It's all about Jesus...

It's been a few weeks since last I blogged thanks to the busy-ness of life, so as I come to this new post my thoughts are occupied with Jesus. That's probably a good thing for a Christian, particularly if you're a pastor, but I guess my point is that in the many things that vie for my attention and the many facets of church and faith I study, I always come back to Jesus. He is the centre of my faith.


Again, that may seem obvious, and yet as I live my life and talk to so many people it's amazing how easy it can be to get caught up with things and forget that Christians are simply called to follow Jesus. Christianity is that simple, and that difficult. Whole industries have evolved and keys and steps and principles appeared to teach us how to follow him. It occurs to me that Christ himself didn't feel the need to complicate this call to discipleship because he knew the complexity that was hidden in that call. To follow Jesus is to embrace the mission to image God in this world and represent the presence of his kingdom, this new way of living as a redeemed human being. This isn't easy.


Jesus himself said that in this world we would have difficulties (John 16:33), and we often - rightly - take this to mean opposition from the powers and the fallen nature of our world. I think that he also knew that negotiating life as a renewed-yet-still-flawed human being means making choices and decisions that are often less than clear, even with the guidance of the Bible and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Some would tell me that we can clearly hear the voice of the Spirit leading us in every decision if we just listen carefully enough. Yet my observation is that they struggle just as much as anyone else. So if you think that either you're hard of spiritual hearing or that the Spirit shouldn't play Chinese whispers and should communicate with more volume - take heart, you're normal! A study of the scriptures indicates that God expects his children to navigate life wisely and in submission to his Word and their renewed, Spirit coached conscience. God doesn't desire puppets or robots, but children who grow, triumph, fall, get up, and actively and lovingly follow their Lord. This mixed up, sometimes confusing, always surprising wrestling to work out our faith is what it means to follow Jesus.


And so it comes back to him in his humanity and deity, God and man, demonstrating how to live well and be the soon to be revealed kingdom: to be salt and light and a window into what could be and will be when God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven. The life and words of Christ challenge and fascinate me, his suffering and death redeems me, his resurrection liberates me and assures me his promises are true. I am rarely able to determine 'what would Jesus do,' but I can seek to comprehend all that he has done and how I can therefore express the reality of his kingdom, this new age he has inaugurated, in my time and culture.


It is so easy to get caught up with programs and styles and goals and success and buildings and all the other aspects of modern life. But in the midst of it all is Jesus. Our wonderfully, gloriously, incomparable Saviour. The call to follow him is to humbly and joyfully journey through life in community with a bunch of other disciples, learning together what it means to be 'the body of Christ.'


I don't think Jesus is particularly bothered about the size of our churches or bank accounts or houses or share portfolios (he probably is actually, but not for the reasons we expect - see Luke 6:20-26), I think Jesus is interested in whether we are seeking to follow, whether we are doing it in loving company with others, and whether we are different today than we were yesterday. I am constantly challenged as to whether my life is a Jesus shaped life. It's not, but I pray that I'm on the way - that I'm following him.