Good Intentions

Matthew 11:29-30

(NIV) 29-30 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

(The Message) 28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

The truth is that everyone is being shaped and formed by someone and/or something. In essence, what Jesus is saying is that if you follow me, you will become like me. I am not going to lead you down a path of death, destruction, or heartache. Learn from me the way you were created to live.

This is radically different than just doing the things that Jesus said and did.

Willard writes,

            “Following in his steps cannot be equated with behaving as he did when he was ‘on the spot’. To live as Christ lived is to live as he did all his life. Our mistake is to think that following Jesus consists in loving our enemies, going the ‘second mile’, turning the other cheek, suffering patiently and hopefully-while living the rest of our lives just as everyone else around us does.” (Spirit of the Disciplines, 5)

Dang. That is good stuff. It is whimsical to think that anybody wins a medal in the Olympics on the day of the event. The moment on the medal stand is a culmination of the last four years or more of training. A college graduate does not earn a degree win they walk across the stage on graduation day. That degree is earned through a rigorous process of multiple classes all the while multi-tasking many other life responsibilities. Becoming a christian does not culminate when we start believing. Becoming a christian means that every day, when we are faced with situations that elicit a response from us, we will draw upon the deep spring of Christ welling up inside of us.

We all know the saying, “The path to hell is paved with good intentions.” Willard posits this truth, “We intend what is right, but we avoid the life that would make it reality.” (6) There is a cost to everything we do. Much is given up to be the people we want to be. May we as believers never only “intend” to follow Jesus. May we actually give ourselves to the journey of handing over our entire mind, body, and soul to be shaped and molded into the divine/human image of our Jesus. May we become like Jesus. May we leave behind an aroma of Jesus everywhere we go.