Sold Out Or Hold Out?

How many professing Christians do you know who are totally sold out to Christ?

By sold out I mean born-again believers whose belief and behavior are so real they are one hundred percent on board for the Lord, following the Lord fully with all their hearts.
    
Caleb was sold out to God. His rock-solid commitment to God stirs our hearts and challenges our lives.

“Nevertheless, my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt with fear; but I followed the Lord my God fully.”  Joshua 14:8

For the background on this week’s word, study thoroughly Numbers 13:25-14:10 and Joshua 14:6-14.

At forty years of age, Caleb and Joshua went up to recon the Promised Land. Ten other “spies” accompanied them. The land was everything God said it would be. Spacious. Fruitful. Productive. Developed. Ready for occupation by God’s chosen people.

Reporting back to Moses, the ten spies gave a bad report based on fear. Caleb and Joshua gave a good report based on faith. Despite the negative majority report, Joshua and Caleb exhorted the people to go up and take the land God was giving them.

The two positive men of God told the people to not fear, but to have faith in God who had prepared the way for them. Now was the time to rise up, overcome fear, exercise faith and occupy the land of promise.

Sadly, the people followed the ten negative spies, rejecting Joshua and Caleb’s call to go forward. God severely judged Israel’s disobedience. The ten spies died on the spot. All the doubters and pouters over twenty years of age wandered in the wilderness until they all died off.

Forty-five years later, Caleb shows up again in Scripture. Under Joshua’s courageous leadership, Israel has conquered most of Canaan. Eighty-five years young, Caleb reminds Joshua that Moses promised him a piece of the Promised Land. “

Caleb declares that he is as strong now as he was four decades ago. He is a warrior, ready and willing to take out the Anakim (gigantic people!). Caleb’s request “give me the hill country,” the one with the big guys hanging out there, was based on God’s promise to give it to him.

And so it was. The Anakim wished they had never seen this sold-out servant of the Living God in their neighborhood!
    
Caleb’s spiritual legacy is that “he fully followed the Lord.” Three times in Joshua 14 (verses 8, 9, 14) Caleb is commended for his wholehearted commitment to God. For eighty-five years and counting Caleb held nothing back. His faith and devotion to the Lord never wavered.

Caleb could have joined the unbelieving, fearful holdout crowd. He could have thrown in the faith towel waiting in the wilderness for forty years while all the doubters died off. As an elder, he could have held out at age eighty-five and asked for a rocking chair. Not Caleb.

Caleb is the kind of guy that I would charge hell with a water pistol!

Sold out or hold out. Which one are you?

The perilous times we live in (see II Timothy 3:1-12) will eat the lunch of half-hearted Christians. The devil and our unbelieving world enjoy chowing down on those who holdout on serving Jesus Christ wholeheartedly.

Jesus sold out for us. When Jesus hung on the Cross, He was sold out on salvation for you and me. No hint of hold out from Him. Jesus gave it all. God’s Only Son spilled His life-blood to cover and cleanse our sin. Jesus followed fully God’s will for His life.

So how can we even consider holding out on Him? How is it that many professing Christians cannot be counted on when push comes to shove?

I want to ask you what I am asking myself. Are you sold out to Jesus? Do you follow Him fully? Completely. Wholeheartedly. Without reservation or hesitation. Or are you a hold-out? Holding back some part of your heart. Hanging out in the fearful crowd of mediocre Christians who move no mountains for God?

Being sold out for Christ means something like this.

• Jesus is Lord of my life everyday and in everyway.
• I will stand for Christ whether it is convenient or inconvenient.
• I will follow the Lord when the religious crowd stops following Him.
• I can be counted on to count for Christ when it is politically incorrect.
• I will obey God whatever the cost to me personally.
• I will stand tall for Jesus when others fall away.
• I will serve God with all my heart and strength until I breathe my last breath!

    
Sold out Christian’s hearts are on fire for the Lord. Hold-out Christian’s hearts are cold toward the Lord.

I do not know about you, but I like being around people who are sold out for something. I really like being around Christians who are sold out for Someone, the Lord Jesus Christ.
    
When push comes to shove in this sin-sick, lost world, are you sold out for the Lord Jesus Christ? Would people observing your life say that you follow the Lord fully? That you serve God with every fiber of your being? Maybe it is time to evaluate and shore up your commitment to Christ.

Sold out or hold out is your decision that will determine your destiny. Be assured that, like Caleb, God blesses those whose hearts fully belong to Him.

“For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.”                II Chronicles 16:9

“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.”                                           II Timothy 4:6-7

A Word For Your Week: If you say you have faith, follow the Lord fully!