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“Jesus is my homeboy.”
“Jesus is my Co-pilot.”
“Jesus is my buddy.”
These are are popular, trendy descriptions of how Jesus is view in our society today. They give you a nice warm feeling, like snuggling up in a blanket with a burning fire and a cup of steaming hot chocolate in the middle of winter. They’re cuddly, hip, and fun. however, there is a problem. Show me one time in the Bible when Jesus portrayed himself as cuddly, hip, or fun. Go ahead and look…
Oh that’s right. You won’t find one because He never said that.
Jesus claimed he didn’t come to bring peace and be our homeboy in Matthew 10:34-38
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law -a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me”
Jesus said during the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:11, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” Following Jesus isn’t the “fun” thing to do.
Jesus didn’t say if we followed him he’d be our buddy. In Mark 8:34 he says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” By this time in Jesus’ life, the cross was known as a torture device. It wasn’t a nice silver charm at the end of chain, or a tattoo on the back of our arm. It was the willingness to sacrifice everything for following him.
Christianity today has watered down what it means to be a disciple of Christ. What would happen to our world if Christians stopped looking at Jesus as our homeboy, co-pilot, and buddy, and started putting Christ in his rightful place as the KING of our lives? The revival we’ve been praying for for years would come sweeping through our nation. There would be no such thing as orphans. The unreached people groups of the world would be reached. The world would be radically changed.
I’ll leave you with a conversation I has this week. I’m the “big sister” of five precious high school girls in a Bible study back home. Four of us got together Sunday night at Starbucks to talk about sacrificing things in our life to our King. One of the last questions we talked about was “If you truely recognized Christ as your King daily, how would your priorities change?” There was a chorus of “Wow…” “I don’t even know” and “They’d change a lot.” After getting over the initial slap in the face of the question, we moved on to discuss practical things and God showed us a lot through each other, but I’d like to challenge you all with that question today.
If you were to pick up your cross and follow Christ as King daily, what would be different in your life? How would your priorities change? Would sacrificing some comforts of your life seem like such a big deal?
I look forward to reading and talking about your thoughts!
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That is a very challenging question. I could tell you numerous things, but one that stands out is keeping up with my quiet time. That’s not neccessarily giving something up when you read that, but it is. Sometimes i’m so “busy” I just go through my day and don’t take the 30min in the morning that I always have to sit and dig into the word. So many temptations in life to take my eyes away from God’s word. If I were to pick up my cross everyday and follow Christ, I would be using my time wisely and in constant thought of Him. I feel like you just challeneged me…but I like it. I LOVE YOU and miss you. Thank you for this reminder.
Comment by Katie McCoy November 4, 2009 @ 11:13 pmThat was the number one thing we talked about. I’ve been praying for all of us to be better stewards of our time because it is so easy to waste a day away doing things that don’t matter for the kingdom. Katie I miss you. We need to get together over Christmas break SOMEWHERE! I LOVE YOU!
Comment by steph44 November 4, 2009 @ 11:37 pmI love your blog. You know, Proverbs 1:7 says “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,…” That says “fear” which means respect, awe, and reverence in my book. Fear of the LORD is mentioned a lot in Proverbs and I believe that book was written by the wisest man ever. He was wise enough to ask for God’s wisdom. God is my Abba, Father and I want to be considered a friend of God, but I don’t ever want to be casual about Him. He more than deserves my respect and is worthy of honor.
Comment by Lynn Hill November 10, 2009 @ 10:14 pmHey…I don’t know you, but we have a mutual friend: Katie. She posted this blog of yours on her Facebook and I just had to read it. I really liked it and it challenged me as well. Not sure about my answer for your question, but I think my number one thing that would change would be that I would be less judgemental. I’m constantly finding myself comparing myself to others. Especially non-Christians and thinking “well, I’m better off than they are”. Romans 14:1 has always been a verse I’ve struggled with, but a verse I’ve put on the back burner. Thanks for bringing it forward again in my life. Keep up the blogging! I’m going to check this out more often.
~Erin
Comment by learninginlyon November 11, 2009 @ 12:12 amsources:
Biblegateway.com. Web. 4 Nov. 2009. .
Jesus Is My Homeboy. Digital image. Trcool.ning.com. Web. 4 Nov. 2009. .
Comment by steph44 December 4, 2009 @ 3:29 pm