All In

I borrowed a book from one of my kids earlier this summer called Not a Fan.  The title is a play on words based on the Facebook phenomena.  It's a good book and easy read.  The author has a way of setting you up with humor and then smacks you pretty good with a challenge and conviction.

In one section he referred to the Knights of Templar.  Apparently they were some type of Christian military group that existed during the Crusades during the Middle Ages.   As Christians, they would be baptized.  But as they went under water, they would not take their swords with them.  They would physically hold it out of the water.  They would not go All In. Essentially they were saying; "You can have control of me, but you can't have this.  Jesus, I'm all yours, but who I am on the battlefield, how I use this sword, that's not part of the deal."

Seems like sort of a counter intuitive action, doesn't it.  But don't we do similar things.  We may not physically hold some thing out of the water when we're baptized, but what other things do we hold back?  Our checking account?  Our job — and how we go about it?  Our habits or hobbies?

It's not to unlike the story of the Rich Young Ruler.  Here is a guy that did so much right, but he couldn't let go.  He could not go All In.

Now I know none of us can go All In.  It's just not possible.  There is only One who was All In and as you know, He took the penalty for our sins on a cross.  But that doesn't exempt us from seeking complete submersion in our faith.  It doesn't keep us from asking Him to make us closer to All In.  Even as I'm writing this (I'll often start an entry and leave it in "draft" mode for a day or two), God seems to be working on one of my "swords".  It's hard to go All In, because we're so tempted to think about ourselves first.

As you enjoy the summer months and you see water (a lake or pool), let it remind you about being All In when it comes to Jesus.