All In?

by Susan Sampson

So are you all in?  There’s not really any confusion behind the word “all” is there?  All means all.  It doesn’t mean half-way or part way or 99% of the way.  It is 100% total commitment.  It is absolute abandon.  Full surrender.  I know my heart is not all in.  I know there remain walls of self-protection that I continue to cling to.  If I go all in then I will no longer be in control.  It is ironic isn’t it?  Because the truth is that we are not in control.  We are not sovereign.  Only the One true Living God is the Sovereign Lord.  He is in total control at all times.  It is pride, idolatry, unbelief, and fear that cause me to want to be in control.  We must confess and repent.  Our only hope is Christ alone.  Do we believe this?

In order to cleave we must leave.  In order to become one flesh with our husband, we must put our old girl to death.  We must confess our sins and turn in repentance receiving the forgiveness of Christ and walking forward by faith in the grace that is ours in Christ.  This is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit.  The visual example Laurie used was so powerful.  The two hard stones clanging together that cannot mix, cannot become one.  It was the soft and pliable Playdough that was able to become a new entity.  It is truly amazing what our Lord has done for us.  A miracle of new life.  “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).  Do we believe?

Jesus was all about “all.”  He didn’t meet us half way.  He didn’t hold back a portion of His heart.  He didn’t protect His rights.  He walked all the way to Calvary.  Jesus, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:6-8). He gave us His all.  His very life.  He died so we could live.  This was not something we deserved.  We deserve death, not life.  In Christ, we have been shown great mercy.  Amazing grace.  Do we believe this?  Do we really believe the gospel?

Therefore, our goal is the gospel.  Our goal is to die to self that others might live.  We are to forsake all to follow Christ.  While we were still sinners Christ died for us.  He loves us unconditionally, right where we are.  He loves our husbands the same.  It is so easy for me to notice what my husband does wrong and be completely blind to my own sin.  We must take our eyes off our husband’s sins and look to Christ alone.  Because of the gospel, we can extend the same mercy and grace we have been given in Christ to our husbands.  We can forgive as we have been forgiven.  We can love as we have been loved – freely, lavishly, extravagantly, tenderly, compassionately.  Will we choose by faith to believe?

May the Lord help us all to believe and receive the love the Lord has lavished on us in Christ.  Let us ask the Lord to help us become one flesh with our husbands.  Let us put to death our self-centeredness; fear; unbelief; greed; covetousness; ingratitude; impatience; sense of entitlement; pride and critical spirit.

Lord, please help us leave everything and cleave to Christ.  Help us lay down our very lives and fully surrender our hearts to you.  Apart from you we are unable.  Please help us submit to our husbands as unto the Lord.  You are our Covenant Lord.  May we remember the example of Jonathan and David and love our husbands as our very own soul.  May we remember the example of our Savior and humbly follow Him, living out the gospel in our marriages for the glory of God.  Let us believe by faith and humbly submit to your Word and to our husbands, truly becoming the helpmates we were created to be!

Let us not grow weary in doing good.  Let’s be “all in.”