Today is the day on the church calendar when we pause and reflect on the Last Supper, and the last words of Jesus to His disciples.
A year’s worth of sermons is contained in John 13-17 but this week I have been drawn to just one verse:
[Jesus said] ‘Now I am giving you a new command—love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you must love one another. This is how all men will know that you are my disciples, because you have such love for one another.’
When I read the account of Holy Week, I like to think I wouldn’t have denied or deserted Jesus.
But truth is, I deny and desert Him in much less treacherous or troublesome moments nearly every day.
When friends or family challenge my faith or raise issues I’d rather not discuss or present me with challenging moral quandaries I can’t quite pigeon hole into easy black and white resolutions, I will often retreat or remain silent or simply prevaricate.
I’m sometimes unwilling to put my (unimportant) reputation on the line much less my life!
And yet, that’s precisely what Jesus has called me to do.
Deny self or deny Jesus: this is the crux. Remaining neutral is not an option. We have to choose a side….In the small, undocumented details of life, choose Jesus over self and recommit to living cross-ward.
Alicia Britt Chole
He demands my absolute loyalty even while He understands I’m unlikely to give it at all times in all places.
Thank God for abundant and overwhelming grace!
But that does not absolve me of the call.
It does not diminish the obligation.
So for at least today, I’m going to fast neutrality.
I’m going to live twenty-four hours without shirking or hiding or slinking away when life demands I choose.
I will recklessly abandon self-preservation and embrace wholeheartedly the passionate life of a devoted disciple of my Shepherd King.
thelifeididntchoose 