“Then he said to
them all: ‘Whoever wants to
be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow
me.” Luke 9:23
“Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son
of Man has no place to lay his head.’”Luke 9:58
“In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have
cannot be my disciples.” Luke 14:33
“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome
the world.” John 16:33
Where in these passages does it say that if I follow Christ, obey His
commands, follow Him and His will, I will live happily ever after?
Right. It doesn’t. In fact, these passages indicate quite the opposite.
Yet, I have led myself to believe that is the case. I had decided that
since we obediently uprooted our lives, rented out our safe, suburban home, and moved across country to the “hood”, we were destined to live “happily ever
after”. And, when the
opposite occurred, I emotionally crashed.
The truth is, I suspect many of us
secretly subscribe to this thinking. I have come to think of it as an “undercover”
prosperity gospel. No. We don’t voice the
belief that God wants to only bless you with good health, great wealth and easy living, but we live like it.
I’ve thought things
like “This move to California is out of obedience, so things will just fall in
line…” I was told things like, “God will bless your obedience. He will open
doors in response.” Well meaning. A bit of truth. He has blessed our
obedience, but those blessings were not things “falling in line” how I wanted
them to.
Quite the contrary, nothing has manifested itself in the way I
desired, planned or expected. There has been one challenge after another. And,
my natural tendency has been to question if God has really called us here. Surely obedience would not be met with
hardship and instability. Surely hardship means we are on the wrong path. But… maybe not.
David, after being anointed king, spent years on the run from his current king, Saul. Yet,
his challenges did not change his calling.
Joseph had dreams that he would one day be in authority over his
family years before he became the 2nd in command Egypt. Those years
were filled with betrayal, false accusations, abandonment, slavery and false
imprisonment. Yet, these things did not change his
calling.
Christ is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Alpha and Omega, yet he
walked earth as the Son of Man, and was ridiculed, betrayed, denied, abandoned, beaten and killed. These challenges were
His calling.
As much as I admittedly loathe the challenges we face, as much as I
cry out like David “How long?” and “Why have you forsaken me?” As much as I
want to call out like Christ “Take this cup away from me”. I am comforted in
knowing that we are not alone. There are challenges associated with the call. So I hold onto God’s truth. “And, being
confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to
completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6
Holding fast,
Kim
