Why Not

 Do you give your best? Do you try your hardest? Do you offer Jesus your best devotion? Do you serve Jesus with reckless abandon? Do you worship Jesus with all your soul? Do you offer Him your absolute best all the time? Those are sobering questions. Meant to jolt the mind out of our religious doldrums. 

We are busy people. Life spins on the fast cycle. We are rushed, hurried, and frazzled much of the time. Some have too much on their plate. They do not do any of it well. Especially service for Jesus. 

It is easy to hold out. To pull back offering less than our very best. It is tempting to do good but not our best. I can honestly say I have not given Jesus my best. I know I am capable of so much more. To write more, read more, study more, witness more, shepherd more, and pray more. I can try to make excuses. None of them hold water. They are empty. 

Do I give Jesus my best? Do you give Jesus your best? Those are tough questions. They are not the toughest this day. The toughest question is why not? Why not offer Jesus our best? 

The hideousness of our sin is often forgotten amid the comfort of our lives. We forget our sins sent Jesus to a cruel cross. A blood red cross. An agonizing cross of torture and excruciating pain. We forget our depravity. The depths of our hostility toward God before getting saved. We forget that when we needed a Savior, Jesus gave His very best. He gave us His all. His very life. 

I cannot answer the reason I do not give Jesus my best. I want to. I even intend to. I get lazy. I make excuses. I procrastinate. I choose comfort and ease more than service to my King. Two quotes are haunting me today. One has come up repeatedly over the past two days. In sermons. In books. It hangs in my office and I have not even looked at it in weeks. Missionary C.T. Studd said, "Only one life t'will soon be past, only what is done for Christ will last." That statement bites into my soul like a pit bulldog. The other statement made by Henry Varley is, "The world has yet to see what God can do in, for, and through a man wholly yield to Him." D.L. Moody heart that statement and took it to heart. He determined to be that man. I recall times in the past when I did the same. Somewhere I lost my way in a maze of responsibilities. I grew weary and offered half hearted devotion preferring an easier path than offering my absolute best. That is what Jesus demands. All of us. Our whole lives yielded to Him. Our lives on His altar. That is ultimate worship and service. Our very lives are our best offering. 

I'm 56 at the time of this writing. My days are numbered. As a young man I always thought I had more time. I could put off things needed to be done today until tomorrow. The thought surfaces that I am not sure how many tomorrows I have left. I would be utterly ashamed if I died suddenly and the body of work I sent ahead of me was not my best. I must amend my ways while there is still time. 

There are no more excuses. We all are mandated to give our best to Jesus. Our best financial offerings. Our best worship. Our best love. Our best effort. Our best service, our best devotion, our best sacrifice, and our best use of time. 

Why not give Him our best? He deserves it. We will be rewarded for it. Why not quit making excuses? Why not turn the television off and open our Bibles? Why not get up a littler earlier or stay up a little later to pray? Why not choose to worship fully like we never have before seeking to pour out the sincerest praise from our hearts? Why not open our shut lips to give gospel witness for Jesus? Why not trade our lackluster lukewarm living for fiery passionate zeal for Him? Why not? He deserves it.