Vagabonds

Here’s another one of those chapters where I would have paid the whole price of the book just to read the few pages contained in it.

"I lose myself in this unveiling until there is nothing left of me but you."

Can you imagine that day? That day in heaven when you look up and realize you are you but you’re not the old you – you’re the HIM version of you! That just blows my mind when I think about it. It’s like putting money away for retirement over the course of forty years and then looking at your bank statement one day and realizing you’re a millionaire! You know you made the sacrifices but a MILLION of them? Woweee!

"The road Jesus walks leads all the way to the cross. It’s there that old lives, old priorities, old selves have to be put to death. "Follow me," he says. It’s both an invitation and a command. And he waits for only a moment to see what we will do. Then he moves on to invite others."

As some of you may know, our church is spending a month dedicating our small groups to learning how to get better at pointing people towards Christ. One thing they’ve stressed over and over again is that we shouldn’t be thinking we’re going to be standing there while the person runs all four bases and slides into home. We really just need to listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and move when He says "move," then discern what next step we can help that person take. It’s hard to imagine this is how this thing actually works because, as humans, we’re taught that "you get what you give" and "effort = rewards" and so on…but this is the one time in life when that just doesn't apply. No matter how much effort we put into helping someone come to know Jesus, it’s really up to the Holy Spirit to open that door for them to say yes. We’re like the evening gown that the Miss America contestants wear when trying to win the crown. We certainly add something to the pageantry but they aren’t going to win the prize because of a dress.

"Typically, he emphasized the cost of following him, not the rewards."

Jesus did something most people these days would never do. He was the antithesis of a used car salesman. He didn’t try to win someone over by talking about the gold streets of heaven. Instead, he talked about the sacrifices and the pain of what He was asking people to do. He came right out and said, "This will cost you everything." When was the last time someone in your life gave you that kind of ultimatum? Probably never…It’s the one and only time you have to choose something knowing you may very well lose everything in your life - including your life.

"Jesus isn’t interested in admirers. He never was. And that’s why his invitation was not ‘Admire me’ but ‘Follow me.’ That’s why he was so blunt with the crowds. Jesus didn’t want a fan club. He wanted a spiritual revolution."

I think it’s amazing that any of us ever make this choice. Who else could possibly make a human being say "Okay, yes, take whatever you need to from me even if that includes my family, my home, my things, my pets, my friends, my books, my work, my sight, my hearing, my money, my children and my spouse?"

From that moment on, we go from being an admirer of Jesus to being a follower of Jesus. Once we take that step, we know that nothing in our lives will ever mean as much to us as that one moment in time and no matter what Jesus asks of us, it will never be too much.

"break me, God, for i will not bend.
and I’m not shaped as i should
be anymore."

And so the journey of vagabonds begins…