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Can I cry out, “My God, and my All”?
A transformative moment in my life occurred when I was a college student. A pastor of the church I was attending asked a simple question in his sermon: “Are you fully devoted to God?” I don’t know why the question hit me so profoundly that day. I’d been a Christian and had been active in my church as a youth, and I was a weekly participant in campus ministry activities. I read my Bible daily. I was doing all the things I had been told to do in order to cultivate a vibrant Christian life, but this question of full devotion to God caused me to do a gut check. Was I fully devoted; was I all in? I finally acknowledged that I may have been running at high percentages of devotion, but wasn’t all the way there. Was I OK with being a 60 percent or 70 percent Christian? Could I honestly cry out, as Wesley puts it, “My God, and my All”?
Advent gives us an opportunity to ask that question of ourselves and to commit to being a wholehearted follower of Christ. When we begin to do this, our lives change. Though the phrase belongs to a different liturgical season, Jesus’ words at Gethsemane resonate with this theme when he says, “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42 NRSV). Think about the Lord’s Prayer when we pray, “your kingdom come, your will be done” (Matthew 6:10 NIV). It just so happens that most of us are really good at making sure that our will is done. How does that old Sinatra song go? “I did it my way.” Yes, we are good at singing such songs. But in Colossians 3, Paul teaches us that our lives are “hidden with Christ in God” and that Christ is our life (3:3-4). Paul is exhorting us in Colossians 3 to give our all to Christ and make Christ our all in all. Paul says:
Therefore, as God’s choice, holy and loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Be tolerant with each other and, if someone has a complaint against anyone, forgive each other. As the Lord forgave you, so also forgive each other. And over all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. The peace of Christ must control your hearts—a peace into which you were called in one body. And be thankful people. (Colossians 3:12-15)
Perhaps there are other questions that we could ask to discern whether we’ve made God our all in all. God, have I given you every part of my life at school or at work? Have I given you every part of my relationships with family and friends? Have I fully made God a part of my relationship with my spouse or significant other? What about kids? Have I made God my all in all in the ways that I parent my children? Have I given God every part of my financial life and my life of service? These are but a few of the questions that we can ask ourselves to help us answer the larger question of whether God has become our all in all or if God still only has parts and pieces of our lives. As we approach Christmas, my hope for you is that you both acknowledge and grow deeply in your need for God each and every day.
Rev. Justin Coleman