No one is forcing me to live for God in the spirit of truth and holiness. I made a free will choice to do so. I live to worship an Almighty God who loves me, unconditionally. While he does chastise me when I wander away from his presence, it is not for my detriment, it is to encourage me to stay behind his glory shield and be protected. In the process of separating myself from the things of the world, I can receive his forgiveness as he gently strengthens me. When I am weak, he is strong for me; when the world tries to attack everything that I believe, he carries me until I can stand on my own, and I am determined in my heart to fulfill his purpose for my life.
The world tries to contain God in a box, so that he can be used on demand: don’t have enough money for more tech gadgets—open the box and pray for God to give it; need a new car; just open the box and ask; the list goes on and on—isn’t that how it’s supposed to work? Prayer. Ask, seek, knock?
Sure, on occasion we may have this approach with God, but it’s not the best way to build a relationship with the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. If all you ever did was tirelessly, seek more stuff from God or people for that matter; soon they would grow weary of your constant begging for more, instead of being content with the things that the Lord has placed in your hands.
What will you do with the talents that he has given to you? Bury them in the sand? Put them at the back of your list of priorities to develop later? Forget that you even had them in the first place? Or, will you treasure the things that were bought with his very life at Calvary?
It’s not wise to take the gifts that the Lord has blessed us with, lightly. He doesn’t have to give us anything, because we surely have done nothing to deserve his abundant grace and mercy. It’s time to consider the treasures that he has given to us without expectation of anything in return.