How Far Are We Willing to Go for God?

How important is God to us? Are we willing to do whatever it takes to follow God’s way?

We often ask ourselves questions as we learn more about God’s way. Questions like, “Is what I’m doing a sin?” “Should I watch who I hang out with at school?” “Would God approve of what I am doing?”

However, there is an equally important—if not more important—question we have to ask ourselves: How far are we willing to go for God?

How important is God to us?

We live in an age that goes tiny distances for God. Some only go as far as church every week, and others don’t even do that. Many people today worry more about what is physical than what is spiritual. They are concerned more with what their friends think of them than what God thinks.

Now I am sure that we all are willing to do some things for God. A couple examples are going to church every week and leaving school to attend services on God’s holy days, even when we know there’ll be a large amount of homework waiting for us after the Feast of Tabernacles. However, are we willing to go further?

A faithful man

To me, two people in particular showed that they were willing to go the distance for God. The first is Abraham, called the father of the faithful (Romans 4:9-11).

For many years Abraham didn’t have a son. But God promised Abraham that He would give him a son. God eventually fulfilled His promise when Isaac was born.

But God wanted to see if Abraham was willing to go the distance for Him.

God told Abraham to give Isaac, his only son through his wife Sarah, as a burnt offering. Abraham didn’t even waste any time and set out the next morning for the place where God had told him to sacrifice Isaac.

When he reached that point, Abraham bound his son on the altar. As he took the knife to kill his son, an angel came to Abraham and told him to stop.

Why?

Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his own son showed that he considered God to be more important than Isaac (Genesis 22:1-12).

A man who had it rough

The apostle Paul also went the distance for God.

Paul actually started out persecuting people who were obeying God. After Christ appeared to him in a vision, Paul changed his ways and went about spreading God’s truth.

During Paul’s travels, he became hated and persecuted by his own people, but still he continued on. In his second letter to Corinth he described some of the ways that he had been persecuted:

“From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness” (2 Corinthians 11:24-27).

In all these things Paul continued to follow God. He never stopped obeying God’s way and spreading His truth throughout the days of his life.

What has God done for us?

Abraham and Paul are only two examples of the many men and women in the Bible who were willing to go all the way for God. They believed in Him, and we should learn from their experiences and faith.

So how far is God willing to go for us? Has God done anything for us?

John 3:16-17 answers that question quite clearly: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

God was willing to give up His Son so that our sins could be forgiven. And Jesus Christ was willing to come down and die for us that we could be saved.

We must choose

It’s tough nowadays for Christians, especially teens. We have to decide if we are willing to go the distance for God. After all, being rejected by society for what we believe is a lot different than having to make up missed homework.

We need to truthfully ask ourselves how far we are willing to go for God. We have to work on this until we—like Abraham—are willing to do anything for God.

I know I’m not there yet. It’s a tough question to face, and I am sure that many of us, myself included, don’t like to face it.

God will test us to see what is most important in our lives, and our decision will affect everything.

Remember, God is willing to go the distance for us, but are we willing to go the distance for Him?

Learn more in our article about putting God and His Kingdom first.

Justin Groves is a high school senior. He attends the Jefferson, Georgia, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association.