Martha Olawale

“Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me,
 for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” Psalm 25:4-5

I’ve asked other people to meet me in the middle many times. It’s just a civil way of finding a common ground by reaching a compromise to gain something. When negotiating, people often ask to meet in the middle because no one wants to be on the losing end of a deal. Although a win-win situation is not always ideal or the best business deal, people prefer that because while you can lose some, you don’t want someone else to win all, at your expense.

The rich man in Matthew 10, thought he could negotiate eternity with Jesus. He approached Christ as he approached his worldly deals. He wanted some form of compromise, give some and lose some. But the Bible said, “Jesus felt genuine love for him.” Matthew 10:21a. Jesus loved him already, yet he missed what he came looking for because he was not willing to surrender all to follow Christ. If Jesus has asked for some of his wealth to be given away, he would have left feeling great because he’ll still be able to keep some while losing some.

There are no compromises to following God. You either follow Him or you don’t. You don’t get to hold on to the things that separate you from walking in righteousness and expect God to meet you in the middle. Although He’s willing to walk you through the process no matter how long it takes, you must be willing to let it all go.

The Bible said the rich man’s face fell and he went away, sad. With all the possessions he had, he left dejected because he refused the offer of eternity from Christ. Christ didn’t stop loving the rich man but, he chose not to surrender to Christ.

Thriving human relationships are built on compromise, but the God-man relationship is built on absolute surrender. It starts when we accept that we can’t do anything without God and lay everything down in surrender. God does not meet anyone in the middle, He comes all the way to where we are to walk us out of our sinful nature and only asks for our willingness to follow Him.  He doesn’t put a demand of getting clean on us. He waits for us to accept His will, and He’ll do the dirty work for us. He is gracious and merciful, and His love endures forever.

Read: Fully and totally loved.