Lent- Day 16
Lent 2010: A Season for Listening
3/6/10 – Day 16
Listening to The Teachings of Jesus: Part 5
Then he said to them all, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. 25What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves? 26Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27But truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.” -Luke 9:23-27
It has been said, “The quickest way to defeat an enemy is to convince them that they have already won”. Our spiritual complacency too often arises out of our sense of victory. We are the collectors of trophies and the hangers of plaques. It is hard to look around most of our churches without seeing reminders and ebenezers of battles long since won. Content that our work is done we fall asleep and become vulnerable to the ongoing struggles that surrounds us and fills us.
We live in a dichotomous world between certain victory and continuing conflict. We place the struggles in the past and the final celebrations in the future. In the process we miss the moments in which we live and move. When did we exchange our hunger and thirst for the kingdom as a present reality for a distant dream of paradise to come? Discipleship is not a one-time commitment that we made so very long ago. Discipleship is a journey we choose to undertake each day. The journey of the cross is not something that we completed at the altar as children, but a pilgrimage we take up each morning. Free will is our constant companion. Each day we can choose the path of Christ or some other road that is placed before us. Sometimes we choose correctly, other times we turn away from God in pursuit of something else. Yesterday is gone from our control and tomorrow is not ours. Today is the day of our salvation! Today is the place where we meet God!
Today we trust the past and the future into Gods hands and deal with the opportunities and obstacles of today. Today we must choose to follow Christ again for the first time. Today we experience a little conversion and little turnings that are part of a much larger story. Today is the day! May we use it wisely and live it well to our own betterment and to the glory of God! – Rev. John Mattox
Let us pray,
Lord most Holy,
Let us loose ourselves in you.
We long for your kingdom here, today.
Help us to do your will,
so that we might see your kingdom.
Amen.
– Rev. Katie Mattox