The Outrageous God

If you really read the Bible and you don't just gloss over the stories you will notice that God seems pretty unreasonable at times. If when you read the story of when God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac you are not disturbed you need to read it again. It is messed up. Jesus is no less unreasonable. A wealthy young man comes to Jesus to ask how he can become an even better person. All the evidence points to this guy being a really amazing individual. Jesus sizes him up and says, "This one thing you lack, go and sell everything you have and give it away and then come and follow me." Who does that? Have you ever read the story and then been convicted and completely divested? We read the stories and we don't read the stories at the same time. Here is the thing. There is something at the center of your life. You know the answer is supposed to be God but today, right at this split second, it probably isn't. Maybe it is since you are reading my blog. That was a little joke I just made to myself. Whatever the thing is that keeps creeping into the center of your life is THE competition for God. It is also THE thing that messes your life up whether you realize it or not. The reason the stories about God seem so outrageous is that God goes after his competition and often these are things we see as being very precious. And they are, that is why they are competition to God. If there were stories of God telling people, "This one thing you lack. You eat too many burritos at Chipotles (don't we all?)" We really wouldn't be offended. If you are then you have serious Mexican food disorder. God loved Abraham enough to try to save him from making his son his god. And God loved Isaac enough to try to save him from having a father who would dote on him so much that he would completely mess him up. So God told Abraham that he had to choose. It was either the God of the universe who would be in charge or it would be his son, his only son. Abraham chose God and it saved him and Isaac at the same time. Jesus put the same equation in front of the rich young executive in Mark 10. He chose his portfolio. The interesting thing is that hardly anyone knows what has crawled into the center of their life until they are told to walk away from it. Here is your task for the rest of your life. Figure out every day what it is that is crawling, clawing it's way into the center and give it to God. It may save everyone involved. God may be outrageous but He is the only one who loves you enough to call you out and then save you.