Why the Church is Still Good (pt 3)

It's simple:  the church (as the true body of Christ) is still good today when and because it leads its members to FREEDOM.

There are few, if any gifts, capable of delivering more joy than freedom.  There's something very powerful about shedding the weight of worry, of the harness that seems to dictate my choices whether I like them or not, to feel as though there is still true hope and possibility in the world, to know that God trusts me to make the best choices in my love toward Him and others.

Freedom.  Good stuff.

But the concept of freedom is still a crazy concept, especially as Jesus explains it.  This morning in my time connecting my heart with God's, I read Mark 8:34-36.  My Bible has conveniently done the hard work by placing the subtitle over this section reading "The Way of the Cross."  In this short passage, Jesus tells us what is required of those who want to have a growing, maturing relationship with him in verse 34, in three simple steps:

1. Deny yourself
2. Pick up your cross
3. Follow me

The concept of freedom isn't spoken about until Jesus summarizes what this process and the journey of this process renders in verse 35:  if you truly want to live and have life to the fullest, you have to let go of your grip on it.  Freedom.  Yet further, in verse 36 Jesus says:  how can you have life-giving freedom if you keep heaping the world on yourself?  You'll pile so much junk on top that you'll suffocate yourself.  Does that make any sense?

So today, as many of us eagerly go off in pursuit of the Christian faith and seek to grow deeper in our relationships with Jesus, let us remember this simple lesson:

• Quit focusing on yourself as your primary object of care and attention.  Our self-absorption and our me-preoccupations will only drive us further into our chains.  We each have an unlimited number of needs and desires that are absolutely impossible to meet or satisfy.  Like the fountain of youth we can spend the world's store of wealth and resources in pursuit of meeting all our personal needs and find that we yet have nothing but more need.
• Accept your call to more important things as your foremost role and identity.  Interestingly enough, before Jesus' death on the cross, the cross was a symbol completely absent of hope and redemption.  At the time that Jesus uttered these instructions, it was as though he might have been saying, embrace the electric chair.  Is this bizarre?  No.  Jesus is ultimately saying once you have made the decision not to focus only on your self, also embrace that what you choose to live for is worth dying for. 
• Follow Jesus example in everything you do.  It's easier said than done at this point because many of us haven't really taken the time to dig deeper into what Jesus actually did.  We have thousands of years of layers, assumptions, and interpretations of what Jesus did so much so that the basic, foundational story line of Jesus' life is nearly lost.  To follow Jesus, first we must relearn His footsteps.  Second, we apply His behaviors in our lives:  when we wake up, with the first people we meet, at the very first moment we enter our work space, and in every moment we have to care for or respond to others.  Do what Jesus would do as if your eyes are intently focusing on His movements and you are doing your best to be His accurate shadow.  

I'm convinced the only way to freedom is to forget how unsatisfied we are in our brokenness and incomplete status.  I'm also convinced the only way to forget is to focus on something, someone far greater and more worthy.  

Happy pursuing!

More to come!

Jason <><