Read by yours truly

So many claims on our attention and focus. So much emphasis on fulfilling ourselves, being true to ourselves, celebrating ourselves. So much contempt for challenges to our perspectives. Dialogue and discourse wither as we retreat to our echo chambers for validation, secure in a community that strokes our egos and celebrates our common narrowness. Certainly culture does not equip us for kingdom living. We must look to the teachings of the King.

As we look at the thoughts of our Master, we find some startling statements. In Matthew 7 He tells people who prophesied in His name, cast out demons in His name, performed miracles in His name and called Him Lord “I never knew you; depart from my presence you workers of iniquity.” Wow! He does say the way is narrow and hard and few choose it, but His response here is disturbing. He reveals that not all who call Him ‘Lord’ will enjoy celestial bliss, but only those who actually do the will of the Father. That is sobering! It means that I can spend my time and energy on Christian service out of my disposition or commonly accepted convention and not be in touch with the One for Whom it is given. I have to ask myself, am I working for myself or Him?

Then there are the ten virgins, waiting for the bridegroom to come. Five are unprepared for the wait, do not plan well, and are denied entrance to the ceremony after the doors are shut. And they hear the same thing: “I do not know you”, even though they were waiting. There is the servant who grows harsh and worldy in the long wait for his master’s return. Things don’t go so well for him at the homecoming. And in that same section of teaching we have the fearful lazy bondservant who refused to improve on his master’s investment in him, and he shared the same fate as the domineering cruel servant.

Where is the nice Jesus in these illustrations? As the bringer of truth He does not spare our feelings in speaking about the reality we don’t see. It is a kindness to us to be challenged about our natural grasp of what it means to belong to Him. When Jesus walked among the seven churches in Revelation, seven times He says ‘I know your deeds”, five times He says “Repent”, and every church is given the opportunity of receiving a precious intimate reward for going His way. But even as He calls them out, He reminds them that those He LOVES He corrects. It is not the harsh rejection of their performance, but a loving reminder that it is His church, His ways, His kingdom.

He wants us – every bit of us – our fears, our failures, our hopes and dreams, our affection, our will, our attention, our ideas, our opinions. He is not interested in performance. He invites us to lean on Him, listen to Him, rely on Him, rest in Him. He shows us His heart and dignifies us with the invitation to cooperate with Him in reclaiming His kingdom on earth. He does not want robots, as we see with the parable of the talents. He also gives us talents (literal and figurative) and we will answer for how we use them. We don’t cower in fear of making a mistake, but we are compelled by love to serve HIm. We do well to keep close to His heart of grace in it all, to avail ourselves of His resources rather than relying on our own, and to value His instruction enough to search out His perspectives. To walk as disciples is a choice we make. It is answering the call. We do not drift into discipleship. It is not comfortable, predictable and rote, but more like walking on water. It is abandonment to the will of Another, so very foreign to our culture and our nature, and yet it is such an exhilarating adventure! We can be free from our myopic (nearsighted, short-sighted, unimaginative) opinion, our veneer of self righteousness, and the tyranny of self rule. We have the choice – for now.

“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.” Proverbs 21:2 He already knows who we really are. Why not admit it to ourselves and get on with the business of being transformed into a kingdom reclaimer? It starts with relinquishing our own little kingdom, making it His. What an adventure!!

Shalom!