All There

“He’s not all there.”  It’s a common, colloquial expression we use; a derogatory way of suggesting that

someone is lacking in their mental capacities.

But moving away from the derogatory, Jim Elliot encourages us with these words:

“Wherever you are, be all there.”  Jim Elliot

A lot of people like this saying, but ‘wherever you are, be all there’ is not just a call to live in the moment or even an encouragement to enjoy life for all it’s worth.   

The fuller version of the quote is, “Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”

The expression ‘to the hilt’ is an old one. It’s an idiom which comes to us from the days when swords were commonly used. The ‘hilt’ of the sword is that defining line between the blade and the handle and to plunge a sword into its target all the way was right ‘to the hilt’. And so it means ‘all in’ (Our FBC Family Camp theme 2013 … Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, ALL your soul, ALL your mind and ALL your strength”)

To ‘be all there’ is to ‘be all in’. It is to fully engage yourself in what you perceive to be the will of God for your life at any particular time. As human beings we have the tendency to live our lives in a rather reserved manner. It’s like we don’t want to be spent. We don’t want to run out. But when you think about it, the grace of Christ is a limitless supply. And if we are living by the sufficiency of Christ then we cannot exhaust His spiritual resources. Sure, we only have so much time or physical energy or money ourselves. But when it comes to God’s love and mercy there is just no possible way we can expend it all. “His mercies are new every morning” and “His love endures forever”. Think about it.