I hang out with some men from my church on Monday nights. It’s low-key, we sit on the back deck of a house where great Christians live.
We sit in lawn chairs with some of those “fun” lights hanging above us. There are always freshly baked cookies and an ice chest full of Topo Chico and of course Jesus is there as we open His Word and think together about what it looks like to follow the Rabbi.
Last week one guy who is quickly becoming a good friend shared how he had eaten Chinese food and his fortune cookie said something like, “What’s right is not always convenient.” While that’s not right of the Bible I’m sure there is a proverb that is close, and that’s the struggle isn’t it? The Apostle Paul wrote about this in Romans 7:19, “I do not do the good I want to do.”
Can we relate? The road to both heaven and hell is paved with good intentions. Gravity has a very strong pull on the big brown couch in our living room. In other words it is sometimes hard to get off the couch where it’s comfortable and do what God wants me to do. Hard might be an understatement.
Not too long ago I mentioned how we like events rather than processes. It’s easy to go to a one-off event like the newest Christian movie that gives us goosebumps. It’s easy to go see Switchfoot when they come to Austin. It’s fun, we enjoy it, and it’s good – there is nothing wrong with John Foreman and the best alternative rock song, “Mess of Me.”
Going to a Christian conference is OK, typically you get a free swag bag and hear the best of the best of speakers – hey, I love Francis Chan and David Platt and listen to them as I run on the Blonde’s treadmill all the time.
But please hear what I’m saying, while those things are good and can help us in spiritual growth and the maturation process that God describes as discipleship it’s not the grind that requires daily grit. To press into God daily through prayer, through the study of His Word, to serve Him when it’s hard, to hang in there with our Christian brothers and sisters when they irritate us and to avoid sin that’s a whole different story. It’s not always comfortable nor is it always convenient.
I read somewhere it requires sacrifice, a commitment, a servant’s heart, a perspective that was the perspective of Christ. Remember what I said last week, “Christian activity does not replace a relationship.” Christian entertainment doesn’t replace hard core fellowship with Jesus.
Jesus told us in Luke 9:23 that this discipleship life is a daily thing, He said, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”
Jesus is looking for followers, not fans. Then in Luke 9:51 we are told Jesus set His face to go to Jerusalem. He was determined to do what the Father had chosen Him to do. He was determined to fulfill His mission and purpose, to die on that tree.
What about us? Are we that determined to live the daily devoted life we are called to live? Discipleship is a daily thing? Let’s go to church, we can do it because He said we could (Philippians 4:13). He told me to tell you that.
Ken Ansell is pastor at Connect Church in Rockdale, Texas.
