By default..

I love it when there are one or two lines from a sermon or Bible Study that just won't leave you alone.

Brian asked the questions"What are you an expert in besides the Bible?" and "What would your friends say that you love most?".

When it comes to the first question, I don't think I would actually call myself an expert in ANYTHING. Maybe I'm an expert talker? An expert laugher? I can't exactly put that on a resume. 

But an expert in the Bible? I think that'd be a pretty awesome title to be able to give yourself. Granted, by default, I assume that in order to be an "expert" in the Bible (or anything), you probably have a few diplomas on the wall and a couple of letters after your name proving your expertise. I don't have any extra letters after my name (however, my last name has 12 letters, so I could probably stand to remove some of them and add them afterwards - maybe I'll fool everybody!), so I'm not at any official experience level.. But I like to think I've got a little bit of knowledge under my belt, and I'm always game to learn more. So while I'm not an expert in the Bible, I tend to hunger after learning more in that area of my life than in, say, computers or cooking.. If that makes sense. So my expert-ness (official word, there) is ever growing.. Hopefully exponentially, especially in comparison to other skills and areas of my life.

The second question though.. In complete honesty.. It made me nervous.

What would my friends say? I sat there thinking "Well, I think some of them would say something faith related.. But maybe some of my friends would say that my friends are what I love the most. My job. My random adventures. Disneyland. And it might depend on what my mood was like the last time I was with them. I might have been venting, so that wasn't necessarily very God-love-affirming.. I might have proclaimed my love for Chipotle during dinner.. Oh man, I hope they wouldn't answer with THAT..". 

So to solve that problem, I thought "Okay, make sure to have some sort of a God-related conversation with everyone you come into contact with at least once over the next week, because you want them to know that HE is what you love, just in case they've forgotten".. You know, because that would be pleasing to God - have conversations about Him with an ulterior motive of making yourself look better!

And then I started thinking "What would I say my friends love? Do they all love God? I know these friends would want me to answer the question for them as God, but is it true? Would I be saying that because I know they want me to, or because I really think that's their strongest love? And what about my non-believing friends? What DO they love most? Their boyfriends? Their family? Their car, their job? Clothing?"

My pulse was rushing. My head was reeling. (My face is flushing. What is this feeling? Fervent as a flame... Wicked, anyone? :-P)

Honestly though, my mind was going a million miles a minute trying to figure out what the answer to that question would be.

It was hard. Because even as I was thinking about what my friends would say I love the most.. I started thinking "What would I say I love the most?". I know what the answer should be. What the answer NEEDS to be. But, if I'm completely honest, there are times when other things take priority. There are times when my love for Christ is still there, but things like my love for socializing or relaxing take on a higher priority.

It was either John Piper or CJ Mahaney that made the statement that God shouldn't be "riding in the trunk of your car, waiting for you to need Him like you need a spare tire.. He should be riding with you, IN THE CAR, the whole time." I'd even go as far as to say that He should be driving, not just riding shotgun (Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take the Wheel" comes to mind..).

He shouldn't ever be "just there".. He should be THERE. My response should come as a default reaction - not because I respond that way out of habit, or obligation, but because by default, it's true.

We always joke at church that "Jesus" is the answer to EVERYTHING (and, as discussed today, whenever you're asked "where in the Bible does it say.. *fill in the blank*", if you answer with "Romans", you're probably right). 

Jesus needs to be my answer to that question. Not because it's expected, not because it's what we want to hear.. But because it's true.

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