.
No limits. No fences.
PRAYER: Jesus, you love me not some times but all the time. Let me love you the same. You forgive me not when it’s convenient but because you promised. Let me forgive others the same. You are always there for me even when I don’t appreciate you as I should. You speak well of me. You cover for me. You expect no reward. Let me live the same. Amen.