Every Day Choices
“Anyone who wants to follow me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Luke 9:23
Who do you love? The way of the cross is a way of choices; hard choices at times. We often like to think how Jesus wants each of us to love Him and follow Him; and how He longs for us to know Him. In fact, we even claim that “if I was the only one, Jesus would have still died for me.” Maybe, but the bible doesn’t say that exactly. What it does say is that He came to die for ALL of us, not just one of us.
What we don’t like to discuss is how Jesus put choices in front of us and said that unless we choose the right one, we CANNOT follow Him. Not that we may not or probably wouldn’t, but that we “CANNOT.” How we often try to caress the meaning of His words into something more bearable. We tend to find ways of justifying our wayward actions so that they appear to fit into His commandments, and we never miss a beat. We’re good at this word game. We’ve been taught it by those who went before us; those who were also afraid to face the red letters head on. So they toned down the red by watering down the message. Just add water and you’ve got a “gospel lite”; still tastes good but less demanding.
So, who do you love? It takes a real love to deny oneself and voluntarily take up a cross. After all, one carried his cross as he was about to be nailed to it. He carried the very thing that would kill him. And that is what Jesus tells us to take up. Who do you love?
All of us can only have one supreme love of our life. Our hearts are not so vast that we can have many supreme loves no matter how hard we try. We are not so big that we can lavish our supreme affection upon more than one being or person. When we try to do that, it isn’t really our supreme love that we are expending. It’s more of that watered down type; the type that doesn’t carry the full force of our complete affections, even though we say it does. It’s actually an imitation of what He calls us to, and the truth is that we “churchians” have fooled ourselves and each other into believing that what we are offering Him is exactly what He has called us to. But inside, the inconsistency shouts that we have cheated the One who cannot be cheated, and will not be cheated.
So, who do you love? Over and over, Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey me.” (Jn. 14 & 15) Why did He equate love with obedience? Why is it that whether or not we obey Him shows how much we love Him? Couldn’t it be that we could love Him, but not really be so good at this obedience thing? Apparently, Jesus didn’t think so. He equates love with obedience because we are given a choice as to whom we will love. And God hates second place so much that He considers it the same as last place. Imagine that. In fact, if He is not in first place in a person’s life, it’s like He isn’t even there at all. At least, that’s what He said.
Before we pat ourselves on the back, let’s first consider what obedience is. We “churchians” are not too bad at this “don’t” stuff. You know; don’t do this and don’t do that. We know what to avoid and truthfully, we’re not too bad at it. That is, unless we look at the internal issues involved with His commands. You see, we’ve gotten pretty good at avoiding the external things that the world says we should avoid. We know better than to try to justify the fits of rage, the murdering, and the adultery. But we haven’t yet figured out how to be so innocent when it comes to the commands not to speak evil of another, or seek after materialistic values, or to have pure hearts. We struggle with the don’ts when it comes to the internals especially.
But if we struggle with some of these “don’ts, then we really fail when it comes to the gospel’s lists of “do’s”. Do we really love our neighbor like we love ourselves? Really? Do we care for the broken? Do we visit the prisoners? Do we feed the hungry? Do we clothe the naked? Do we weep with those who weep? Do we forgive those who use us? Do we ever go the second mile? Do we even go the first mile willingly? Do we minister to the widows and orphans? Do we take in strangers? Do we love the brethren? Do we honor each other above ourselves? Do we bless those who persecute us? Do we turn the other cheek? Do we strive to live at peace with everyone? Do we feed our enemy? Do we let our light shine so everyone sees Jesus? Do we give freely to those who ask? Do we diligently seek pure hearts? Do we fast to meet with God? Do we pray without ceasing? Do we go into all the world bearing His name?
Please don’t think that I am saying that no one does these things. The great news is that there are Christians all over the world who are waking up to the reality that we must get back to the “do’s” of the gospel. They are tired of the weak, powerless gospel of rules and “don’ts,” and they want their lives to count for the kingdom of God. And they are doing what they can to be sure that it does count.
What I am saying is that you and I make choices every day about the kind of Christian we will be. Every day, we decide whether or not our life will look like His life. Every day, we decide if Christ will reign in our lives. By not choosing, we choose. Your life and my life is nothing more than the sum total of the choices we made on a daily basis. It comes down to this: I either choose to live for myself, or I choose to live for Jesus Christ. To choose both is to choose the first. To choose the latter is to deny the first. Our Christianity is not so much about our situations, or our circumstances, or our bible teachers, or even the churches we go to. It’s really about our choices.
Joshua said, “Choose you this day whom you will serve.” The truth is, we all do.