"Convenient" Discipleship

Jesus called us to "deny yourself, take up our cross and follow Him." Sadly, we are prone to add words to the command,
"Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me . . . when you have time"
"Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. . . unless you have something more important to do"
"Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me . . . unless you don't like what God is asking you to do (in other words, if you have a "better" plan).
"Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me . . . unless you have family plans"

Does this seem harsh? Maybe. The question is not whether or not the words are uncomfortable. The question is: are the words true? God calls us to unconditionally trust and follow Him. Even though we profess faith we tend to resist truly following Him. Discipleship is not multiple choice where we get to choose when we would like to follow Him.

This certainly has implication for the priority of weekly worship, Bible Study, Youth Group over such things as baseball games, reunions, hobbies, and the need to get some yard work done. But this is not just about Sunday morning and the fulfilling of obligations at the church. We also need to radically follow when

• He tells us to forgive
• When we try to justify behaviors He calls sin
• When we have opportunity to declare Him before others (like our friends)
• When we don't like how things are going at a ballgame
• When a boss seems to make unfair demands
• When someone offends us
• When God prompts us to pray
• When it comes to the use of our time
• When things are hard

It is easy to point our fingers at those who don't follow in the same areas we consider to be important. The challenge is to look at the totality of our lives and ask that penetrating question: "Am I honoring the Lord with my life?"

I find the words of Matthew 7 to be haunting. Jesus, talking about the last days says, "
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’"
Mt 7:21-23.

Jesus says many people will arrive at the door of Heaven trumpeting all the good things they have done. Some of those things will even be significant. Some of these people will be those we have admired in this world. Yet, they will be turned away as being false disciples. I believe most of these people will be those who were "convenient Christians". They served the Lord when it served their purposes. God wants to us to honor Him as Lord. We can't do this simply when it is convenient.

Forgiveness BOOK REVIEW

I recently finished a very engaging book, TOTAL FORGIVENESS by R.T. Kendall. Kendall argues that much of the discomfort of our lives is caused by our unwillingness to TOTALLY forgive another person. His argument is strong.

When we fail to forgive we usually are only hurting ourselves. Kendall says 90% of the time the other person doesn't even feel they did anything wrong. Consequently we think we are punishing them but in truth we are the only ones suffering.

Kendall says total forgiveness means

1. We don't talk to others about the offense (because it is a subtle way of trying to exact punishment on the other)
2. We relate to the person as if the offense has not happened
3. We leave the offense with the Lord
4. We pray for God's rich blessing on the one who hurt us (perhaps the hardest part of total forgiveness).

Here's a quote:

It may be far easier to forgive when we know that those who maligned or betrayed us are sorry for what they did, but if I must have this knowledge before I can forgive, I may never have the victory over my bitterness.

I'm currently reading Kendall's follow up book: "How to Forgive Yourself". I commend both books as helpful and Biblical approaches to this tough subject.

A Law to Keep in MInd

I believe the Law of Non-Contradiction is one of the most important laws we have. It's not a law in the legal sense, it is more like the law of gravity. It is a law that makes sense of life and in this case thinking. It comes from the area of Logic.

The Law of non-contradiction means something cannot be true and false in the same sense at the same time. In other words if I say my car is solid blue in color and then say my car is solid red in color, both statements cannot be true. If one is true, the other is not.

Now I could say that I am a Cub fan and a Cardinal fan (though why would I?). It is possible to root for both teams. There is no contradiction. I cannot however say that my favorite team is the Cubs and then say my favorite team is the Cardinals. It would have to be one or the other.

It seems like an obvious law doesn't it? However it is violated in many ways today. Probably the most obvious violation is in terms of religion. People say "all religions teach the same thing" or "all roads lead to heaven". This cannot be true. Why? Because of the Law of non-contradiction!

Christianity teachs that Jesus is the only way to Heaven ("no many comes to the Father except through me"). Many other religions teach that they are the only way to enlightenment, happiness, nirvana etc. If Christianity is not the only way to Heaven then it is not true. It cannot be both the only way and one of many ways . . . it violates the law of non-contradiction.

This is important. This isn't about who is better than someone else. This is about truth and falsehood. If Christianity is true, then people who follow other faiths are lost. If other religions are true, Chrsitians are deluded. Adopting the position of the contemporary society that we should all just embrace each other and affirm the good in each other's religions sounds noble but it is really to deny truth. It is to live in the land of make believe. If Jesus was telling the truth (and I believe he was) then I cannot simply sit back and say, "Hey, whatever you believe is fine." Because it is not.

Some of the "new" views of Jesus have come not from archaeological discoveries or manuscripts that have been recently discovered, these ideas come from those who understand the law of non-contradiction and don't like the implications of the words of Jesus. They understand that if what Jesus says is true, lots of people are in trouble. Their approach is to simply try to change the words of Jesus! If they can soften Jesus' words then Christianity can be more "politically correct". (However, to be politically correct and eternally lost is not an option I find attractive).

Look around. Listen to newscasters. Really think about what people are saying and the implications of their words. If you do, you will find that the law of non-contradiction is violated over and over. The result is muddled thinking that only leads to confusion and in too many cases it will lead to eternal condemnation.