Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus
Tomorrow is Good Friday, the day we remember the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf. We’ve talked a lot in recent days about surrendering everything to Jesus and truly making Him the Lord of our lives. Everything we do should be to glorify Him because of what He did for us. In thinking about this post, the old hymn, “Lead Me to Calvary”, kept repeating in my head. As we prepare our hearts for solemn remembrance tomorrow, it seemed good to reflect on the words of this powerful song.
The most popular post I ever wrote was titled, “What Does it Mean to be a Christian?” I wrote that after a close friend of mine had accepted the Lord and I wanted to give him a primer of sorts as to what living a life devoted to Christ should look like. I believe that we who have called ourselves Christians for a long time probably skim over articles such as that one, assuming they are too basic or that we already know what being a Christ-follower entails. The past couple of years have convinced me that nothing could be further from the truth. The vast majority of people calling themselves Christians have no idea what it means to truly follow Christ.
I recently heard Greg Boyd say how troubled he was that “so many people say they are willing to die for Christ, yet they aren’t willing to live for Him”. How easy it is for us to proclaim our loyalty to Jesus and say that we would never deny Him, even if that meant being killed. If that is true, why is it we live lives that look exactly like those around us? How can it possibly be true that we would have the resolve to die for Christ when we can’t even muster the discipline to live for Him in our daily lives?
There’s a certain appeal to abandoning everything for Christ. We’re compelled by the sheer enormity of the task. It can be alluring to so radically go against the flow of society. We will indeed stand out as a very peculiar people. That’s the vision many have when they embark on total surrender. The act is noteworthy and pleasing to God. Our deepest desire is to live our lives in a way that glorifies Jesus. So why do so many who choose to surrender all wind up going back to recover some of it for themselves?
What are we doing? How much longer are we going to play at this thing called Christianity? We prayed the prayer. We got baptized. We’re good. Is that all there is? Why did Jesus say that one day many would come to Him saying, “Lord, Lord!”, and yet He will send them away because He never knew them (Matthew 7:21-23)? Are we missing something? Surely we know and are blessed by God; how else could we be so content and living such comfortable lives? We have been lulled into a false security and our very lives hang in the balance.