According to our man Jesus, there is a better way to live. He came to give us life, and yet so many of us live in dead end ways. We live our lives in obligation, striving, busy, looking for rest, longing for love, hoping for more, miscomprehending grace, with a shortsighted vision of the faith life. In a very real way, I believe most Christians miss the plentiful life that Jesus came to bring.
Jesus said, " Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter though it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Only a few? What does that mean? Just yesterday I heard a statistic that there are 2.2 billion Christians in the world (33% of the world population). That sounds like a lot more than a few are finding the way of life.
When he made this statement Jesus was talking to his disciples. He was not just making a statement about eternal life, but real life, life now. The path to life in this world is hard to find because there are so many things that look like life. Even for the Christian, the temptation to pursue a path that leads to death is real. We are not immune to mistaking the wide path for the path to abundant life. We as a Church are in danger of following the same paths that the world does in our search for life, only we do it in religious clothing. Just look at the Pharissees. They pursued what they thought was life by "searching the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life... But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life" (John 5:39). Could it be that our Bible studies, our preaching, our evangelistic endeavors, and our church activities are leading us down a wide path? Could it be that we as a church, just like the Jews, are missing the narrow gate to life? We substitute activity for rest, obligation for willingness, striving for cooperation, anxious doing for peace, and responsibility for love. Where is the life that Jesus promised? What is it and why does it seem that so few Christians find it?
The better way is a path to life and that life is found in being with Jesus. Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Life is found in being with Jesus. In the presence of Jesus there is no obligation. There is no striving. There is only rest, there is only love, there is only peace, there is only hope, there is faith, and grace, and all that our hearts long for. We are creatures who long for rest, for a heavenly country. We long for a home and a place of love and belonging. We desire, a place where we are known and loved infinitely deep, where our souls feel the weight of our value. This is a place where we are wanted and where we experience intimacy. It is the place where we are at love, staring into Jesus' eyes, laying together, laying in rest, in peace, in love. Jesus is that way. He wants to take you to the way of love, to the way of belonging and to the way of life.
This path however, is not valued by our society. We do not think of being with Jesus as the way to life. No, the way to life is by getting things done. The way to life is by doing things for Jesus, not by being with him. It's interesting that right after Jesus talks about the two paths, he talks about the, "Many (who) will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'" But Jesus was not interested in their activity, he was not impressed with their doing. "I never knew you; depart from Me," he said. He classified ambition, getting things done, striving, and doing as paths that lead to death. Doing things for Jesus is not the path to life.
Being with Jesus is the path to life. Why is it so hard to spend time laying in the presence of Jesus? Why is it so hard to share our emotions with Jesus, to sit and cry with him, laugh with him, and be silent with him? Why do we find it so difficult to slow down and stop our doing so that we can be with Jesus? It's because we really don't beleive that being with Jesus is the path to life. We really don't believe that Jesus could possibly want to be with us unless we have something to bring him (i.e. prophesying, casting out demons, and doing many wonders).But the exact opposite is true, coming to Jesus with our activity does not make him like us anymore, in fact it keeps us from him. Intimacy requires two open hands. Lovers can not truly love if they have their hands full of gifts. Intimacy is the result of being together. Jesus can only see me for who I really am when I drop my gifts and take off my religious clothing. He wants enrapture you in love. He wants to be close. When we bring ambition to Jesus, we miss Jesus, we miss life.
There's this song I've been listening to that is actually called, "The Better Way." I challenge you to take 30 minutes to lay on the carpet and listen to this song. Just be with Jesus. Just rest in him. No striving, doing, obligation, or responsibility. Just Jesus. Just Life. Jesus is Life. Jesus is the better way.
Use this link and click on "A Better Way." http://www.rhapsody.com/jason-upton/tracks.html
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