Are you ok with status quo?

“This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.”

This is Gollum’s riddle he proffered to Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. If he answers incorrectly, he will lose his life. Bilbo, by dumb luck, asks for more time, but could only muster the word “Time! Time!” To His good fortune, this was the answer.

Time is a mysterious thing! Does it not seem like we just celebrated the New Year beginning and now we are already more then three weeks into it? Time is elusive. If you are like me, just when you think you have caught up to it, it flies away again.

In these past few weeks many people have made New Year resolutions. Some are still on track, others have already given up. We look to the future hoping to grow, to mature, to heal. We know where we have failed and hope to finally have successes. The problem comes when we realize that we are ok with the status quo. We are used to it. It is normal. It is comforting.

Every year you know what you want. You know how you can get it. The problem is that getting it is harder then you could imagine. The ideal is far different from the experience. “I want to lose 25 lbs.” or “I want to pay off my debt!” Yet you don’t want to give up the donut, or stop spending money. You may want it but you are not willing to count the cost, preserve and achieve it.

Sadly this is typically the case in our spiritual lives as well. We envision, dream and pray for an intimate walk with Jesus. The problem is we wake up to “real life.” We have so many things vying for our attention and the Bible is often pushed aside. We would rather miss church then the miss the game. We really want to be a part of a Bible study, but we can’t seem to find the time between piano recitals, soccer games, work, etc.

The truth is you will never get what do not have if you are not willing to do things you have never done. You will never have the intimate walk with Christ you desire if you are not willing to sacrifice time and effort to get there.

Thankful Jesus was willing to sacrifice everything so that we may have hope in Him. In Philippians 2 we see that Jesus gave up his position, his palace and his power. He voluntarily laid aside His heavenly attributes to live life as a normal human, yet He was far from normal! He gave us a pattern to follow, how to live life to the fullest. He demonstrated this in his prayer life, in his life of service and his sacrifice.

My prayer for you is that 2013 will be a year when you pray, serve and sacrifice more to be more like Jesus. That you will love Jesus with all your heart, care for others around you and communicate the Gospel to all the world. That is a picture of a life that does not settle for the status quo!