The Kingdom of Couches

by Will Walker

Last fall I watched a documentary on ESPN about the Michigan State basketball program. There was a scene after a grueling practice where all the guys had gathered around the coach, worn out and hunched over, focused on breathing. They looked miserable like they would quit that day. What do you tell a bunch of guys who are working their butts off while their buddies are taking it easy on the couch all day semester?

I only remember one thing he said: “This is hard work, but it will be worth it when we’re the National Champions.” I thought maybe they believed him, if not about actually being the National Champions, then at least that the mere pursuit of it was better than laying on the couch. The rest of the story, as you know, is that they surprised most people by making it to the Final Four. When they made it I thought of that moment after practice that day.

Following Jesus is hard. If you think otherwise then you might be following something else, maybe the current of fashionable Christianity. I experience grace and joy and peace and all that, but I am telling you that dying to yourself and loving people you don’t like is hard. Just thinking about it makes me want to take a nap.

That said, I am logically convinced that the "good life" is not really that good as far as Jesus is concerned, that if pleasure and ease is what I’m after I should forsake this life altogether and proceed to heaven. And heaven not being something I get to schedule, I am stuck in this earth-life where living for myself seems to be the most intuitive and meaningless thing I could do. So I am compelled to think that the only reasonable course of life is to live for something beyond me.

I became convinced of all this after reading Paul’s view on the matter. His thoughts and mine are more neatly explained here. I invite you to read it and become convinced yourself. Then possibly you will feel as I do lately, worn out and hunched over, focused on getting through, wanting to believe that somehow it will all be worth it.

It is easy to agree that an ideology is sound and right. But when that ideology confronts your way of life you encounter an entirely different and more difficult level of knowing. Yes the truth sets you free from bondage, but the habits of captivity are not easily dismantled. This is why I say that I have only been convinced logically, enough to keep coming to practice.

Paul uses the language of citizenship to help us understand the nature of following Jesus. Our citizenship is in heaven; we are strangers in a foreign land; etc. The idea is that if you are going to settle down as a citizen of this world that it will demand all of your energy and time and desire. You’ll have to play by the rules of the earth-life in order to succeed.

If on the other hand you want to take up citizenship in the kingdom, that too will demand all of your time and energy and desire. The rules are different … “love your enemies and bless those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” This is why you can’t apply for dual citizenship. You can’t sit on the couch and be National Champions.

Couch appeal is exactly where I have been confronted lately, confronted in the depths below intellect, in my wants and insecurities. When I think about pursuing the good life, or even just a good life, I think about success and acclaim and enough money to live comfortably. I pretend to know that these things are not satisfying. But because I still want them at some level, I find that I simply pursue them within the realm of Christianity. It’s a sort of “Christian good life” in which I’ve done nothing but slap a Christian label on the same old earth-life pursuits. I didn’t have to die to myself. I just had to adjust my marketing demographic.

Jesus hates this more than I do and does not mix words on the issue… “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world [or any subculture therein] will keep it for eternal life.”

Comments

[d white]

Will-
The entire idea of citizenship in Heaven gives me hope and freaks me out. I dig your basketball analogy and it makes me think a little different about where my status is really stored up. I get the priveledge of unpacking these very Scriptures in a few weeks. You can't sit on the couch and be national champions. Hmm...This is an awesome connection with our citizenship.

For what it's worth (which isn't much), I'm liking the new look to the site, but I struggle with Times New Roman. It's just too "Windows default"--you know?

[Walker]

Thanks Dusty. I am thinking a lot about the citizenship idea ... hope to jot down some more thoughts this week on that.

The Times New Roman comment is funny for reasons that Bob and Brett will be able to appreciate. They have been in discussion over it. I won't tell you who is on which side.