Categorical Tackiness

Clench your glutes for this week's theologically questionable letter-board sentiment coming from the neighborhood ELCA church:

GIVE YOURSELF TO GOD AND ALL OTHER GIVING WILL BE FUN

Wow. That so sounds like the last words a neckless thug, nicknamed "God," says to you before you black out in the prison shower.

It's also questionable how the idea that you "give yourself to God" fits into Lutheran thought. Is that how we get in with Him? I've read a lot of Lutheran theology, but if that concept belongs there, it's news to me. It seemed to me that one of the hallmarks of Lutheranism is its biblically faithful teaching that God gives Himself to us in Christ, and reconciles us to Himself even while we are His enemies; that He makes us His children, saints, and royal heirs without any prior action or decision of ours. Is that just me?

As the categorical result of getting in with God, "All giving will be fun" is equally questionable. All? So after coming to Christ we won't have any qualms, doubts, or weaknesses, and we'll find loving our neighbor to be easy and enjoyable all the time? So no sacrifice, no deprivation, no self-emptying leap of faith will ever be touched by pain or regret? I'm with Aramis (of Three Musketeers fame) in questioning whether it's really giving if you don't at all miss what you have given. But then, Aramis was a fictional French Catholic, and probably a heretic to boot. What would he know?