Thursday, October 14

 “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”                                                           Mark 8:34-35

I began my ministry career as a youth pastor back in the early 1980’s. In those days there was something of an emphasis on entertaining students. You wanted to plan plenty of fun events – trips to amusement parks, pool parties, video nights, etc., in order to attract kids – then you tried to get them interested in spiritual things. And while that isn’t a bad strategy – and still works in some ways today – I slowly discovered that, hard as it was to believe, adolescent students had more fun shoveling concrete in the Dominican Republic than they did riding roller coasters at Great America. Don’t get me wrong – they still enjoyed amusement parks and pool parties – but there was just something different about the kind of fun they had when they gave themselves away in service to others.

In this brief passage from Mark 8, Jesus is not telling us that we all have to be martyrs for our faith – although that has certainly been true for many Christians throughout the centuries – but rather he is calling us to examine the central motivation of our lives. Do we live to serve our own pleasure and happiness – as consumers in a consumer society – or do we live to serve Jesus by serving others? Jesus is saying that when live to serve ourselves we actually begin to die – spiritually speaking. But when we give ourselves away to that which is outside of ourselves – and greater than ourselves – we will truly live.

This is why entertainment eventually becomes boring; and why shoveling concrete in the Dominican Republic becomes fun! This is why staying within our comfort zones causes our hearts to grow lazy and dull; and why stepping out of our comfort zones into service – while uncomfortable and even painful at times – causes our hearts to grow strong and passionate.

Jesus never promised that following him would be easy – in fact, quite the opposite! He tells us up front that there will be struggle, trials and pain. But he does promise that following him will lead to life – a life of joy, peace, love, and purpose – and life that is eternal!  “I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly!”  John 10:10

Thank God for his promise of abundant life, and ask him to continue to you’re your passion to follow him.

 Brian Coffey