He wants your “But”

“I’ll give you everything, but….”

Have you ever said that??

It is not the “but” that is the bad thing…

It may not even be what the but is standing in front of,….

it is the “but” that stands between you and total surrender.

A  few years ago I was pretty addicted to Diet Coke.  I even did a fast for 21 days only drinking water and Diet Coke.  I had told God, foolishly, “I will give You food, but I am not going to give You my Diet Coke.”  Call it an idol, call it a drug, call it unhealthy, call it dumb.

On March 7, 2006, at 2:00 in the afternoon, I heard His voice, “Do you love me more than Diet Coke?”  I was at work sitting at my computer.

I cried.  “What?!!!!  Of course, I do, Jesus!” with real tears streaming down my face.

Then He said, “Then give it to Me.”

My last Diet Coke had been the night before and it had been a little flat.  My taste could not even be the memory of its cold, fizzy chemical-laden, caffeine-filled delight but of a nasty glass.

However, that sunny afternoon, I surrendered.

For the health of my body, I surrendered a worldly pleasure.

For the sake of my heart, I chose to love Jesus more.

 

I would have never dreamed that Diet Coke was a hindrance in my quest for WholeHearted Love for Jesus.  Perhaps Diet Coke wasn’t the evil on the other side of the “but,” it was my unregenerated piece of my soul that was the issue.