I read online not long ago, “Whatever you do, always give 100%, unless you’re donating blood.” Probably not a good idea to give 100% in that case. You should probably stick to a pint. I think average human body only has 12 pints of blood. So that’s like 8 or 9% of your blood. And even that sounds like a lot to me!
Or maybe you’ve heard someone say before, “Give it 110%!” I had a Sunday School teacher who was an accountant, and he told us that it got on his nerves whenever anyone told him to give 110%. It’s literally impossible to give 110%. You can only give 100% of something.
When it comes to following Jesus, He’s not asking for 8 or 9%, and He’s not asking for 110%. Jesus wants you to give yourself 100% to Him.
And yet so many think they’re fulfilling their Christian duty by coming to church every week. And everything above and beyond that just earns you bonus points, right? Putting a few dollars in the offering plate? Bonus points! Not falling asleep during the sermon? Bonus points! Or maybe it’s okay to fall asleep during the sermon, just as long as you wake up before the invitation. Bonus points!
But that’s not the way it works! There are no bonus points with God, because our favor with God doesn’t rest on anything that we do! We simply fall before God, crying out for His grace, which He provided through Jesus Christ dying on the cross, who didn’t just give us 10% of Himself, or 10% of His blood, but 100%, so that we might be saved and radically transformed to give Him 100% of ourselves.
From the sermon, “Bleed for Jesus”, delivered May 5, 2013.