“…usually God disciples us by making our self-constructed
world fall apart. Our personal salvation
project must show itself to be almost totally wrong. The refusal to allow this falling apart is
what creates legalism and religion.â€� –
Richard Rohr
How often do we consider the possibility that one of the
biggest things holding us back in our walk with Christ is what we think we
know? Jesus continues to teach us, that
in order to gain true life we have to hold onto the life we know in this world
loosely. There are a lot of things that
can be difficult to let go of, such as possessions and relationships. But I’ve found that the most difficult things
to let go of are the things unseen.
In Joshua chapter 3 the Israelites are finally about to
cross the Jordan River after 40 years of wandering in the desert. During that time, an entire generation has died
and a new generation has risen up knowing only the landscape and people of the
desert. As the time drew near for them
to begin their conquest of the promise land, the officers came through the camp
and gave them a series of commands. At
the end, they briefly explained the purpose of the commands with simply “…for
you have not passed this way before.�
It would have been foolish for the Israelites to compare the
land that they were going into, with the desert that they knew so well. But we do that so often. We get raised in an abusive house and assume
that God is that kind of Father. We are
forced to submit to corrupt authority and assume that all authority in the
Kingdom is like that. We live in a culture
where entire mindsets and norms go unquestioned about whether they are
appropriate for the Kingdom of God.
Maybe as disciples of Jesus we should stop looking for the
right answers and start looking for the right questions? Maybe as the followers of Christ, our biggest
entitlement to surrender is our “right to be right�? When are we going to realize that the greater
value is not in the destination but the journey?
