Waste

A couple of weeks ago in Leaves, we explored the ways we hide parts of ourselves, trying to cover what feels vulnerable or unworthy. Today, I want to come back to that idea but from a different angle because hiding only lasts so long. At some point, God calls us to surrender what we’ve been holding back, to bring it all out from the shadows and lay it down fully before Him on the altar. It’s there we learn something stunning, there is no waste at the altar.

God receives everything we bring: the joy and the weariness, the strength and the failure, the faith and the doubt. We often come carrying pieces we’ve deemed useless like grief that lingers too long, questions without answers, seasons that feel like loss instead of growth. We assume He only wants the good parts, the productive parts, the put-together parts. However, the altar calls us not to perform, but to simply be whole and present before God.

What we lay down, He picks up. What we offer, He transforms. He doesn’t discard our pain or gloss over our weakness. He doesn’t roll His eyes at our limitations. He is the God who takes ashes and brings beauty. He receives surrender and responds with fire and welcomes what the world would throw away, making it holy.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies
to God because of all he has done for you.
Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find acceptable.
This is truly the way to worship him.
Romans 12:1

There is no waste at the altar. Nothing you’ve walked through, nothing you’ve fought for, nothing you’ve lost or carried or cried over is beyond His redemption. The hours that felt endless, the prayers that seemed unanswered, the offerings that felt small are all seen, all gathered and all used.

So come, not when you have it all together, but now. Bring what you have, what remains and the story you’re still trying to understand. Bring your full self to the altar, and believe that none of it is wasted in the hands of God. MAKE ROOM in your relationship with the Lord to lay it all down. In return, you’ll get more of Him, and He is the treasure. He is the prize.

Reflection:
What part of your story have you tried to leave behind or hide?
What would it look like to believe that God not only sees it, but He wants to use it?
Are you willing to bring your whole self to Him?