All In- those are two words the Lord highlighted to me almost two years ago and I have been thinking and praying on them ever since! When the Lord brought them to mind, He did so in the context of what it means to follow Him. Being a Christian isn’t just about praying a prayer and being baptized, it means so much more! The problem is that when the Church evangelizes or when Christians share the gospel with others we don’t really tell people that saying yes to Jesus as Lord and Savior is going to cost them. Instead, we let people believe that now their lives are going to be nice and happy. We should be giving people a disclaimer that says, “If you chose to put your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you need to understand that it may very well cost you everything!” But we don’t. Why? Well, I believe because most Christians don’t really know, understand or believe that themselves. Just look around at the Church. Do you see a Church that lives as though they believe following Jesus means costing us everything? I don’t. Is our relationship with Jesus costing us anything? Reputation? Loss of clients in business because we live the gospel out loud? Family or friends? It should be. The cross would be a heavy, 200 lbs. to be carrying on a daily bases, it would certainly make our lives stand out from everyone else, we would definitely be abnormal in today’s society. Living All In every day should be costing us something.

‘All’ means ALL (the whole amount, every individual) I have never looked up the definition for ‘in’ so I thought, let’s do it.There are a couple different definitions, but I want to focus on this one – on the inside; within. It makes so much sense! If you look at it in the context of following Jesus, we are suppose to be ALL IN, no half way, it’s all or nothing. How can I say that? I can say that because Jesus put out a simple call to those who would choose to follow Him, “Take up your cross and follow Me.” Those words ‘Take Up Your Cross’ those are words of being ALL in, there is NO half way. (Matt. 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:22). If we look at the definitions of All and In, Jesus calls the Believer to follow, to be “in” with Him that means our whole life, every area, every detail, each one of us. If we are not willing to be All In with Jesus as His followers, as His Church, then we most likely are not living as followers who have heard His call to “deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me.” Living ‘All In’ requires us to surrender our lives, our plans, our schedules, our comfort, maybe some relationships etc. for the sake of Jesus. The Church today has become about people who go to a place once or twice a week, sing songs, listen to a sermon, do some activities. We as followers of Jesus, we are the CHURCH – it’s time for us to start living it and it begins with taking up our crosses and being ALL IN. That’s it. StraightUp!

“The cross not only brings Christ’s life to an end, it also ends the first life, the old life, of every one of His true followers.”– A.W. Tozer