We, as Christians, are called to be the light of the world.  Above all, we are called to love God and to love our neighbors (just as Christ first loved us).  This Gospel of Jesus’ is radical: it is an “upside down” way to live.  God’s unique way for us to live and respond in our lives in order to draw people to Him is mind-boggling to say the least!  Honestly, it is not an easy job to be a true Christ follower.  It is a radical, upside down kind of love that says to even love our enemies!  What?  Love my enemies?  Are you kidding me!  Why would I do that, I hate them? They’re evil!  Upside down in saying to fight evil with good!  What?  No way, I have to fight back!! You can’t win against evil by doing good!  Upside down in requiring us to consider it “all joy” when we face trials or are persecuted!  Be joy-filled when things aren’t going my way or when I am persecuted?!?  Okay, now this is asking way too much! Upside down in not judging others!  Don’t you see what “they” are doing?  If I don’t show “them” how wrong and misguided they are, who will?  Upside down in requiring us to show humility and not be prideful! But, I’m the Christian; I’m the one doing what God wants!  “They” are just a bunch of messed up people! “They” don’t know what they’re doing!  “They” are so lost!  “They” need to wake up!  Upside down in our having to forgive people when they wrong us!  But, you don’t know what “they” have done?  “They” are evil!  I can’t and won’t forgive what “they” have done!  “They” don’t know your will, Lord!  “They” are just wrong and don’t deserve forgiveness!

It’s crazy, really when you think about what Jesus requires of us as His followers!  But, did you notice how many times when God puts an admonition onto US, that we tend to point to THEM instead?  We must be careful, as Jesus says, to get the log out of our own eye in order to see what God requires of US in following Him!

Still, these are not easy directives for us (the bolded items above), because we are inclined naturally to do something else (the non-bolded responses)!  In fact, what Jesus calls us to do is completely opposite of what we want to do!  As Paul says in Romans 7:18, “For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.”  The truth is, it is easier to fall away from what we are called to than to stay steadfast in it!  I know, because I have fallen away many times!  It is really, REALLY hard to do what Jesus calls me to.  I find it difficult each and every day.  But, I have also learned that His ways are so much better than my ways.

None of this has ever come easy to me.  Like Jacob (Esau’s brother), I would find myself “wresting with God.”  The biggest example of how I wrestled with God was that I wanted control over my own life and He wanted me to submit to Him.  But, I didn’t want to give up control of my life for God.  I didn’t want to deny myself.  Even this is upside down from what we naturally want to do!  Who wants to give up control and deny themselves?  For many years now, I have had a vision of how I came to submit to God – and it all centered around driving a car.  I was driving and, because I was a Christian, I happily allowed God in the car with me.  I let Him sit in the back seat.  When God came to me one day and said, “Trust me with your life; let Me drive.” I was like, “I love you God, but don’t worry I got this…I’m driving just as you’d like me to.  I’m a good driver.  You’ll see.”  And, He did as I asked.  He was patient with me as He stayed in the back seat.  Yet, I struggled at every turn.  I was angry and frustrated, fearful and hurting – I never seemed to be going the right way!  The only time I was at peace was when everything was going my way!  And, as we all know, that rarely happened!  Over time, I let God sit in the front seat with me, you know so He could navigate while I drive.  I’d occasionally let Him give me directions, and sometimes I’d listen, but most times I didn’t.  Sometimes I didn’t even feel like He was in the car at all.  And, that worried me.  Anyway, one day, God was in the front seat with me and He was asking me yet again to let Him drive.  As always, I fought hard to try and keep control myself as my hands clutched the steering wheel even tighter at His request.  I still believed I could drive the car of my life better than God.  But, then I have this image of something so weird happening…and bear with me as I know it goes against Scripture in how God lets us choose how He is in our lives… but God used His much bigger butt to finally nudge my own firmly planted butt out of the way since I was so doggone stubborn to move or let go of the steering wheel.  Yep, I have a distinct image of God getting me out of the way and out of the driver’s seat of my life using His butt!  I laugh at this image every time I see it in my mind or think about it.  It reminds me of just how stubborn I was.  Maybe this was just a vision God gave me to show me how stubborn I was being so I might finally get out of His way and submit to allowing His ways be my ways.

Now, I am the one who joyfully sits in the front seat with God as He drives the car of my life and leads me in my journey with Him.  I trust Him to drive, as I have learned that He is a much, MUCH better driver than I am!  It doesn’t really matter if things are going well with me or out in the world or if they’re not going well.  When I actually REMEMBER that God is driving and that He really is a much better driver than I am, the ground is level and I am at peace.  And, yes, I do continue to fail; I forget that He is trustworthy and a better driver than me and I sit up in panic when things look bad and I’m wanting to go my way again! But, then His Word calms me every time and reassures me that God has “got this.”  And, yes, sometimes I still argue about which way we’re going, because honestly I don’t always want to go the way He wants to take me.  But, over time I have learned to fully trust my driver!  I have found that God is much better than me at guiding me in the journey of my life – and for managing the world I live in!

I believe this is a crucial step to being a true servant of and for God.  Submission.  Complete and utter submission of our lives – and the world around us – to God.  By not submitting everything to God and trying to keep my fingers clenched to the steering wheel, I only get distracted and inevitably mess things up. And, in doing so, I drastically mess up my witness to the world of who God really is.  I stood in harsh and critical judgment of those who thought different than me instead of loving and serving them; I fought back and sought revenge instead of overcoming evil with good; I held grudges against people instead of forgiving them and turning my anger over to God; I was fearful in trying to control the world around me instead of remaining faithful, trusting, and joy-filled in the promise that God has already overcome the world; I was relying on the things of this world (other people, the news, money, politics) to tell me what I wanted and needed or how to “implement” God’s plan instead of staying focused on what my role actually is as a follower of Christ;  I didn’t trust that God is fully capable of handling all He has created! I was trying to lead the way for God instead of trusting God to lead the way for me. I judged, feared, and controlled the world instead of loving, trusting, and submitting to God in His reign of all things in and of the world.  There are a zillion times in which I have gone the wrong way.  And, each and every time I have veered from loving God and actively loving and serving those in need around me, I am bearing a false witness to the world of who Christ really is!  

I believe us Christians would be best served by humbly praying to God, “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God. May Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”  And, as Christ followers, even when we don’t want to drink of the cup of suffering that is before us, let us proclaim as Jesus did, “Not my will, Lord, but your will be done.”  Just as those first disciples did!  Let us give or return our love, heart, and focus to God and trust Him with the keys to the car of our lives and to this world.  Let’s not give in to our own sinful nature – with its harsh, judging, prideful and controlling ways.  Jesus teaches us to be like Him, not to save the world for Him!  It is His job to save the world!  He tells us our job is by being a true reflection in living out the Gospel in loving and serving all those neighbors in our lives!  When each of us, like the original disciples, are true to who God calls us to be, the world will actually see the love and light of God – in US!  That’s what our job is – to be an example of and to point to Christ in this world.  To do the hard work of actually living out that upside down Gospel!  Trust that God’s “got this”, that He has already overcome the world just as He repeatedly tells us in Scripture.   It is really up to each and every one of us Christians to live out what we are called to do:  be humble as we love and serve others with an upside down Gospel!  That is what changes people! That is what changed me!  That is how I help God bring the love and light of Christ into this world!  As The Message version of Micah 6:8 so beautifully puts it, “But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don’t take yourself too seriously—take God seriously.”  

So, turn over the car keys of your life – and of the world – to God!  Fill your mind with the things of God in how He wants you to love and serve the least of these in this world; don’t fill your mind with the things of this world.  Do not fear and do not be in despair!  (How many times does God tell us this; He probably tells us this more than anything!)  And, don’t listen to anyone who tells you to be fearful of any one or any thing – fear and despair are NOT of God!  Love, peace, and joy are God’s signature brand!  We are not to hate or fear our neighbor or anything in our world!  That is definitely not what Jesus taught us!  Do not listen to ANYONE who tries to convince you that all is lost in this world or that you need to be fearful of anything!  This is a lie meant to get our eyes off of who God calls US to be in this world!  As Christians, we are supposed to KNOW and ALWAYS REMEMBER God wins! Let us not forget what He tells us!  Look in the Bible, He tell us more than once that He has already overcome the world; He has ALREADY overcome evil; He has already won and defeated Satan!  So, walk in faith in being the hands and feet of service to the people who need you and who God wants to send you to serve.  And, then leave the harsh words, the angry retort, and the critical judgements to God – our job is to love people not judge them!!  Look for the very people Jesus sought after that are around you right now:  those who are hurt, lonely, sick, oppressed, in need, the young, the old and, yes, even the sinner. Seek after them yourself!  Love and serve them just as Jesus did!  That bratty teenager, that grumpy sales clerk, and even that person we disagree with needs US CHRISTIANS to show him/her who God is today – the truth of who He is and how He wants to show them about Himself through us!  This is our focus as Christ followers!!! The harvest is truly plentiful if we commit to doing the work as God intends.  Sit and share a meal with people others don’t associate with, just as Jesus himself did.  Invite them into your home and into your life.  Be a part of their life.  And, stay there with them a good long while.  And, show them in your words and deeds the miraculous and life-changing love, peace, and hope of Christ.  They will see God in you if your focus is on nothing and no one but God’s call on YOUR own individual life.

This is an important Scripture to consider from Matthew 7:  “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.”  Did you see it?  Did you see the word “do” in there?  We Christ followers are called to be “doers”!  Not for our salvation, but because of our salvation!  Because the light of Christ now fills us with His Spirit and His Spirit is bursting with Fruit!!  Think of it like this, someone creates a power source of energy through peddling a bike.  If we attach the light bulb to the bike (professing Christ), but we don’t pedal in our actions (Christ follower), there is no light.  The light won’t shine if we peddle backwards either (doing it different than He has told us).  If we peddle in the way God has commanded, He says all the Law and Prophets are contained in these two “greatest commandments”:  We must love God above all else and love and serve our neighbor.  We must “do” the hard work of peddling (humbly and justly loving and serving the people God brings to our own attention and in our own lives) in order for God’s light to shine in this world.  God’s light will not shine if you and I, as Christ followers, don’t “do” the hard work of following God’s upside down Gospel and allowing Him to lead our lives.  God doesn’t want us to take the easy route of bypassing the hard work ourselves and putting our hope and faith in someone or something in this world.  Or of putting our focus into gaining power in this world instead of what he asks and demonstrates by denying ourselves and following His true call on our lives.  And, never forget, there is always someone who is prowling around like a lion trying to deceive us into thinking our hope and salvation is in some person or some group or some thing in this world…to get our heart and mind off of God Himself and onto something – really anything – else!  Do not be deceived!  Our hope and faith should rest on no one, NO ONE but God.   It’s about being a Christ follower in actually living out Christ’s upside down Gospel to those He puts in our path.  And, yes, it’s hard work.  Lord knows, I know just how hard!  I have gone astray too many times; but I always come back the minute God reveals to me that I have strayed!  But, when we follow his upside-down-from-the-way-we-want-to-do-things commandments, people actually DO see Christ in us and Christ is multiplied in this world!  If we stay focused on our own difficult Christ-like walk, we can trust God with everything else.  He knows what He’s doing!  We are not to fear – even in the worst of times, no matter how bitter the drink in that cup may be!  He has already overcome the world, so why don’t we believe Him and why do we turn in fear to the things of this world instead of trusting that He has already overcome the world, just as He tells us!  Trust Him and thank Him – in ALL things!  He knows how to drive the car.  Far, far better than we do!

Do what is right and what God calls us to do, humbly extend the mercy-loving hand of grace and love to others, just as God Himself continues to extend His loving, merciful hand to us.

Just a little later in Matthew 7, it reads: “On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name. But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’  In the NLT version of  Matthew 7:21-23 it is entitled, “True Disciples.”  This heading tells me God knows who is His true disciples are and He is warning us to be true to Him and not to seek our own ways in His name!  I don’t believe this passage is about the non-believer who doesn’t know God; it is clearly about those who do things in this world while saying “Lord, Lord…” I did this in your name!  I believe this passage is for those of us who profess Christianity, but are putting our hope, faith, and trust into ourselves, other people, or the things of this world instead submitting and trusting all to God and keeping our own focus on loving and serving the least of these in that upside-down way He has taught us – those things that are opposite of what we, ourselves, want to do.

It is up to each and every one of us Christians to follow Christ’s true teachings so that we make sure we are the sheep our Shepherd knows and recognizes on that day of judgement!  It brings me to my knees to even think that I may be going around thinking I am a sheep following my Shepherd, but that I may one day stand before Christ on that Judgement Seat and Him tell me He does not know me!  Yikes!  We are called to the Narrow Path, and He has given us the directions:  love the Lord Your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love and serve your neighbor as yourself.  That’s it!  Those are the directions we are to follow – Jesus tells us that all the Law and Prophets are fulfilled in His two “greatest commandments.”   The question is, can we stay focused and follow His lead and directions to that “narrow path” He calls us to?
Oddly enough, I believe that God is so sovereign that if we stay on that narrow path of Him and loving service to others, He will also use our lives to produce much fruit and draw many to Him!  He is just so amazingly cool that way!  🙂