Have you ever been out at a restaurant and none of the set meals on the menu seemed appealing to you? Maybe you wanted the entree but with different sides, or maybe you only wanted the meat, or perhaps you only wanted the sides. Did you just order A la Carte? I don’t eat meat, so when I am dining out, if the establishment doesn’t offer a vegetable plate, I usually find myself ordering A la Carte, thus creating my own meal consisting of only the things I like.
Recently, I was conversing with a close friend and we discussed how, as Believers, we don’t want all of God, only certain parts. I said, “We want God A la Carte.” Think about it: We want His Goodness, Kindness, Mercy, Grace, Blessings, and Favor; but we want no parts of His Correction, Rebuke, Conviction, Redirection, or HIS Will for our lives. We want to pick and choose the parts of God that we want, but God is an “All or Nothing,” God. Either we are “All In,” or we are “All Out.” Scripture says it like this:
I know your deeds, that you are neither cold (invigorating, refreshing) nor hot (healing, therapeutic); I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm (spiritually useless), and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth [rejecting you with disgust]. Because you say, “I am rich, and have prospered and grown wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked [without hope and in great need], I counsel you to buy from Me gold that has been heated red hot and refined by fire so that you may become truly rich; and white clothes [representing righteousness] to clothe yourself so that the shame of your nakedness will not be seen; and healing salve to put on your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I rebuke and discipline [showing them their faults and instructing them]; so be enthusiastic and repent [change your inner self, your old way of thinking, your sinful behavior, seek God’s will]. Revelation 3:15-19 AMP
One thing we must understand is that we also need those parts of God that we don’t like (especially those). Remember how your mother used to make you eat your vegetables and you hated it? Maybe she threatened you with not getting dessert, or she made you sit at the table until you had eaten all of your food. Now (hopefully), you eat your vegetables because, even though they may not be your favorite, you know they are good for you. Likewise, God gives us what we need (even when we don’t want/like it), but if we digest it, then comes “Dessert,” all the Blessings that He promises will come on us and overtake us.
So, That Settles It. Let’s learn to embrace and accept ALL of God. Remember He does not offer an A la Carte menu, neither is He an All You Can Eat Buffet (where we overindulge in the things we like and skip over the things we dislike). Because He gives us Free Will, He allows us a “Create Your Own” option, but we must still choose wisely…
“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them” (Deuteronomy 30:15-20 ESV).