Sunday, August 07, 2005

I Love To Dance A Little Sidestep, Now They See Me, Now They Don't

Funny how people will do anything to get around the call of Jesus to sacrifice. They bend and twist and turn, first they are literalists, then they are not. They say, the bible says what it means and means what it says. Then they explain away everything that requires them to actually leave the place of comfort, and security and venture off into the crazy world of the Spirit.

It's like trying to get someone out of the spa, when its zero degrees outside.

Well I must be honest, I am not the best at this myself. I try. I have sold most of what I owned and tried to follow, but I still like a bit of security. I want to still have a glass of wine that comes from a bottle once and a while. But atleast I am trying. Funny, the more I actually give up, the more I realise I got more in return. But not like the Copenhagen faith people tell you, I didn't get more money, I got more joy. More love. More fulfillment. You know, the stuff that doesn't really pay the rent.

Jesus preached a downwardly mobile kingdom, where the greatest is the servant of all. And He actually left all and showed us what true sacrifice and humility means. We have in turn tried to create Jesus Claus who gives you everything you want if you are good enough, have enough faith, or plant enough seed. Well guess I will just end my hypocritical rant and put my bags in the mercedes so I can go to class.

Oh, just incase you were wondering its twenty five years old, was loaned to us to use while we are here, and needs a bit of work.

the rev

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Funny, the more I actually give up, the more I realise I got more in return. "

I have heard you say this quite a bit. Can you be specific with examples.

I will be posting a thread about this topic and how it hs affected my life on the holyground soon.

john jensen said...

Well I have not worked full time for most of my life. This has been to free me for ministry. The sacrifice has been ofcourse financial. We haven't driven a new car the entire time we have been married, we don't have many things that people would consider essential and so forth.

What I did get is a healthy understanding of what is really important. More time with my daughters and wife. A life that has been filled with the opportunities to help others in a variety of different ways. The ability to tell others that true community does work, it takes sacrifice, and commitment. etc.

I feel amazingly fulfilled with my life. I feel like I can say many people survive, but few people really live, but I feel like one of those few. I could go on and on.

the rev

Anonymous said...

JJ

You are a great example of a person who has not tried to dodge Jesus. Or, you have done a bad job at dodging and weaving.

Stay true!

backyardmissionary said...

hey I'll vouch for the rev's car...

having been sitting in it when the motor died in the middle of a busy intersection i can tell you it is no prize!

but it goes - kinda

Anonymous said...

Thanks John. That is what I suspected. I have experienced the same thing for the first time in my life over the last 2 years.