Life on this earth is pretty appealing. Between yoga pants, delicious coffee, shopping with my mom, playing catch in the backyard, listening to good ‘ol rock n’roll to laughing, dancing and just being plain silly, there is a lot to fall in love with here on earth. Not to mention the people. Good people. Godly people who are just easy to love – even when they challenge us to be better.

Right now, we are on the journey of a lifetime. Marshall and I are relocating our family to Florida. We decided to take an adventure together, to spend more time outside and soaking in the vitamin D supplied by the beautiful east coast sun. Again, there is much to fall in love with about beach life.

On our recent house hunting adventure I started listening to Beth Moore’s book, Chasing Vines. The book attracted me because of the subtitle. “Find Your Way to an Immensely Fruitful Life”. Yes! Of course I want a fruitful life, and with the risk of sounding greedy, I want an immensely fruitful life, if that is what God has available for me. In fact, I want everything that God has for me, not a gram less.

Sitting on the plane I began listening. I looked out the small window over the clouds the sun was setting. The color of the sky was majestic pinks, purple and reds. Breathtaking. As I looked out the window taking in the sights and sounds around me, Beth asked a question that caused me to shift my gaze and my tush. Her question made me somewhat uncomfortable.

“Do you have GUTS enough to choose what matters MOST now?”

Being a lifelong church girl I know what matters most. I know that a relationship with Jesus is the only thing that will last from now to eternity. A relationship with Jesus, accepting Him as the Lord of my life, and surrendering to his plan for me, that is what matters most.

The question didn’t make me uncomfortable because I didn’t know what mattered most. It made me uncomfortable because there was nowhere for me to hide, no way from me to get around the question. In fact, it is a question that we all have to answer. It is a question that one day, somehow, somewhere we will all be held accountable to answer.

Do you have the GUTS to choose Jesus? Do you have the guts to prioritize him over everything and everyone else? Do you have the guts to surrender when the world tells you to do what makes you feel good, and do it now. Do you have the guts to choose a surrendered, “I am second”  life when the world tells you this life is ALL about YOU!

I had to pause the audiobook for fear I would get too far behind as my mind and heart stirred with sincerity. Am I really all in? Am I all in for Jesus, no matter what it costs me? Do I have the guts to love & love counter-culturally. Do I have the guts to choose Jesus, even when his path and plan hurt, even when his path and plan hurt, even when I don’t understand? Do I have the guts to proclaim his truth when it costs me friendships, family, comfort and position?

I began to pray, there on the airplane, from the middle seat between two others who were watching SharkTank and listening to a melancholy 90’s music playlist. 

“God I confess that so often I want the fruit that comes with abiding with you without the commitment to abiding. I want to go my own way, and expect you to bless it. Father, forgive me for not having the guts to say yes to you fully and completely. Forgive me when I want the fruit without the process. Help me to have the guts to be all in with you, everyday.

After my prayer this verse came to mind, “What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God.” (Acts 20:24)

I already knew what mattered most, as I said. That was not what made Beth’s question for me uncomfortable. It was re-committing to the choice I had made over three years ago to be all in. It was making the choice to commit to God. Wholehearted. Unashamed. Choose him over everything. Choosing God is a risk. But He is a risk with a sure reward.

Tears filled my eyes as I sat on that northwest bound Boeing aircraft headed for St. Louis. Then I realized, the question didn’t make me squirm in my seat because it was a choice I still needed to make. It was a choice I already had made. I have chosen to live gutsy for the sake of the kingdom. I have chosen to follow God when it didn’t make sense and was not what others expected of from me. I choose him, first, everyday.

And though I long to see the fruit the subtitled spoke of that enticed me to check out this audiobook, it is really not the fruit that is the point. Fruit is great to see, taste & experience. But it is choosing God, pursuing him with a heart life David, because that is what matters most.

As we begin to head back into “normal” life after the season of quarantine I wonder what choices we will make. Will we continue to choose God? Will we continue to make him the priority he so deserves to be? Will we have the guts to say no to the things that make us comfortable and say yes to whatever it is he is asking us to step into?

I leave you today with the same question that stopped me in my sky-tracks. “Do you have the guts to choose what matters most?” Do you have the guts to choose it now instead of at the end of your life, looking back and saying, “I wish I would have made God more of a priority.” Will you choose to live gusty for His glory?

Do you want to, as Paul proclaimed in Acts, “finish what God started” and join with him in sharing the good news of the saving power of the Gospel. To share the power to save, break chains, heal hearts, minds and bodies, to live free, to live eternally with the King of Kings. That is indeed what matters most.

Looking to grow in obedience? Check out my other blog posts under the category, Obedience.

Resource Share: Chasing Vines by Beth Moore