At times, other Christians may say things like, “I’m just not where ‘they’ are in my faith“. Or, “I will never be where ‘they’ are in my faith“. My immediate thought is always, “Why not”? For none of us are superior in any way. For example, history proves how self-serving I’m capable of being. Therefore, I desperately desire God to intervene in my life and openly acknowledge my absolute need for His guidance and direction. So, for those who feel they can’t, or won’t allow their relationship with Christ to grow any further, remember that holding back is costly in many ways:

Blessings: When we hold out on God, do we think He will continue to supply an abundance of blessings? After all, His blessings are not for us to hoard, but to share for the advancement of His Kingdom – not ours. To illustrate, if we gave gifts we wanted distributed, but discovered one was keeping the gifts for themselves, while the other generously gave as we directed, would we continue to support such behavior equally (Matthew 25:14-30)?

Burdens: When we hold out on God, we resolve to keep many of the burdens He is willing to take-on for us. Why would any of us desire to carry more burdens, anxieties and worries than we have to? God is ready and willing to take them all, but when we hold back, we also hold back on trusting Him with our release (Matthew 11:28).

Benefits: Clearly there are benefits to being the children of the King of Kings. Things like eternal life with Christ is something we all get! However, we also benefit by benefitting others with His truth. Yet, when we resolve to hold back our spiritual growth and maturity, we inadvertently reduce our availability to be used fully by God for His purposes. Thereby, our individual opportunities to participate in benefiting the Kingdom are also reduced (Luke 6:38).

Application: “Have It Your Way” – Hebrews 5:12-14
Ultimately, we all have a vital decision to make. Will we continue to have it our way, or wise up, give in and surrender to have it His way? God loves us either way, but why settle for less than God’s best when we don’t have to?