We’ve talked a lot about discipleship, and taking up our cross, giving up our rights, etc., which essentially leads to having no rights.
This is an impossible task to attain to for anyone who has not come to terms with the fact that Jesus Christ purchased 100% of us with His own blood.
Are you a time-share Christian?
Think about it. Do you offer your life as a time-share for Jesus to purchase at certain times? Do you only allow Him to stay for free when times are tough, like resorts offer great prices during off season? He is not into time-shares—His offer is ALL or nothing! You cannot have a foot in heaven and a foot in the world!
But it’s hard. NO! It’s impossible!
It’s not hard to be a Bond Servant, it is impossible, without having chosen such a thing; and choosing such a thing comes at whatever the cost, meaning, it’s easy to give up our rights when we categorize “rights” as things less desirable. But to give up our rights 100%, it will take the true encounter with God and the realization that He is so Holy that you realize you’re total and indisputable inadequacies before God, and you become undone, like Isaiah! And you realize that there is nothing that can make you whole again, except for the grace of God. When you get there, you can call yourself a bond servant of Christ!
But hold on, don’t you dare get all "givey-uppy" on me—if you aren’t there yet, so be it. If you aren’t there yet, and you know it, you’re in a better place than many borderline pharisees who never bother to think twice about their situation. If you are thinking twice, or thrice, or so forth, then the Lord will do a work in your life that will blow your mind, if you truly want His will! You wait and see. No really. . . I mean, wait, wait, and then wait for HIM to do the work, and you will see it come to pass! “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD” (Psalm 27:14).
What do I do once I’m there?
Here’s the big mistake: We get there, to that place where you bow your life before the Almighty God, and we, like Peter, James, and John before the Transfiguration, come to realize it’s the best, most amazing place to be—in His presence; in His arms; covered and consumed by His overwhelming, yet so gentle majesty and terrible awesomeness. Then somehow, we forget about it; we let it slip away from us; and we find ourselves getting dry again and again, or we go back to our old ways of life, like Peter and the rest (“I go a fishing...”). Sometimes that’s because He never intended to save us in order to give us one grand experience with God and then go off and live our life without Him for any period of time.
This is where it is imperative to learn how to make time with God. It is not a matter of giving him a little bit of your time but begging and beseeching the Holy One to give you just a moment’s worth of His time. The beautiful thing is, He is willing and able to give you endless and infinite amounts of time. But not just time, but endless depths of the riches of the knowledge of His holiness! It’s up to you though. Will you stop your all-important daily pursuits and let Him fill you? Or will you ride the rollercoaster of repentance?
What do you want to gain?
When you no longer want gain from this world or your life, and you want only His increase, then you can call yourself a bond-servant of Jesus Christ!