“Be careful when you can hear the word of God and do nothing, because it quickly becomes a habit.” - Francis Chan The Bible is not a leisurely read. I honestly don’t even think half the people who say they are Christians read the Bible regularly. Who can possibly make time for it? Wouldn’t God want you to focus on your work, school, obligations, etc. so that you can succeed? Isn’t He happy to fit in wherever and whenever rather than being your top priority? I don’t think so. The Bible is a Book about action. When Jesus asked people to follow Him, He didn’t say, “Follow Me with your heart and in your mind, and think of Me every once in a while as you are going about your normal life just as you did before You knew Me.” Quite the opposite, actually. Here’s a couple things He did say: “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:37-39 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26-27
There’s some common themes here. I’ll discuss three. (1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength. I’ve talked about this verse in a previous post, but that’s essentially what Jesus is saying here. If we are truly loving the Lord our God with everything we have, there’s no room to replace Him with our love for family or friends. Does that mean we shouldn’t love our family and friends? Of course not. We’re also told to love our neighbors as ourselves, and that those who hate their brothers are probably going to hell. But does that mean you should rethink your priorities and consider how much time you’re spending with God as opposed to how much time you spend with your family and friends and make some changes there? Probably. (2) Deny yourself / lose your life. If you think you can keep living your life as you did before you knew Jesus, you’re unfortunately mistaken. We don’t get to make the decisions here. In choosing to follow God, we submit to His authority and we agree to do what He wants of us. Yes, we become slaves. Everyone hates that word, but whether you know it or not, you’re already a slave to something. No one is free. “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” Romans 6:15 “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.” 1 John 3:10 We’re either children of God, or children of the devil. There is no in between. Society today likes to believe in a middle ground. They say, “I’m a good person, I care for the poor and am nice to people, but I don’t really believe in God and it’s not like I worship Satan or anything. I’m in the middle.” No such thing. As I said in the last post, we’re either with God or against Him. There are no other options. The Bible is very clear about this. (3) Take up your cross. What does it mean to “take up your cross”? I don’t know. I’m not a biblical scholar, I’m a business major. There’s probably some hidden metaphorical meaning or maybe some extra insight you can gain from really digging deep into what this meant in the original tongue it was written in, but lucky for us we don’t all have to learn the Bible’s original language to get its message. I assume it means this: carry your cross and follow Him. I may not be a biblical scholar but I know that crosses are quite large and quite heavy. I also know that they were meant for crucifixions, so if you were carrying a cross it probably meant you’d get hung on it. I also know that the word “follow” does not mean “sit” or “do your own thing” or “ignore.” When you follow someone you’re doing two things: (1) you’re moving, (2) you’re not in the lead. So, put all that together, and it sounds a bit like this: stop trying to save your own life, do something about your faith (don’t just hear the Word), and submit to God’s authority. “Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.” - Francis Chan Christianity today is complacent. We are content to attend church once a week (unless we accidentally sleep in—whoops!—but God wants us to have rest, right?), to pray when we want things, and maybe spend some time with God when we finally have a small opening in our crazy busy schedules. But this is not Christianity. We are talking about the God of the universe, who is the very reason we are breathing and who can take away our lives at any moment and Who will do so when we least expect it. We are talking about the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present Creator. What do you mean we can’t seem to find time for Him?!
When we’re really following God, our lives look different. We should be hearing things like, “You woke up at 5am just to spend time with God?! You spent 4 hours reading the Bible instead of using that extra time to study for your exam?! You went on a missions trip during the one week you got off from work/school?! You must be crazy!” Yes, we must be crazy. Our lives shouldn’t make sense to people who don’t believe in God. We should be living lives that require faith. No safety nets, no back-up plans, just a whole-hearted, relentless trust in a God who keep His promises.
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AuthorFighting complacency and advocating change in myself for the world around me. Posts by Date
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