Wide and Easy

I don't want to admit this, but over the course of my life, I've tended to take the easy way -- all the way down to small, insignificant matters like cutting corners on chores.

This is a character trait of mine that I don't want. You might say, "boy, I wish that was my main struggle." Well, before you get too far with wishing you could trade places, let me tell you that this character flaw really damages a lot of areas in my life. See, I take the easy way. My tendency is to relax and let sin enter my life. Sometimes I don't even care. I don't care enough to fight it -- to take every thought captive... I can fall into the same sin over and over again and just become calloused. It's easier this way.

What would be hard is to actually fight. It'd be hard to seek the Lord each and every day and ask him to fill me up so that I didn't need all the sin in my life. See, it's difficult to ask God to fill us up for a couple reasons. First, we're so used to getting all our needs from other sources. It's easier. Second, if we're honest, we think we like the fulfillment we get from those other sources more than we like it coming from God.

It's far easier to walk down this road where we wake up every day and begin to plan on how we're going to meet all our needs apart from God. O that I should ever start my day not thinking about the utter dependency I have upon God for every need!

But no one does that! Everyone plans on meeting their needs themselves. (Hence the worry, stress, fear, lust... sin!)

Then I read this: "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." (Matthew 7:13-14)


Father, thank you for forgiving me for my sin -- for the blatant sin that I committed today and everyday in my life. It is nearly unbelievable that you would send your Son to die so that I could be forgiven. You amaze me so much. I love you. I don't want to continue to sin against you, Lord. My heart knows you are the only place my needs will truly and eternally be met, but my head forgets each day and I slip and fall. Teach my mind to understand you more. Not from a book or a teacher, but from experiencing you everyday in my life.

May my prayer truly be as it says it Proverbs 30: "Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, "Who is the Lord?" Make the circumstances in my life such that I cannot forget you -- take what you need.

O that I would begin each day by looking to you for my needs. O that I would believe that the majority of people are walking a broad, easy road to destruction. Father, I do not deserve to be on this narrow road. It goes to prove your greatness and your worthiness when people look at my weakness and unworthiness. How great you truly are.

Are you a Christian, or do you follow Christ?

I've always struggled with the fact that, when Jesus talked about the cost of following himself, most people weighed it and decided it was too great. Just a couple people followed. What I struggle with isn't that... That seems right when you consider Jesus calling people give everything up to follow him. What is confusing is the fact that churches today are packed with tons of people. Now that I live in Southern California, I see some pretty crazy-big churches.

Why are a lot of people today weighing the cost of following Jesus and then following him? Sadly, it's because we've created a new cost of following that most "Christian" churches have agreed upon as being O.K. to get you into heaven someday. It's preached in churches, taught at many of the big "Christian" organizations, magazines, and radio stations. So, instead of trading away our lives and taking up crosses, we can have our normal life (except, add on going to church and trying not to swear) and go to heaven. Almost all churches have signed off on this being O.K., so we think it's fine. How is this any better than the Catholic's indulgences in the 1500s? We're making an easier way to follow Christ.

Newsflash: God never changes. To truly follow Christ, you still need to treat him like a treasure in a field where you actually give up everything to follow him. You need to do what the rich young ruler could not do -- physically trade in this life for the next one. You need to do what Jesus told many crowds of people to do -- take up your cross and die with him. Our churches don't like to talk about these ones, though. With our technological advances now, and life insurance, and ways to save for retirement... We now tell "Christians" that they need to be "responsible" and "a good steward of the life God gave you." Do you think that's what Jesus would be saying to the churches today?

If Jesus were calling people to follow himself at your church, we both know that only a few people from your church would actually follow him. That's what bothers me. Why is following Christ so easy now? Because we are being led to believe that Jesus isn't requiring as much as he used to. Millions of people are going to be very shocked one day. "But, Lord, I went to church, gave 12%, served in the nursery, and prayed to accept Jesus?!"

We follow other people in the church, we follow Christian media, we follow pastors... There is this huge wave of "Christians" who are called followers of Christ by the church but wouldn't be called followers of Christ by Jesus. We follow this wave and then get upset when someone (like myself) tells us that you might as well not be calling yourself a "follower of Christ"... Because Jesus sure wouldn't call you that. I just don't want you to be shocked on that day. Don't be expecting a "well done" unless you're actually and physically following him. That, my friends, is the clearest thing in scripture. Don't listen to the church... Listen to Jesus.

I'm Bringing WWJD Back, Yeah!

Following Christ means actually following the way he lived. I'm bringing W.W.J.D. bracelets back because I can't think of a better filter to make decisions through than asking myself, what would Jesus actually do in this situation? Here's the problem, though. Too often we ask that question when we don't even have our lives setup to ask that question. We're living our safe, comfortable lifestyle and then we ask "W.W.J.D.?" about where to send our children to school... or if we should buy a second house... or should I major in counseling or finance?

People will then tell me, "But, God cares about all aspects of our lives, though."

My point is, I don't think you'd be thinking about those things if you truly had the mind of Christ. Your life has to be setup like Christ in order for you to ask what he'd do in a situation. That's why it sounds so silly to ask "W.W.J.D.?" about so many things... Because Jesus wouldn't even be in that situation!

What is the mind of Christ, then? Unfortunately, it's not as pretty as getting to live a safe, comfortable life. In order to be able to filer things through W.W.J.D., you need to be seeking the same mind as Christ -- otherwise you're just asking W.W.J.D. in situations Jesus wouldn't be in. How do you seek the same mind as Christ?

Philippians 2:1-11
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

That's how. You become a servant, you sell what you have, you are willing to die for this thing. I'm not talking about perfection here. I'm saying that there are two different paths you can be seeking. If you're on the broad path, it doesn't make sense to ask "W.W.J.D.?" because you're interacting with situations that Jesus didn't interact with because his life wasn't setup to have the safety and comfort yours has. If you're on the narrow path, that's where "W.W.J.D.?" makes sense and is actually usable.

Final point: If you're on the broad path, the only answer you should be getting to "what would Jesus do?" is: "Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."