Father, May I? – Moonwalk – May 12

Father, May I Walk?
May 12, 2021

Moonwalk

Amos 3:3, ‘Do two people walk hand in hand if they aren’t going to the same place?’ (MSG)

It is unrealistic to think I will end up at the same place with someone who believes differently than I do. Isn’t it true that we are going in opposite directions? I recall how invasive the conversation used to become discussing with my folks whether someone I dated was a believer. Now I am a parent and a grandparent, an aunt, a friend. The same question roils around in my stomach ‘til it almost makes me feel faint, because I recall how painful and disastrous not sharing the same beliefs about God became. Being ‘unequally yolked’ is ‘no yolk’.

1 Kings 18:21 says, ‘Elijah went before the people and said, “How long must you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him, but if Baal is god, follow him.” But the people said nothing.’ (NIV)

Perhaps, like me, you thought you would eventually sway that person to believe like you. Maybe you decide inside—as you’re falling in love, as gooshy things fill you, the smattering of love-bombs as they explode over you, as you try to tame the butterflies smothering your reasoning abilities—that it won’t matter in the long run. Certainly, he’ll change his mind someday, or better yet, he will fall so madly in love with you and become so enamored by the God you love, he will surely walk your way. But, unfortunately, often—not always—but typically, it does not happen like that. Unfortunately, we usually go their way instead of bringing someone along our way. We want to be accepted and be cool—what would he say if?…what if he thinks I am boring, a Jesus-freak?…feelings get too deep to rock a reeling raft; or simply, the enemy happens, and we become numb to what was once important because this relationship built on the world’s foundation instead of God’s is so necessary, we will do anything to sustain it.

Maybe even he said, ‘Yeah, sure; I believe there is a God.’ Be warned; even the demons believe there’s a God…and they tremble! Believing God exists and even believing in God, and walking with Him moment by moment, have vast differences and connotations…and expectations. If He is your everything than he cannot be your everything. I learned that the hard way. Whatever we put up on those pedestals will be what we worship, what we are beholden to, and what we will do anything for to keep intact.

God is a jealous God, and He wants all of you. He deserves all of you; after all, He paid an astronomical price to purchase you. And your ‘other’ may be a jealous lover and want all of you too. Either way, neither of your ‘gods’ will allow you to straddle a fence or play ‘peek-a-boo’. You will have to choose someday; there is no other way around it. It is a game that usually ends with a winner and a loser, and you really don’t want that loser to be you by choosing the wrong lover of your soul. I can assure you, it is such a blessing to love the same God as the person I am in love with, to worship the same Lord, to share the same values, desires and lifelong goals, and what is even more magical, is to know He loves the Lord more than he loves me, and for me to love Jesus more than I love him, and for both of us to be okay with that arrangement. Then you can walk hand in hand and you will end up at the same goalpost; it didn’t take faltering steps or differing opinions to force you there; and, you arrived right on time with the one you love, to worship the One you both love.

I want to know the Father’s opinion about everything!
Won’t you JOURNEY with me this month as we ask our Father, ‘MAY I?’’