Sunday Leftovers (12/24/06)

Jesus is difficult to believe and hard to follow.

It is for good reason that He says, "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matt. 7:13-14). Many enter through the broad gate because following Jesus Christ is "restrictive" — it entails sacrifice (although it is sacrifice on earth, it is well worth the trade; cf. 2 Cor. 4:17-18) and obedience and conformity (to the image of Christ) and death.

Sometimes that death is literal. It is promised that believers in Christ will be persecuted (2 Tim. 3:12). That was the experience of the disciples, the apostle Paul, and millions of followers since then, and even many more currently.

Sometimes the death is internal and "individual" — a dying of self. "I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live" (Gal. 2:20). That is, I have been so identified by God with the death of Christ that my old self is dead (my sin, manifested most significantly in self-centered, self-focused desires for life and in ignorance and hatred of God), having been removed and replaced by the forgiving blood of Christ, granting me also the presence of His full righteousness to such a degree that it can be said, "I don't live, but Christ lives in me." He is my life.

Is that hard? Indeed it is, because the the flesh does not die easily (cf. Rom. 7:14-25). Yet only those who die will live. That is the great paradox of the cross. So Christ is hard to follow because He is deadly. Follow Him and you will die — certainly you will die to self, and possibly you will die physically too. That's hard for many to accept, which is why only a few find life (Matt. 7:14).

Yet it is also the means by which we glorify God, deeming the treasure of following Him to be superior to the treasure of accumulated earthly comforts. He is deadly. But He is good and glorious. Follow Him.