Most of us have chosen heaven over hell, but not many have chosen heaven over earth. Reed
Every once in a while, a rant shows up. I always pray that these are from the Holy Spirit because my rants in the flesh usually require months of mop up repentance.
However, many American Christians, including me, have bought into love of SELF over love of God, His church, and His mission toward love of others. So, I listed some potential additions to things Jesus might ask Americans to give up and come follow Him as though these Christians were the rich, young ruler of Mark, chapter 5.
And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Mark 10:21 (ESV)
If he looked with love at you, what would he ask for?
So, I ranted a list of some typical idols that Americans endure that hopefully will stir your soul.
Are any of these for you?
For the American parents who think that God has blessed their family with wealth but said wealth has actually has dragged them into a world of self-centered busyness with all its toys and schedules,
Jesus says give all that up and follow me.
For the pastor who wants a big church, Jesus says, “If I keep it small because your heart cannot handle the success,
give that up, and follow me.”
For the person who dreams of being married and actually is being called into a life of singleness to serve the Lord,
Jesus says come follow me.
<Note: And, Church, capital C, may we repent and celebrate lifelong singles. The pressure we put on folks to get married is abhorrent. Biblically, singleness to pursue God’s mission with vigor may be more celebrated than marriage.>
For the person giving 60 hours a week to his career and will be a hollow soul in 20 years,
Jesus says, lay that down, and come follow me.
For the same-sex attracted person, Jesus says, ‘let me help you not act on these desires and commit to a life of holiness, and come follow me.’
For the church leaders who require more than said repentance from this beautiful same-sex-attracted person before welcoming him/her into the leadership fold, Jesus says, ‘quit seeing your holiness due to a bloody cross as superior,
and come follow me.’
For the lustful or porn addicted straight person, ‘you also are not owned by your sexuality or your addiction,
come follow me.’
For the person who thinks family is king, ‘you must leave father and mother and brother and wife and son and daughter as your primary family and follow me.’ <Obviously, the leave there is figurative language of Scripture>
For the person who worships American exceptionalism,
‘you must see all my image bearers equally and follow me.’
For the white person who sees their white privilege as a God-given right & the only exceptional, acceptable norm, ‘you must give up your majority identity, be humble, teachable, love your neighbor, and follow me.’
For the person who sees their personal rights superior to the Christ-driven “die to self for the good of the whole,”
Jesus says lay down your rights in the tomb just like HE did, and follow me.
The were the ones that Jesus put on my heart for a sermon. There are literally hundreds, so Martin Luther is correct that “all of life is repentance.” However, I did want to include two more as Bryan Chappell may be correct that “ageism is the new racism.” That quote is a little hollow in our current racism climate (overstatement for effect), but this gaffe between those over 45 and those under (he divides it at 40; I subtly disagree) has to end or God’s church may have its equal division to the its race segregation issue.
For the person who is over 45 and sees everyone under as a soft “snowflake” who cannot handle emotions and makes jokes about commitment and mom’s basement, Jesus says, give up the self-righteousness and follow me. <When that happens, the honor you seek will come through a life that looks more like Jesus>
For the person under 45 who finds the leadership of those over so unfulfilling that they actually are “just waiting for them to die so they can take over and do things right,” Jesus says, “be humble, teachable, and follow me. <When that happens, the respect that you seek will come through a life that looks a lot more like Jesus>
And, we are in an election cycle, so — For the political ideologue who looks down on members of the opposite ideology as inferior image bearers, Jesus says,
“take that into the tomb, and follow me.”
Here is what I do know. The world is looking for new solutions right now. And, the church is answering questions that hurting people are not asking (masks, civil disobedience to meet, isolation, trust a voting block, etc). People want to know if they matter. Well, Jesus created them to look like Him, and He died out of love for that to happen. How about if we follow Him?
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