Too Much God?

Is there such a thing as TOO MUCH GOD?

I hung out with a friend of mine recently who has known me for about twelve years. He told me that I talked about God too much and that it was overwhelming. He said that I needed to experience life outside the lens of God.
 
At first I took it pretty hard, I saw it as an insult. I had a conversation with one of my best friends a few days ago about the idea of criticism. How to take it and how to give it. When you critique someone's personality, beliefs, likes, or dislikes, it always goes into a sensitive area. I mean, who really likes to be given criticism? I guess if its constructive criticism and it is posed to you in such a loving, positive way, it can be well received. It's even hard to know how to give constructive criticism to others without coming off judgmental or too harsh. I know I struggle with that in my own life.

But as I thought about the words that my friend told me, I thought about the question, "Is there such a thing as too much God in one's life?" Honestly, I believe the answer is no. For as long as I can remember, I have desired to be a person whose entire life is saturated by God's presence. I don't just want to be a person who attends church on Sundays and then lives a secular lifestyle the remaining six days of the week. I want God to be in every aspect of my life...my church, my job, my relationships, my activities, my language, my conversations, and more. I don't want my life to be separate from God at any point or at any time. So, no I don't think there is such a thing as too much God. I thought about his comments about how I needed to experience life outside the lens of God. For me, experiencing life within God's desires and will is where I want to be. If I am living within His means, God promises blessings and an abundant life. Why seek life outside of God when I know my greatest joy and blessings can come from God alone?

I don't say this to be haughty. Lord knows I am a sinful human being who falls to temptation and misses the mark of God's plan for my life quite often. I can even say that I miss the mark most every single day. But that very next morning, God offers me through his mercy and grace another day to try and live my life for Him. There is truly no greater gift than that.

So, yes, I talk about God a lot and I talk about my church a lot. Today at church we had one of the largest attendances ever because everyone was encouraged to do a BOLD ask and to bring friends to church. My Pastor, Stu Hodges, preached this in his sermon today:

"A whole bunch of you today were probably invited here by a friend, am I right? I mean somebody nagged you, they kept calling you or texting you or facebook messaging you. They bothered you or bribed you, they gave you a little invite card to remind you. They wanted to get you here and here's why: because somewhere along the way...all odds were against them and there didn't seem to be any way out but Jesus touched their life and brought them from death to life....So of course they're going to talk about it. Of course they wanted you here to hear about it because Jesus is greater than and our lives have been filled with this sense of awe that we simply cannot get over. So pardon us for buggin you. We can't help the fact that we're a little bit rowdy in church and that we wanted you to come and see it, but our lives have been changed and we want the same things for you."

Now, don't get me wrong, I took a lot of what my friend said to heart. I think one does have to be careful how they present God or Jesus or the Gospel to others so that it doesn't push them away instead of drawing them in. I think I have a lot to learn in that area and I am constantly making mistakes and learning from them. However, the idea of having "too much God" in my life doesn't really compute, and I take it more as a compliment now instead of as an insult. If people think I talk about God or WEC too much on my Facebook or Blog or in conversations, all I can say is that is just who I am. If I am going to be real to who I am, I just can't leave that stuff out.