Umm... It's Alright

"Umm... it's alright." 

 

In Sense and Sensibility, Marianne cries out in similar frustration to her mother, "To hear those beautiful lines, which have frequently almost driven me wild, pronounced with such impenetrable calmness—such dreadful indifference!"

 

Marianne strikes upon something we have all felt. When a thing we love is not treated with the whole-hearted, passionate adoration we believe it deserves—something within us rebels. We are indignant when a praiseworthy object is left unpraised. Adore it or loathe it, but do not simply tolerate it!

And yet, how often do we apply this very same principle to our personal relationship with God? Realistically, it is of no consequence if someone fails to produce what we deem is the "proper response" to our earthly affections. What should we care if a friend gives a favorite movie only three stars? It's small beans. On the other hand, our opinion of God is an unbendable issue. He's the only One worthy of total devotion. But with a nod of acknowledgement, to many are saying, "Umm…God, You're alright"; as if He were a choice dessert. We wade in apathy where we should rightly dance with zeal.

Unlike us, missionary-martyr Jim Elliot cried to God for passion:

 

"God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. God, deliver me from the dread asbestos of 'other things.' Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be aflame. Make me thy fuel, Flame of God."

 

Nothing lukewarm there… can we really say that our love is such a consuming fervor that nothing else matters? Sam Storms put it well, when he wrote in his book One Thing: Developing a Passion for the Beauty of God,

 

"Apathy is impossible in the presence of the Son of God. Ineffable beauty compels a response: either passionate devotion or hatred. Middle-of-the-road,straddle-the-fence, you-do-your-thing-and-I'll-do-mine indifference dies when Jesus draws near. Love Him or despise Him, but abandon the myth that He can be tolerated. Sing for joy or spit in His face. Apathy simply isn't an option."

 

 

Passionate devotion or hatred—there is no room for a response less than the extreme. Christ wants all of ourselves: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30). Not part of the time. Not mildly or insipidly. Just as Christ gave us His everything, our everything is demanded in return. It's radical, fanatic, obsessive, and unreserved. It's a love that shouts from rooftops, to the God who is never merely just alright.