Matt 16:24-25
Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
And here I've been thinking that I must get my life together before anything else. No, the truth is that I can't even do that. I need only to follow Jesus.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Minimalism
I'm a minimalist at heart because I'm lazy. It's sin. I see it especially in my school work. What is the least amount of work I can put into this class that will get me a grade that I'm satisfied with? Often times, I misjudge and my grade comes out much poorer than I expect but I can't really blame anyone because I chose not to work very hard in the first place.
In any case, how I view school is wrong in the first place because my end thought is the grade that I will receive. Not, did I learn anything from that class? That's what school is supposed to be about right? The end goal often dictates how we view the entire situation.
Too often, I've also been a minimalist in my spiritual life. I've been a minimalist with God. God, what's the least amount of work I can do in order to be saved and go to heaven? It's not about meeting the bare minimum. If you're in the line of thought, you've already gone wrong. Thinking about achieving the minimum is already wrong.
If you do not love God more than anything else, heaven will probably not be enjoyable for you. After all, heaven is enjoying God forever and ever. Will there be pie? Who cares? God is infinitely greater than any love for pie. And you think you're going to be happy "enjoying" him forever and ever if you're not absolutely in love with him? If you've only given the minimum effort?
Don't scrape by. God, you'll forgive that sin, right? He will but sinning while knowing that he'll forgive it is the wrong line of thought. Thinking that is already wrong. And I think this way too frequently.
Lord, transform this heart to be sold out for you. What I think of as radical should be more thought of as normal. Normal to those who love you. What is not normal is sin. Help me to hold onto what is good and flee from what is evil.
In any case, how I view school is wrong in the first place because my end thought is the grade that I will receive. Not, did I learn anything from that class? That's what school is supposed to be about right? The end goal often dictates how we view the entire situation.
Too often, I've also been a minimalist in my spiritual life. I've been a minimalist with God. God, what's the least amount of work I can do in order to be saved and go to heaven? It's not about meeting the bare minimum. If you're in the line of thought, you've already gone wrong. Thinking about achieving the minimum is already wrong.
If you do not love God more than anything else, heaven will probably not be enjoyable for you. After all, heaven is enjoying God forever and ever. Will there be pie? Who cares? God is infinitely greater than any love for pie. And you think you're going to be happy "enjoying" him forever and ever if you're not absolutely in love with him? If you've only given the minimum effort?
Don't scrape by. God, you'll forgive that sin, right? He will but sinning while knowing that he'll forgive it is the wrong line of thought. Thinking that is already wrong. And I think this way too frequently.
Lord, transform this heart to be sold out for you. What I think of as radical should be more thought of as normal. Normal to those who love you. What is not normal is sin. Help me to hold onto what is good and flee from what is evil.
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