In most fast food establishments, I feel like an intrusion, or an inconvenience.  I may enjoy the food, but not the experience.  But Diane and I have noticed something when we eat at Chick-fil-A: we actually enjoy the experience!  And it’s because of one huge difference.

The people who work there are ALL there.  At other fast-food (and even some not-so-fast food) establishments the staff seem like they would rather be somewhere else.  Their bodies are present, but their hearts are not.  But at Chick-fil-A, they didn’t just show up with their bodies, but with their hearts.  It’s an example of whole-hearted, vs. half-hearted.

Last Sunday we learned about Caleb, a hero from the pages of the Bible (read about him in Numbers 13-14).  Like all real heroes, he was like us…but different.  And one of his differences was that he followed God “wholeheartedly.”

But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.  Numbers 14:24

Just the other day I came across another wholehearted person while reading Mark’s gospel.  It’s the widow with two mites (a mite was a coin worth a fraction of a penny).  She was commended by Jesus because she gave everything she had.

They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.  Mark 12:44

She was wholehearted.  The phrase we use today is, “All in.”  The widow was all in.  Caleb was all in.  Even the employees of Chick-fil-A are all in.

Are you all in when it comes to following Jesus?  If you’re like me, maybe you’ve been there.  And maybe you’ve been distracted by life.  Maybe it feels more like halfhearted at this point.  No one wants to be halfhearted.  It just happens.  And when we see it anywhere else, we don’t like it.  It’s almost a hate.  If it’s happened to you, you can change it.  Today.  Let Caleb be your reminder.  Let the widow be your reminder.  If you have to, go to Chick-fil-A and let THEM be a reminder.  (No, this is not an endorsement of their company…just an observation.)

Go all in.  “Whatever you ask, God, I’m in!”

And people around you will notice.  The light of the world will shine through you.

-Pastor Mark