Rich
Stearns writes, “As a follower of Christ, it was no longer about me and my
life; it was about Jesus and the life he intended me to live. But it is so hard
to trust, so hard to let go, and so easy to cling to whatever it is we have
clutched in our hands.” He compares the risk a contestant takes in
the game show “Lets Make A Deal” to the risk we take when God asks us to
release our most prized possession to Him. Stearns assures us that when we
accept God's deal, we are always blessed, and shares the story of a family who
made that deal and traded “up”- their vacation ranch for what was behind
God's curtain. The family discovered there was no downside. They exchanged their
will for God's will, and the sale of the ranch became a resource to help the
poor in a huge way.
What
I don't see in this story, though, is a cross. In Matt. 16:24 Jesus says,
"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their
cross and follow me.” What will this cross look like? That's what's
scary. Crosses are not comfortable to contemplate.
Stearn's
example of a family convicted to make a sacrifice didn't have to sell it all.
They sold a vacation home. To be sure, that's a huge deal, but remember, God is
not impressed with size, He's concerned about heart. Now I don't have a
vacation home and I'm feeling lucky right now that I don't! But here's our
familiar fallback line, our saving grace, our rationalization: most of us think
that God really doesn't want us to change our lifestyles in a radical way.
I believe Richard Stearns, who God has used to expose our magic kingdom living,
is still living a comfortable life style himself. So we rationalize: Jesus
can't REALLY mean for for me to sell it all and move to a third world country
because I can do good right here exactly where I am? Right? What's
wrong with this rationalization is that it puts me in exactly the place of the
rich young ruler, because that's EXACTLY what Christ asked of him, and there's
no way I can make any assumptions on what Christ is asking of me until I am
truly ready to trust and obey. And then I won't have to assume any
longer.
So
I am struggling right now. Part of me thinks I should just chuck it all. Have a
fire sale. Scale WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY BACK. But I won't, even though I think
doing that would be easier than living in this tension. Because in reality I do
reach out, I do good things. I come and go - to poverty and back again -
readjusting my personal scales of justice each time I come home and breath a
“Whew! There but for the grace of God go I”, as I continue to embrace my
magic kingdom life. Its true, my conscience is ever more tender than it
used to be. But here I am, waiting for that BONK on my head. How do we (
there are two of us here!) really know if God is asking us to make a radical
change, to “sell it all”?
Actually
for many of us, I think this still skirts the issue. I must just start
with my most prized possession. Unfinished has made me look at that, and
when I've allowed Jesus to deal with that, I am sure the answer will follow,
“Yes, Jesus, everything is yours, no strings attached.” I see hope.
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