Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Fascination

Why am I a follower of Jesus? That's the question that's been running through my head for the past week or so. I could give the Sunday school answer and say that it's because he loved me first (which he did), but that's not the whole story for me. There's something that lies closer to the heart of the matter.

I'm a follower of Jesus because I'm fascinated with him. He's so counterintuitive. While the world tells me to fight, he tells me not to resist an evil person. When I want to hate those who have harmed me, he tells me to love them (and to take it even one step farther, pray for them). In a world that worships personal time and wealth, Jesus tells me to give freely of myself and my resources. Have you ever stopped to think exactly how counterintuitive that is? It's just crazy!

In Philippians, Paul shows another facet of my wonderfully counterintuitive God. Paul said that for him to live was Christ but to die was gain. Do you get what he was saying? Behind his somewhat fancy language, Paul was saying "Hey, if I live another day, that's cool with me. That's just one more day that Jesus wants me around to talk about him. But if I die, that's even better. That's the day that I'm really waiting for!" Who says that kind of stuff?

You may be thinking: how does a fascination of Jesus lead to me being a follower of him? Out fascination grows a relationship, out of a relationship grows love, out of love for Jesus and his less-than-logical ways grows a deep devotion.

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