Trading?

Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for? (Mark 8:32-37)

Are you a follower of Christ? If so, your life is marked by some very unique things, such as embracing suffering, not being so intent on yourself that you cannot see the needs of others and being willing to allow Christ to take the lead in your life. How many times do we ask Jesus to take the lead in our lives, intending to live a holy, upright, and circumspect life, only to take the lead right back from him whenever the urge hits us? If you are anything like me, it has been like a game of musical chairs!

Followers LET Jesus lead - that means we do more than invite him to lead - we actually put our own self-reliance to rest and allow him to actually lead. It is easy to slip back into that 'self-reliant' phase in our daily walk - especially when things are going well for us. As soon as something begins to rattle our cage a bit, we become acutely aware of what we lack in dealing with the issues at hand. That's when we ask Jesus to take the lead once again. Jesus is either on the throne, or he is not, but he isn't going to lead if we keep relying upon our own abilities all the time.

Embracing suffering seems to be an odd thing to say right after Jesus tells us to let him take the lead - to be in the driver's seat of our lives. If you think about it, he is actually telling us that our self-reliant way of living will do all it can to avoid suffering and pain. To give up the control might just seem a little like we are entering into a place that could have some suffering and unknown pain. Embrace it - follow him. That momentary 'suffering' or 'pain' we endure by not getting our own way all the time, doing things under our own strength or power, isn't all that hard to bear up under when he is leading the way.

All good things in life come with a little, if not a lot, of sacrifice. Allowing Christ to lead will actually mean we sacrifice our desire to be in control. It might be scary to not have all the 'say' over our actions but having all the 'say' over my actions hasn't always resulted in the best outcome! How about you? Have you a desire to allow Christ to lead? If so, it will require less reliance upon self, a 'dethroning' of some desires, and more than just a bit of willingness to do what may be a little frightening to us at times. Just sayin!

Time to get healthy

A healthy spirit has a somewhat conquering power! There is a physical and mental soundness or vigor that is evident when the spirit is in a place of "healthiness". The hard times and then we are subject to the potential of a crushed spirit. What can we do when the spirit becomes crushed by hard times, difficult circumstances, or disappointments galore? That's a tough one - even though our first answer might be to turn to Jesus to have him heal it, we sometimes don't think of that as our 'first go to' in these circumstances! That is kind of like a "pat answer" for all of our life's problems for some people, but do they really 'work that one out' by really going to Jesus first off and leaving the tough stuff with him? We often turn to him for this return of spiritual health without even realizing what it was that brought us to the point of being crushed - we just know that we 'hurt' and we don't want to any longer!

A healthy spirit conquers adversity, but what can you do when the spirit is crushed? (Proverbs 18:14)

We rarely get into a place where we have "crushed" spirits because we were blind-sided by some event, course of discussion, or infirmity of mind - but it does happen that we can be caught unaware of the things that resulted in the way we were crushed by these events. The emotional investment we make into our daily walk with Christ is a pretty good indicator of how "healthy" our spirit will be over the course of the day. When we are emotionally "invested" in these times together with him, we might find ourselves looking forward to times in the Word, moments to sneak away to share a few words with our Savior, or just some downtime to take in the things of beauty he has provided in our lives.

I know we are not supposed to be emotionally driven - but hear me out on this one. Our emotions are "indicators" much like those on the dashboard of our automobiles. We get "warning lights" in the emotional sense much like we get them when a tire is low, the oil pressure is askew, or the radiator is about to blow a gasket! When we learn to pay attention to those emotional "warning lights", we are more likely to get our spiritual condition back to a place of "health" quicker. Think of the emotion of fear - it causes us to have rapid heart rate, increased respiratory rate, and we might even feel like the pit of our stomach is churning a little. Even if it is a mild form of fear, like apprehension, there is an emotional-physical connection that occurs. What we "feel" is translated into certain responses within our body. The same is true spiritually - what we "feel" is often impacting our spiritual health in bigger ways than we might first recognize.

In thinking of the emotion of anxiety or fear again, but from the impact this has on our spirit, we might realize that we won't realize what made us feel this way, but we know we 'feel'. Why is it that we are feeling such anxiety in the first place? It is usually because of a "trust" issue that we have embraced in our emotions. We might not "feel" like God is trustworthy, maybe because we have experienced some set-back or loss. We don't "feel" like he has been faithful, perhaps because somebody we loved hasn't kept up their "end of the bargain" in relationship - we might think God allowed this to happen. When we form "emotional attachments" around false impressions or beliefs, we are allowing them to impact our spirit. It compromises the integrity of our health spiritually much like one microscopic virus invades our body. When false beliefs are allowed to take hold, just like the virus or bacteria that multiplies willy-nilly in our bodies when they take hold, it will soon impact the "defense system" of a healthy spirit. The antidote to a crushed spirit begins with a healthy assessment of our emotional condition. We look for the warning signs, address the issues that are "under the hood" and then work out a plan for maintaining the "health" of our spirit. Just sayin!