I was thinking about a phrase my mom used to say all the time when she was my youth leader: “Lay your all on the altar.”
There’s a quote from John Eldredge that ties into this. He says, “The soul was never meant to inhabit a world like this. It’s way too much. You’ve just got to release it into the hands of Jesus.”
So, today, let's talk about giving everything to God.
As I mentioned earlier, my mom used to remind us in Sunday school to “lay your all on the altar.” I was reflecting on why this phrase was so significant to her. When I was a teenager, I would just listen and move past what she was saying… sorry, Mom. But as I thought about it, I considered why altars were built in the Bible and what they represented.
Altars were places of worship and sacrifice—worshiping the Lord and thanking Him for all His provision, and sacrificing animals to cover sins.
1 Peter 5:7 says, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”
So, the phrase “lay your all on the altar” seems to encompass both worship and surrender. We worship the Lord and simultaneously give Him all of who we are.
It can be hard for us to admit when we’re struggling. We want to handle everything on our own and feel proud of making it through.
There have been times when I knew I should have given something to the Lord, but I kept holding on, thinking I could handle it myself. Well, I shouldn’t have thought that way. My version of handling it wasn’t going well and actually made things worse.
It wasn’t until I couldn’t take it anymore that I finally said, "OK, Lord, you can have it now." Once I handed it over, there was a massive release of the burden. Why didn’t I do that sooner? I thought my way was better, but in hindsight, it clearly wasn’t.
Psalm 67:2 says, “May your ways be known throughout the earth, your saving power among people everywhere.”
If we, as Christ followers, know about His ways, why do we hold tight to our own? We need to be willing to let God have everything so we can walk this earth showing others the power of Jesus in our lives.
Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”
We’re talking about giving everything to God. The Bible clearly tells us to seek the Kingdom of God above all, but in our stubbornness, we often seek answers and solutions from other things and people.
God is the only one who can truly give us what our hearts and souls need, so it should be natural for us to go to the only One who can fulfill that need.
Let’s practice every day giving all of who we are, laying everything on the altar, and what we have to the Lord.
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