Jesus ruined my life

Jesus ruined my life.

Listen, I know that is a harsh statement…but it is true. Because of Jesus, I chose a profession that will never make me a millionaire. Because of Jesus, I moved a couple hours away from all my family and friends who unconditionally love me. When I finally got to know Jesus, my life was never the same. What I wanted for my life took a back seat to what God wanted for my life. I became second.

Too many times we try to compartmentalize our faith and Christianity into a neat little section of our life. We try to make it fit what we already do. We too often label those who give more than a few hours a week to God as radicals.

Too often the life of a non-Christian and the life of a follower of God looks very similar. Sure most Christians probably drink and swear less then average, but besides that, really aren’t very different from your typical unbeliever. We equate our partially sanitized lives with holiness, but we couldn’t be more wrong. That would be like working all day at a garbage dump, and when you get off your 8 hour shift, cleaning your hands with hand sanitizer and saying you are clean.

We have a tough time with surrendering all to God. We struggle to give up control of our lives. We want to have our lives (what we want, when we want it) and have Jesus on the side. However, we get this concept in other areas of life. Francis Chan tells this story in his book Crazy Love…

"When I was in high school, I seriously considered joining the Marines; this was when they first came out with commercials for “the few, the proud, the Marines.” What turned me off was that in those advertisements, everyone was always running. Always. And I hate running.

But you know what? I didn’t bother to ask if they would modify the rules for me so I could run less, and maybe also do fewer push-ups. That would’ve been pointless and stupid, and I knew it. Everyone knows that if you sign up for the Marines, you have to do whatever they tell you. They own you."

Somehow this realization does not carry over to our thinking about the Christian life. Jesus didn’t say that if you wanted to follow Him you could do it in a lukewarm manner. He didn’t say that you could follow Him when it is convenient.

Jesus made it clear when he told us in Matthew 16:24, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” He also said in Luke 14:33, “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”

Pretty clear to me.

Like I said, Jesus ruined my life.

Thank God