Category: Jesus Christ

Some Effort is Required

Effort is Needed

Search for the Lord and for his strength;
      continually seek him. 

1 Chronicles 16:11

 

Sometimes, I think a day off would be really nice.  Employers typically grant two weeks off every year.  That seems equitable and fair.  At one stint, I worked in the corporate world.  Days off are treated as if they were gold.

This verse is saturated with responsiblity–our responsibility.  To search implies definite effort.  I lose my keys, quite often.  I start a search– an investigation, to find them.  I inevitably turn the house upside-down.  They have to be somewhere! (Typically I find them in my pants in the hamper.)

But to be a searcher after God requires continual effort.  He reveals Himself to me, but I never truly apprehend Him.  He makes Himself known, but He is unknowable.  It’s not quite the treadmill, because we do encounter Him.  It’s just that we can’t pin Him down or put Him in a neat little box.

We are told that we need to hunt for His strength.  Receiving strength is never a passive thing.  This generation that I’m part of is inflicted with this contagion.  We are essentially a very  apathetic people.  It goes against our grain when we step toward the Lord.

This verse ends with “continually seek Him”.  We must put effort into this endeavour.  For many, Christianity is pretty much a release from this.  We come to Jesus, and we want to rest.  But we are confused, our discipleship is going to be an effort.  Does your walk make you work; does it make you sweat?

Being Held, Being Secure

Being Held, Being Secure

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  John 6:37

 

Being insecure is like sipping sulfuric acid from a teacup.  What we drink in is corrosive and harmful, when we think it is ok.  We become saturated with anxiety and overloaded with doubt.  We feel very unsure about ourselves, and become introspective to a fault.

Somehow verses like John 6:37 don’t work or apply to us.  Such is strength of our hopelessness.  It is durable and strong.  Christians who struggle with “feeling saved” have a formidable enemy just within themselves, not taking in Satan’s attacks on their mind.

This verse helps us understand some things.  First, there is a “chain of custody” in regards to spiritual headship.  What comes to the Father, gets transferred to the Son.  To enable this, there is something like a magnetic pull that people become drawn to Jesus.  (Aside note:  Jesus is wildly popular and esteemed among unbelievers; it is the Church that gives people heartburn!)

When we are attracted to Him, the pull intensifies.  We grow sensitive and more sure.  When we pass over that symbolic line we discover that we have great assurance of His love.  The statement is made, “I will by no means cast out.” 

“Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go”. –John 6:37, The Message

“He holds on”!  He doesn’t let go!  This attachment of Jesus to us is strong  and sure.  Our issue comes when we focus on self and forget about Him.  Thinking exclusively about your sin, and weakness, and mental illness takes back to the “acid in a teacup” analogy.  But enough of that; let us live confidently, looking boldly on Christ and feeling His grip.  He can’t de-attach Himself.

Come, Follow Me

“He said to another person, “Come, follow me.”

   The man agreed, but he said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.”

 But Jesus told him, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God.”

Luke 9:59-60

 

Considering this whole passage must bring us to the place of seeing God’s Will as supreme.  He asks for a complete and comprehensive obedience.  We can never entertain a lesser commitment.  Following Jesus, as His disciple will radically alter our priorities and change our relationships.  Irrevocably.

There was a negotiation of sorts taking place.  This would-be disciple was trying to be reasonable.  His heart appears to be already in harness.  Being Jesus’ disciple was what he really wanted.  But, there was this slight problem, it really seemed logical and definitely prudent and sensible.

Yet Jesus doesn’t negotiate with him.  He does not accept the argument of reasonability and propriety.  The call to walk out discipleship requires a whole-hearted, full-bore dedication to Jesus Christ as Lord.  Everything must be adjusted.  And nothing is ever the same.

Have you dictated to Jesus what is reasonable?  Are you adjusting discipleship to your own terms of what is appropriate?  This particular passage in Luke 9 has implications to us today.  A rock was thrown into the pond, and the ripple is still being seen and felt.  Simply put, we are being called to authenticity.  We cannot reduce discipleship to fit our personal desires.

Will we adjust?  Will we sell out to the Kingdom’s supremacy?  To be a concert violinist requires intense effort and commitment.  A professional athlete takes his training to a level that is unbelievable to the average person.  Both have a dedication to their calling.  Can we just assume that something less is considered to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Please re-examine your thinking.  I certainly do not want to condemn or judge.  But I am afraid that we are using discipleship without considering what that really means, and we entertain a definition that somehow defaults to an acceptable level.  Are we really that willing to undergo an adjustment that is nothing less than radical transformation of our faith?