by Will Walker
How does life get turned upside down? Why do we feel under the pile sometimes, as if all our intentions and tasks and relationships have caved in on top of us?
Jesus said, "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.”
That is, following Jesus leads us to become a certain kind of person with a certain kind of life; namely, one that doesn’t get buried under the pile, which begs the question, “How did I get so upside down again?” Answer: "Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell--and great was its fall."
When I don’t feel under the pile of my independence, life is pretty exciting. Not because I am safe, but because I am free to act for the good of others rather than drowning in the self-absorption that comes from trying to keep my head above water. I’m not worried about my footing because the ground I stand on is solid. It breeds a certain kind of confidence and faith to follow Jesus even further.
I don’t just love Jesus in the relational sense. I love following him, in the way a player loves playing for a great coach or in the way a soldier loves serving under a great general. It just feels like there is no other place I would rather be.
I admire and respect him because of his courage and consistency. He knows what to say and do, and how to say and do it. He does not perform for men. He leads them. He does not pretend to be something that he’s not. He is what He says, and he says what he is. He faces hardship with strength and prayer. He fears no man, yet he gives himself up even his enemies.
His path is straight and good. Walking in it gives one a sense of identity and direction, a security that does not about comfort, but is about confidence and hope.
When I am with him, I am not hurried because he is not hurried, not afraid because he is not afraid, not lazy because he is not lazy, not arrogant because he is not arrogant. I am in fact a wise man who stands on the bedrock of Jesus’ leadership.
So maybe the pile we get under is not just the tyranny of the urgent, but rather the calamity of foolishness.
Ah! I knew checking this now and then would be fruitful one of these days ;)
Good thoughts, Will -- and especially appropriate at this period in the semester... thanks.
Posted by: Amanda | December 03, 2006 at 09:54 PM