6:48 a.m......"Aaron, time to get up...rise and shine"...i remember the little jingle so vividly that my mother would sing in the mornings..."rise and shine and give God the glory glory"....at 18 years old, just after the sunrise the last thing i wanted to hear was my sweet, joyful mother singing to me...."ahhh, 2 more minutes mom! geez...give me 2 more minutes"
As we ponder life here in the US of A we will quickly see how selfishness is deeply ingrained within each one of us...
"2 more minutes mom"...or lets go back even further to early childhood....we are all familiar with the famous...."what do YOU want to be when you grow up"...
hah...something im sure we all still wrestle with to some extent...
it seems to me that we have been brought up thinking we are special in our own eyes....we have heard it said....we live in a "blessed nation"...."God bless America"...and im sure He has at some point...
I think we have gotten wrapped up into the "american dream" thinking WE can be special in OUR special nation....
I beginning to wonder how Jesus' life and teachings and our way of life and beliefs are the same....or even remotely similar...
Are we looking at america through the eyes of Jesus' life or looking at Jesus' life through the selfish eyes of America?
what if Jesus really meant it when he said love not just your neighbors but your enemies....or what if Jesus truly did mean it when he said the least will be the greatest in His kingdom?
What if He wants us to live by the example He exemplified in washing His followers feet (some of whom being teenagers)?
I pray that i am probing you question as much as I am...
I don't have the answers...but i do have a burning desire deep within me that is longing to live and love like Jesus...and maybe that looks freakishly different than that of modern day American
Christianity....
could we just begin to look at the life of Jesus in the gospels and believe that He means it with all of His heart...
because i have found....selfishness leaves me weary, frustrated and bored...
girls...correct me if i'm wrong...but fitting into that size 4 dress won't quench your passionate thirst to love and be loved...
guys....that washboard 8 pack that gets the ladies' attention will not bring you the affirmation that Jesus wants to give you as you model His life....(Ive been there...tirelessly striving to attain that "perfect" body to cover up my conformed and broken heart...)
that dream career you embark upon to truly be "somebody" will become dry and tasteless before you even reach the top of the corporate ladder...
It is just not worth it....
Maybe Jesus really means that He who loses his life will find it...
and maybe taking up our cross and following Him means more than wearing a 14k gold chain around our necks....
Maybe Jesus' sermon on the mount was an actuality...
Maybe Jesus would have us not just agree that being willing to sell all you have and give it to the poor is a good idea...but actually begin to take care of those who lack...
maybe moth and rust truly will destroy the treasures we have stored up here on this earth...
maybe so much of our worry and toil is in vain...
maybe there is more....
....what if He means what He says....
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