the narrow path
My friend bob blogged recently to answer the indictment that Christian people are simply looking for a "crutch" from their faith. Read it here. I think his entry says it well. The more I read the gospels, the more i see that Jesus is not offering some sweet, consoling religion. He promises hardship and suffering for those who follow him. He promises that we will encounter the same kinds of obstacles that he did because we follow him. He tells us not be surprised if there are literal and figurative "crosses" in our own futures. He talks about having to break ranks with family and turn away from loved ones for the sake of following him.
Is there consolation in that? Actually there is, in an ultimate sense, that by clinging to him we will find something deeper and more lasting (though also harder) than anything this world can give. But it's not the mind-numbing "opiate" that some have talked about... those people have probably never read the words of Jesus.
So i put the question to all of you whether you are a Christ-follower or not, is your picture of this pilgrimage reflective of the actual words of Christ? To find out go ahead and read the book of Mark or Luke, see if it jives with the life you're living.
posted by Dion @ 5/21/2007 09:00:00 AM
6 Comments
6 Comments:
Back in college I learned something that seems to really spark true to life. The things you care about and that really mean something to you personally are the things you have to fight for and suffer through. This went further with people. The people who you really appreciate and care for are the people going through this along side you.
Maybe it's just me but, I find the more and more I try to live like that the more and more it really means something to me. That something in life really means something to me.
Perhaps the reason many unbelievers view Christianity this way is because in many churches Jesus has become a self-help guru instead of our Lord and King. We are often consumed with the question, What can God do for me? Some churches have created a pseudo-Christianity that leads people to believe that those who truly have faith in Christ will live a life of ease and prosperity. On the contrary, carrying our cross means we are on our way to our own death; a total relinquishment of our will to God's. Dying is painful, but it is necessary to be a fully formed follower of Jesus.
May we as Christ-followers aspire this end so that many will desire to come into the Kingdom.
Amen! This principle brings unanticipated joy and excitement in life and unanticipated levels of pain, but there's nothing like walking through life following Jesus, challenged by His calling and enjoying His constant companionship. For sure, life will never be boring!
The argument made on Bob's post is not logical however: just the fact that something is hard doesn't make it in fact correct. That would be like telling ancient farmers that they shouldn't use a shovel, but rather stay with their stones, or they shouldn't be allowed to use a tractor, but should stick with their shovels.
I do agree that following Christ is a continuous sacrifice. This comes because we are sinful, and He calls us out of sin into perfection. As I look forward to heaven, I imagine a large part will be the ultimate rest because we will be completed then.
Brett- i agree that hard doesn't always equal true. That wasn't the point of my post. My post was directed at the false view that some people are "believers" because they want an easy and safe (comfortable) existence. Anyone who thinks that Christianity will give that kind of ease to a person doesn't know the Bible because Jesus promises hardship to anyone who follows him.
I think i'd challenge your view of suffering a bit too. Christ didn't struggle with our imperfections-he was perfect-yet he was called to sacrifice. It could be said that he had to do so because he was our substitute or that his hardship was because he was in a world of sinful people, that stuff is probably true. But i wonder if sacrifice isn't the mode of the universe... even before "sin" came into the picture.
maybe sacrifice is really just part of understanding what love is. We know that love was established before the beginning of the world and that love will remain forever. We know that love is not "self-seeking, rude," etc. (1 cor 13).
If sacrifice and love have an intimate kinship so that the former is an expression of the latter, does that not mean that sacrifice will be the mode of our existence in heaven? Won't God still be a God of grace (which by defintion has some sense of sacrifice)? Won't we keep putting our needs behind us so that we can focus on him, the ultimate "other"? isn't that what "worship" is?
And sure, our sin-nature won't be taking us down so easily, or as you say we'll be "completed", but does that mean that sacrifice and love will become EASY? if they become easy don't they then become trivial and cease to be what they by nature are? Get what i'm saying? If loving God becomes easy doesn't it lose it's worth entirely? that's the whole being "loved by a robot" argument
Even though we'll have our sin-nature removed in eternity won't we also be free to love God, like Adam and Eve were in the beginning? At the same time we're led to believe that we won't be free to fall, but is that because we'll have it easy? or will that be because God will have destroyed the Evil One? Maybe it's both?
I don't know these things are too deep for me.
I like where you took my comment.
I do agree that Christ suffered, but it was totally out of love.
As not being perfect and inherently selfish, it is a sacrifice of mySELF to love anyone other than me. That is what I meant by continual sacrifice.
On the point about Heaven and still "choosing" to love God. That is the scariest element for me. If no sin exists in Heaven, then I'm either a mindless entity existing throughout eternity or I should be in absolute fear that I get expelled by accidentally sinning. Those are two extremes to your response to be sure, but I cannot imagine that being the "setup" in Heaven. :)
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