Luke 9:23 - "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
This verse is the basis for Kyle Idleman's book, Not a Fan. I picked it up shortly before Christmas (actually, I downloaded it for $3.99 on the Kindle app on my computer), and I'm finding it both enjoyable and convicting. To be honest, I think it is a Gen-X repackaging of a lot of what Bonhoeffer wrote in Cost of Discipleship (book #2), but Idleman does a great job of explaining the subject matter while simultaneously engaging our current American culture, as well as our current American Christian subculture. He is winsome, yet bold; funny, but sincere. His thesis is that Jesus does not call us to be fans (avid supporters), but rather to be committed followers. It's not merely semantics; it's a crucial delineation by those who like the idea of Jesus and those who love the person of Jesus. What does it look like to really love Jesus and to truly follow Him?
Add to that a song that has been on repeat in my head lately - "Life in the Pain" by SafetySuit. The chorus gut-punches me every time I hear it:
"And what you don't know, it won't hurt you
"And what you don't know, it won't hurt you
And what you don't know will save you from some pain
But if I could choose, I'd let it hurt you
'Cause there's something 'bout life in the pain"
Ouch.
And if all that wasn't enough, I seem to keep having a consistent conversation with several of my close friends: if we serve a Messiah who suffered...and if our goal is to be like our Messiah...then don't we, necessarily, have to suffer? If so, what does that suffering look like? What does it look like to be a follower of a Master who was eventually shunned and murdered for His radical message of grace? Does our current American Christian subculture model that kind of living, or have we strayed from our Master?
What does this look like in our churches? What does this look like in our families? What does this look like in our individual lives?
Taking it out of the safety of abstraction - what does it look like for me, Josh, to be a follower of Jesus? What role does suffering play in my life...and what role should suffering play in my life? "There's something 'bout life in the pain." What is that something?
Taking it out of the safety of abstraction - what does it look like for me, Josh, to be a follower of Jesus? What role does suffering play in my life...and what role should suffering play in my life? "There's something 'bout life in the pain." What is that something?
