Following Jesus doesn't necessarily mean adding more things to your already busy schedule. It's not like a hobby that you squeeze in somewhere. It's also not like an 8-5 job that takes up most of your day. Nor do I think it's like maintaining a relationship with aged parents or trying to iron out a strained relationship or even keeping up an enjoyable long-distance relationship. Although, don't get me wrong. Following Jesus is a relationship and it is a job. It's just not separate from all your other relationships or jobs. It happens simultaneously, in the midst of all the other things you do.
Yes, followers of Jesus take time to read the Bible and talk to God. But, that Bible-reading and God-talking colors all our ordinary day-to-day things. It teaches us to do our ordinary things with a different mindset and heart-set and body-set. It's like a God-code for deciphering life. We get our code from our God-talking and Bible-reading, and then we hold up our code to every circumstance to see what it means to God.
Or it's like a daily increase of muscles and brain capacity and sensing power that makes everything we do easier. We're able to lift things we once couldn't. We're able to figure out difficult problems that used to overwhelm us. And we're able to sense undercurrents in people and situations that we'd previously been oblivious to.
Yes, following Jesus adds something to our lives. It makes everything easier. It gives us God-tools to use in our mourning routines, in our commutes and our emails and fixing meals and bills and meetings and run-ins with children or parents or spouses. Now we have abilities above and beyond what we ever thought we could have. And this can make even overloaded schedules manageable.
More on Simplifying Life: The Wages of 6 Days of Work, New Year's Disillusions, God's New Year's Resolutions, In Praise of Mending, You Don't Have to Do That Anymore
Posts
Comments