The New Normal

The quintessential question to ask oneself before “deciding” to follow Christ, becoming His disciple, is, “How much am I willing to pay for an eternity filled with unending pure love, incomprehensible elation, and unmeasurable joy?” Really, how much would you pay for a perfect peace that you’ve never seen nor experienced, but only through faith know of it’s existence?

No pain..no sorrow..no loss..no guilt..no shame..no rejection..

I’m afraid the answer to the question is..EVERYTHING.

Yes, in order to gain the richness of the next life, the one we cannot see or touch, we must lose everything in this life that we can hold and feel. This is nearly impossible, for we are attached to our tangible possessions and even our friends and family.

• How could I possibly give it all up?
• Why would God ask for such complete surrender?
• But I’ve been prudent and frugal, my savings account makes me feel safe.
• Why would I need to endure such pain of going without?
• Does that increase my faith?
• Will that make me trust Him more?

Francis Chan puts it this way in his book Crazy Love,

This place of trust isn’t a comfortable place to be; in fact, it flies in the face of everything we’ve been taught about proper planning. We like finding refuge in what we already have rather than in what we hope God will provide. But when Christ says to count the cost of following Him, it means we must surrender everything. It means being willing to go without an extra tunic or a place to sleep at night, and sometimes without knowing where we are going.

Personally, my greatest challenge in completely following God comes at the point of absolute surrender. I’ve read the stories in the Bible and I’ve heard the remarkable testimonies of the zealots of the Christian faith..or dare I say..the “normal” Christians who have sacrificed it all for the Kingdom’s sake. For these heroes, selfless pursuit of God leads them to but one conclusion, “It is normal for me to desire God more than anything on this earth.”

So, I have been asking myself these questions:

• Would I be willing to sell my comfortable house on the hill as Abram did? (Genesis 12)
• Would I be willing to receive public humiliation and shots to my pride and ego for following what God has lead me to do like Noah and his ridiculous ark? (Genesis 6)
• Would I give my very last dollar and be left broke in an act of worship to the Giver of all good things like the poor widow did? (Luke 21)
• Would I be willing to sacrifice my child as Abraham was prepared to do with Isaac? (Genesis 22)
• Would I be willing to endure pain, torture, and even death in my attempts to share the love of Christ with the world like the original 12 disciples did? (gospels)

How about you? Have you weighed the cost of following Jesus as a “normal” disciple? It will cost you everything and it ain’t gonna be easy, yall..

“When all is said and done, the life of faith is nothing if not an unending struggle of the spirit with every available weapon against the flesh.”  -Dietrich Bonhoeffer (The Cost of Discipleship)