"Reckless Abandonment"

(Special thanks to Pastor Benji, who spoke with me after the second service and who used the term "reckless abandonment" during our conversation.)

We seem to have this tendency to try and mask our responses when other people are in the room. We get concerned about how we look, or how we sound, or perhaps we get concerned about our reputation.

But when the Spirit of God is present, and when we are submitted to Him, we sometimes experience things that we really can't mask. As Pastor Benji shared with me after the service, our "reckless abandonment" to God causes us to walk with Him, with a measure of obedience that looks ridiculous to those who have not fully surrendered to Him.

We can't mask passion. And, as we said yesterday, passion is not evidenced by how well you sing during "praise and worship". It's evidenced by extravagance in how you give to God and obedience in how you live.

We can't mask tears. As Pastor Sam said during the first service, some of our responses to God are "not for prime time". So occasionally we get to see things like Pastor Sam crying, and that's okay... in fact, we should be praising God that we have a set of pastors who embrace true worship without concern for what people might think.

We can't mask cries. There are occasions when God speaks a profound word and you know that His Spirit is speaking to you, and you know the cost of the offering, and you know you have to say yes to Him. And in the midst of the experience it's not odd that, like the alabaster jar that had to be broken, we submit to the Spirit as He breaks the hard shell that kept us from being completely submitted to Christ. And, in that act of submission, we cry out.

Interestingly, modern dictionaries equate extravagance with wastefulness, excessive expenditure, and going beyond reasonable or proper limits.
Yes, God, that's exactly how I want to be with You.