1 John 2:15-17
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
I enjoy riding motorcycles and my favorite bike to ride is a Harley Davidson. Which one – I’m not picky! There is just something about the rumble of the engine while you are out riding through the country or mountains or city…well just about any where. My only complaint is that the motorcycles that I have owned were missing one vital instrument, a gas gauge. No matter how well you tracked the mileage, you still had that doubt in the back of your head about how much fuel you still had in the tank. There have been times when I was riding and the bike would start sputtering because I had pushed it a little too far and was out of “go-go juice” as my mom used to call it. Then I would remember this little switch on the side of the bike that I could turn and go from the main tank to the reserve tank that still had enough fuel in it to get me to the nearest station. That little tank kept me from getting stranded on many occasions! I always knew that I had some left in the reserves!
Do we do the same thing with our love for Christ? Do we hold back some in reserves “just in case”? You see, there are a lot of shiny things in this world and if I give all of my love and devotion to Christ then I just might miss out on something! We probably don’t verbalize it like that, but if I am honest – I have thought it. We talk about being careful about burning bridges because we never know if we will have to come back across it. While that may be good in certain earthly relationships it has no place in our relationships with Christ. I don’t know about you – but I want to be “all-in” with my walk with Jesus! John tells us in our passage that if we are going to Love God – we must drain that reserve tank! If we are going to Love God then we can hold nothing back for this world (NO RESERVES) and as we follow Him we are burning bridges as we go (NO RETREATS). I am reminded of Lot’s wife in Genesis 19 who “looked back” to what they had left. Sodom was perishing – God was raining judgement down on this wicked city, but she just couldn’t help herself. She wasn’t ready to burn that bridge. Then, when this life is over and we stand before the one who owns all of our devotion and here these words “Well Done” and enter into our reward we will see that it was worth it all (NO REGRETS)
The Story is told of a young man named William Borden who wrote those words in his bible (No Reserves, No Retreats, No Regrets) as he left the family fortune to train for the mission field, turned down jobs to go to the mission field, but died before He ever made it. In His personal journal he wrote one sentence that defined his devotion to Christ, “Say ‘no’ to self and ‘yes’ to Christ every-time.” That means Loving God with all your heart, with all your soul and all your mind – holding nothing back.
Today as we ReFocus our hearts and minds on Christ I want us to check our “reserve tank”. Are we holding back at all in our love for Christ – just in case? We cannot love the world and love God at the same time. God isn’t satisfied with some of my devotion, He wants all of my devotion! When my life is over may it be said of me as it was of William – No Reserves, No Retreats, and No Regrets!