Bargaining With Jesus?

Again I find myself sitting here, thinking about lessons that this world teaches us from the time our baby bottoms hit the cradle. From success to eating our vegetables we're taught so much. I remember sitting with my little buddies when I was 6 or 7 and trading toy cars. Bargaining with them, "I'll give you this, if you give me that.", I would plead. By the end of this recess the cars would be banged up from our "playtime" crashes and the cars would have been traded and swapped from hand to hand more times than I could keep up with.

As humans we bargain with everything. We give time and work so we can get money and turn around and give money so we can get a product. We bargain with our family members to see who gets the TV remote, when and which brother or sister gets to ride in the front seat. Life is full of what I like to call, "Give-Get" situations. There are two questions I hope you ask yourself when coming away from this blog. What are you giving and getting? The other, more important question is, which one are you doing more?

Galatians 2:20

20 My old self has been crucified with Christ.* It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

When you look at this scripture it doesn't seem to say much about bargaining. That's because you can't bargain with Jesus! You see here that Paul speaks of crucifying himself with Christ, as Christ did for us. Paul basically says he no longer lives but Christ lives for him, in him, and through him. This isn't only because Christ gave himself for us and we should give him ours back in return but he realizes that Christianity calls us to give our life as an offering. I know that this seems wordy but when it boils down to it what I'm trying to say is Christianity is not about "Get,Get,Get" but its about "Give, Give, Give".

Do you "believe" because eternal life or do you believe because the truth and the one who gives eternal life? Do you try to be a "good person" for blessings from the Lord or do you serve the Lord out of love, humility, and a true life of consecration to Christ? Do you "love" God so you can get, or do you Love God because you recognize who he is and so you can give unto the Lord what is his? Oh, and did you accept an invitation to a salvation because you could have eternal life or because you got a glimpse of the Glory of Jesus and saw that you could have him and serve him with all you have.

Are you Giving your life to the one who created it or are you trying to bargain with him by giving bits and pieces so you can get all that you seem to want? Quit trying to do the least you can, just be a Christian, simply Christ-like and give it all just like Jesus did on the cross.