Jesus called Simon and his brother Andrew. “At once” they dropped their nets and followed him. The woman at the Samaritan well dropped her water jar to respond to Christ’s call. The man in the Gerasenes enthusiastically jumped in the boat with Jesus upon being cleansed. When he received his sight, Bartimaeus “immediately” leapt up to follow Jesus on the way.
Over and over again the clear and consistent portrait of true discipleship to Jesus is painted as a relationship on Christ’s terms, not on the terms or conditions of Christ’s followers. Bargaining with God is NOT the all-in submission for which our Savior is looking. The Gospels are full of these would-be-disciples:
“IF you’ll give me a nice place to live, THEN I’ll follow you.”
“IF I can take care of my business first, THEN I’ll follow you.”
“IF you let me deal with my family issues first, THEN I’ll follow you.”
“IF you allow me to hang on to my worldly possessions, THEN I’ll follow you.”
In each case, it’s a deal-breaker with Jesus. We don’t negotiate with God. We don’t put conditions on Christ. This is not a game show. It’s life and death. It’s heaven and hell. It’s salvation and judgment and relationship and atonement and sanctification. It’s eternal. We give ourselves wholly to him as a response to his complete service and sacrifice for us. No looking back. Brakes off. Full steam ahead.
That’s the deal.
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Thank you so much to every single person who donated this week to MDA. We wound up raising a total of $1,105 for clinics and shots and treatments and evaluations and therapy and equipment repairs and camps. I was taken away in the back seat of an unmarked car at noon yesterday and made it back to the church offices, full of barbecue and a couple of funny stories, by 1:30. Thank you, again. Your good-natured ribbing was wonderful. Your open heart for generously giving to those in need was inspirational.
I’m going to leave the link to my MDA page over there on the right side of the blog for 30 more days. If you’d like to add to the total and help me meet my actual goal of $1,480, just click over there.
I met a couple of kids at the Lock-Up who are suffering with Muscular Dystrophy and I wished them God’s richest blessings for healing and comfort and peace. But my thoughts were and still are with Angela Giles. May our merciful Father bless you, Angela, with his gracious healing and comfort and peace.
We love you,
Allan
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