Jesus Requires Total Abandonment

“When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:4 NIV)

We’ve taught people it’s OK to let Jesus have a significant place in their lives, a moderate place in their lives, or a compartmentalized place in their lives. We know discipleship involves growth, so people need to grow into “Jesus defines my life.”

But the growth isn’t happening among so many followers of Christ. Why, instead of the abundant life, do so many of us end up living lives of quiet desperation?

We go to church, we read the Bible, we pray, we try to be good people and serve other people. Yet, for many of us, Jesus isn’t central to our increasingly complex lives, where we’re over-stretched and now seem to be facing a tsunami of uncertainty in many areas that for so long have seemed relatively secure, such as our finances, our jobs, our homes — even our fundamental safety.

God never intended for Jesus to be an important part of our lives; he is our life. Colossians 3:4 says, “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (NIV). If you try to find your life apart from Jesus, you will lose it; but if you lose your life in Jesus, then you will live an extraordinary life energized by the life of Christ within you.

Jesus will not tolerate wishy-washy disciples. Clearly, what we call radical obedience here on Earth is the obedience expected in the Kingdom of Heaven. In other words, our lukewarm discipleship is actually radical disobedience.

Jesus has his eye on the endgame, and so he intends to break through every program, every ideal, and every form of legalism that keeps us from following him in total abandonment.

Thoughts –

In what ways have you allowed your life to be over-filled with things that keep you from growing in discipleship?

What radical steps do you need to take so that you can follow Christ in obedience?

 

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