Living In Borderland

Years ago I read an incredible book by Mark Buchanan called Your God Is Too Safe. The premise of the book is about living in a land called Borderland. It's right "on" the border, not in, yet not out. Non committal if you will. Safe and comfortable. A place where many of us reside daily. Do you only call on God when things are desperate, or you just need a favor. Stay out of my life Jesus, things are going just great right now. Don't make me go on that mission trip, or give up my 6 figure income, or new car or house. But hey, thanks for getting me that raise. My Jesus is safe at a distance, but if I bring Him too close, He might make me do something "umcomfortable." Is that you? Then you live there too. I can't imagine my kids only calling out to me in times of want or need, never stopping to say thank you, or I love you, or I'm sorry. But that is what we do. We get complacent when things are status quo, and forget about God. Before you realize it, you haven't read your bible in a week, maybe two or three. You haven't prayed either. You really haven't "needed" God. So we put him on a shelf like a bottle of aspirin and only bring him down when we have some tough times to get through, or we have a favor that maybe, just maybe if I pray "now" he just might answer me. I know he's still there...somewhere. That's really about how most of us live our lives if we want to admit it. I know I'm as guilty as anyone. I have my highs and lows, and still struggle to find that even flow. The world is full of distractions, suttle, and in your face. Sex is everywhere, anything is acceptable anymore (except the name of Jesus) and we live in a society where you can have whatever you want whenever you want. My prayer today is that we (I) will seek out Jesus and thank Him for the unseen things He does for us everyday. That we take Him off the shelf and put Him on our dashboards and present Him to the entire world as the living testament of our faith! He deserves so much better than what we give Him. I'm sorry Jesus for putting you on my shelf. Today you're riding shotgun!