The story is told of a young actor who was trying to impress an important movie director. The actor wanted to send an expensive gift, but he just didn’t have the money. But he had an idea. If he could find a valuable vase which was already broken and get it at a very small cost, then he could mail it to the director. He would think it had gotten broken in the mail and would be most impressed anyway.

So this actor went to an exclusive store and found a vase that had been broken into many pieces. It was just going to be thrown out, so he was able to get it at a very small cost. He told them to wrap it up and send it and gave them the address. He waited to hear from the director, but heard nothing for several days. Finally he sent a telegram: “Did vase arrive?” Shortly he received this response: “Vase arrived. But why was each piece wrapped separately?”

I’m afraid that’s the way life is for a lot of people. They have their lives divided up into pieces — there’s a piece wrapped up for family, a piece wrapped up for recreation, a piece wrapped up for work, another for friends. And then, somewhere, there’s a tiny little piece wrapped up for God. We’ll give God a couple of hours a week and “go to church.” We’ll wrap up a tenth of our income and give it to God in the collection plate. God’s part of our lives is very carefully kept wrapped up and separate from all the other parts of our lives.

God responds by saying, “I don’t want a piece of your life. I want it all. All that you are, all that you have, I want it to be given to me, to be used for my glory.”

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30)

Is God getting a small piece of your life, or is He getting it all?

Alan Smith alansmith.servant@gmail.com