Being “All In”

We have a choice in life. Often the options are a range, not just two options. Americans, though, get stuck on the notion of just two options. There’s left and right, right and wrong, black and white, R and D, Cowboys fan or hater, etc.

If you don’t fall into one camp, then you automatically fit into the other camp. Except when you don’t. As someone who is registered Non-Partisan, I certainly don’t fit into the R and D camps. And you really can’t pigeon hole me into either one either. While I’m not very keen on one political party right now, that doesn’t automatically make me a part of the other party. Mostly because I don’t think much about this other party either.

And then there is the concept of being “all in.” I actually like this idea. Being all in means holding nothing back. It mean putting yourself fully into a camp. It means leaving no other options. Being all in is not a safe choice. Having no escape routes is not safe.

But the benefit to being all in is this — when you are all in, you don’t look back. You don’t spend time in uncertainty. You don’t have that luxury. You are all in, completely committed.

That doesn’t mean you have it all figured out though. Going all in is a act of faith often times. You go all in, in spite of having enough evidence to be 100% sure. You go all in because waiting any longer is just delay. It’s waiting for perfection to ensure you can be in control. Being all in is a recognition that you aren’t in control, and yet, you throw everything you’ve got in and go for it.

Jesus calls on us to be all in. Jesus doesn’t tell us we have to have all the answers. But he does call on us to pick up our cross (a type of going all in). If you are going to pick up a cross, then you better be all in. Jesus wants us to be all in, because he is all in. And he promises us we will not be alone.

Originally published at http://laceduplutheran.com on April 25, 2019.