His Offer, Our Response (Taking Advantage of the Offer)

I hope you don’t read the title and choose to overlook this.  I want to open your eyes to God in a different way with an experience recently that took me by surprise.  To you, this may not seem like a big deal.  Yet, to me, as someone who has struggled with spiritual identity issues, this was something I needed to have happen.  God has very unique and creative ways of opening up our eyes and hearts to more of who He is for us.  I pray this does the same for you.

Recently my wife and I traveled to New York City for a fair trade show in Manhattan.  It provided us a great opportunity to find new vendors for our ministry while also spending really good quality time together.  In our free time, we walked up a few blocks to Time Square to take in the sights and a little shopping.  It was quite cold out, so on our way back to the hotel we decided to stop by a McDonald’s for a coffee.

The homeless community is ever present in NY.  Some were literally bundled up right on the sidewalk.  So it really wasn’t a surprise to walk into McDonald’s and see a homeless gentleman sitting at a table.  He was very thin, a little shaken and probably not quite as old as he appeared.  He wore a toboggan, sweat shirt, raggedy pants and had a pair of crutches close by his side.  He didn’t appear to give notice to the many people inside – nor did they seem to notice him.  But we noticed him and our hearts were stirred.

I walked over to the man and introduced myself.  He said his name was Tyrone.  He was a little difficult to understand, but I asked him if he had eaten anything that day.  He said he hadn’t.  I then asked him what he would like to eat.  What caught me by surprise was that he wasn’t shy about it at all; he knew exactly what he wanted.  I couldn’t understand what it was he wanted eat, so he got up, walked over to the counter and ordered for himself.  Without hesitation, he decided to add a hot apple pie to the order.  My initial response was, “The audacity of this guy!  He just goes up, orders what he wants and throws in an apple pie?  That’s pretty shameless!”  I was so struck by it, that I hadn’t even gotten up to go order for myself.  I was a little shocked by it.  But how quickly God changed my perspective and opened my heart.

You see, I didn’t ask Tyrone if he wanted something to eat and then put limitations on what it was he could order.  Nor did I say, “Tyrone, I’m going to get you something to eat.  But you have to keep it under a certain amount.  Stick to the Dollar Menu, please.”  I didn’t do that – I left the playing field, or in this case the menu, wide open for him.  The shock was from the fact that he was bold enough to go after what he actually wanted.  In my mind, a double cheeseburger and fries for $3 would have probably been enough to satisfy someone who hadn’t eaten.  But Tyrone had his sights set on a Quarter-Pounder w/ cheese combo with a Pepsi…..and throw in an apple pie, too.  He knew what he wanted and wasn’t afraid to go get it when it was offered to him.

Isn’t this just like us, though?  God offers us so much through the sacrifice of Jesus, yet we believe we are only deserving of a small portion. So we constantly live in a lie – one that tells us that we can only have so much.  “Order off of the Dollar Menu, please.”  What a travesty it is to be convinced of such a lie!  When we get to Heaven and participate in His Bridal Supper, He is not going to limit what we can have.  No…He is going to allow us to have from the buffet all that we desire.  Through this relationship – which is the most crucial part of this, He literally opens up the heavens and says, “What is Mine is now yours.  What I did for, in & through My Son, I will do for you as well”  He died so that we could live in abundance (one of the multitude of reasons) and have a relationship with the Father who has offered to give us the desires of our hearts.  How foolish of us to believe that we could only have such a small portion of what He died for us to have.

I have personally lived in this lie for a long time.  But I am finally becoming more and more convinced of the freedom offered in this area.  It’s not having a mindset that I can have anything and everything I want, because not all of it is beneficial to me.  But what it is is allowing me to have ALL that He has offered you and I.  He is essentially saying, “Here, I give all of this to you.  Take of it as you wish.  Seriously.”   God told Joshua, “As I was with Moses, so will I be with you.”  Essentially, there’s nothing that God did for Moses that He wasn’t also willing to do for Joshua.  Then Joshua takes this promise and leads God’s people into the promise He had for them.  So who are we to believe that we are serving a different God than the One they served?

I’m tired of believing I can only have so much when He died so that I could have all that He offers.  I want to be like Tyrone.  If you offer to buy me something to eat without limitations, I’m getting what I want without shame.  It’s not taking advantage as much as it is taking what is being offered so freely.  So go ahead, get combo meal – I dare you.  And while you’re at it, throw in an apple pie as well.  He’s got it covered.