Lent is one of the most important times in the Christian calendar. It’s also the one we tend to struggle with the most.
We like Easter. Easter’s a good time. It’s the time we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Palm Sunday’s a good time, too, because we celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We love Christmas, of course. After all, who does not like babies? We struggle a little with Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, but we can handle those, because we know the happy ending’s coming up.
Lent, though, is different. Lent is when we’re asked to think about just what our faith means to us and how seriously we take it. Lent is when we’re asked to think about whether we want a faith that just makes us feel good, or if we want a faith that will really change our lives.
Jesus did not tell us that the point of following him was to make ourselves feel good. In fact, Jesus pretty much said the exact opposite. Jesus said, many times and in many ways, that following him was going to be hard. He said it could involve pain and suffering. He said it would mean giving things up, sometimes things that mean a lot to us. That’s what he meant when he talked about counting the cost. Jesus said that if we want to follow him, we need to be willing to give up absolutely everything in order to do it. Jesus said that if we follow him, we need to be willing to follow him all the way, even to the cross.
That’s a tough thing, if we take it seriously. In our skit, we saw several examples of people who were not willing to do it. One said this must be some mistake, that he wanted nothing to do with the cross. Another said he liked his life the way it was and did not want the cross to change it. Another said she did not have enough money to accept the cross. Still another said she had too much money to accept the cross.
I’ll tell you what, the one line in that whole skit that hit me hardest is the one that said, “I love my life the way it is.” Because I do. I don’t know that I’ve ever been happier with my life than I am right now. I love being here. I love living in and serving these communities. I love the woman I’m been privileged to serve with. I love the people I work with and the things I do. I’ve loved getting to know all of you. I love being able to get involved in these communities.
Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s not that any of that is necessarily bad. If you love your life the way it is, that’s not necessarily bad, either. God is not upset with us for enjoying our lives. I think God wants us to enjoy our lives. A God who would put us here and then want us to miserable would not be a very loving God.
Here’s the thing, though. To get to this point, there’ve been times in my life when I’ve had to give things up. I’ll bet you have, too. I had to be willing to risk giving up things I liked in order to get better things.
For example, when I lived in Pierre, I was really active in the community theater group, and I loved it. I had to give that up in order to go to Wessington Springs. When we were in Springs, we got really involved in the community. I sang in a quartet, I did the public address announcing for the ball games, we put on concerts, we did all sorts of things. We had really good friends there. That town was home, more than any other town I’d ever lived in at that time. When we decided I was going to become a pastor, we knew we were going to have to move. That meant we were going to have to give all that up. We did not want to, but we knew we had to if we were going to do what we knew God wanted us to do.
I’m not trying to cite myself as a role model here. I’m sure you’ve had similar experiences throughout your life, too. There are times where you had to make decisions to give things up in the hope that something better was coming. We all face that. We have to decide whether we’re going to take the risk of giving up something we know we enjoy in order to follow God into an unknown future.
In my case, it’s worked out really well. As I said, I don’t know that I’ve ever been happier with my life than I am right now. Here’s the question, though: am I willing to do it again? Are you? Suppose God came to me tomorrow and said, “Jeff, I know you’re happy here, but there’s somewhere else I want you to go. I know you’re happy as a pastor, but there’s something else I want you to do now. Do you trust me enough to follow me?”
What would my response be? What would your response be, if God said something like that to you? It’s not an easy question. It’s not meant to be. It would be a really hard thing for me, if God came to me and said that. The more we love our lives the way they are, the harder it is to change them. The happier we are with the things we do, the things we have, and the people we share them with, the harder it is to be willing to give it all up to follow God.
Jesus wants us to follow, but Jesus wants us to follow with our eyes open. Jesus never hid the fact that there was a cost to following him. He makes it plain, over and over again. At many times, and in many ways, Jesus tells us that we need to be willing to give up absolutely everything to follow him.
In this season of Lent, I’d encourage us all to think seriously about that. Do we want a faith that just makes us feel good? Or do we want a faith that really changes our lives? Our willingness to truly follow Jesus Christ depends on our answer.
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