Getting Job-ed
“Therefore, everyone who will acknowledge me before others, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever denies me before others, I will also deny him before my Father in heaven. Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to turn
a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and a man’s enemies will be
the members of his household.
The one who loves a father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; the one who loves a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it, and anyone who loses his life because of me will find it. Matthew 10:32-39 CSB
My goodness, how offensive Jesus can be! I feel like Jesus is always But is this really that absurd? Jesus is not telling us here to not love our family. In Luke 14, Jesus uses stronger words (“hate”) but this was a technique to show that the comparative difference of loving and devotion to Jesus to anything else should appear so extreme it’s appalling. What Jesus is saying here is that there’s a clear line: you’re either with Him or against Him- no room for ambiguity.
“…we live our lives looking no different from the rest of the world…”
We live in a time of extreme ambiguity and complacency in the church, and this is extremely concerning. We think that we can be having a relationship with the All-Wise, All-Powerful, Creator of the universe but we live our lives looking no different from the rest of the world? That’s not how this works according to Jesus. Our devotion, our citizenship, our love, our allegiance is to Jesus, the true King. The world says our allegiance should be to whatever cause is showing up on the popular news channels: pro-guns/anti-guns, political parties, pro masks/anti masks, pro-vax/anti-vax… Jesus wants your heart. The enemy has done a crazy job at redirecting our attention to other details rather than the one that really matters: God.
Don’t just check the boxes for checking the boxes
Jesus hates ambiguity and lukewarmness. Really? Revelation 3:15-16 CSB: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth.” Harsh words. Jesus goes on to say their issue is out of not seeing Him as the fully satisfying Provider He is and that they need to repent. We need this also. We need to stop playing religious games. Stop checking boxes for checking boxes. Jesus wants our devotion, our love, our worship, and our lives. Before we go through a ‘try harder’ campaign, we need to pray that He will remove our heart of stone in exchange for a heart of flesh. God is truly the only one capable of really changing us. So run to Him! Turn to Him! Not by your own strength.
-Austin
