Christianity is Carrying a cross, not abandoning it

Many mornings here, I process some thoughts on the Bob Goff devotional I read to start my day. This week, I've spent time processing an Andy Stanley sermon on racial tensions he preached last Sunday. As a result, I haven't read my Bob Goff devotional lately.

It's funny - or not - when I went to today's devotional in that book, I found the perfect words to wrap up my thoughts for the week.

Goff says, "the hidden cost of our faith is that everything doesn't get to be about us anymore." Goff goes on to say, "being like Jesus means giving up our comfort and security so we can widen the circle to include more people."

I've done a lot of soul searching the last couple of weeks. Much of it out loud and with many of you right here. And here is what I would conclude about my own racism at this point in the searching:

I am not a racist because I hate black people. I am a racist because I love me way too much.

There is a story in the bible in chapter 14 of the book of Luke. It goes like this:

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Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

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I have realized the last couple of weeks just how much I have abandoned the tower I started in my life. I have deeply loved everything Jesus has done in my life the last few decades, thanked him and proclaimed him, all the while ignoring the hard and uncomfortable things Jesus has commanded me to do in everyone else's lives.

As Christians, when it comes to marginalized and oppressed and harassed people groups, as a group we are being ridiculed. As a group, the world is wondering why we have left our towers unfinished after putting so much work into their foundations.

As long as there is systemic racism and poverty and marginalized people groups in this world, we can come up with all the good reasons to explain it we want. But let's be clear, Jesus' reason for that is we haven't finished the towers we started.

I am reminded this week just how radical the Christian faith is. When Jesus talks to us about carrying other people's burdens, he didn't mean carry them when we weren't busy carrying our own burdens or when our calendar becomes sufficiently clear. He meant ALL the time. Our lives were to be consumed with carrying other people's burdens.

I mean, when the dude says you are to hate your family in comparison to the love I want you pouring out on other people, he's not just using 'carry your cross' as some cool metaphor in a novel. He means following me is hard work. He means please don't call yourself my disciple if you aren't up for the hard and endless work of finishing your tower.

As people committed to building towers, I think we forget the story of this bible we cling to some days. Jesus didn't die on a cross and take on all of our burdens so Christians would be a burden-free people group, he did it so we'd have more room in our hearts and minds and souls to carry other people's burdens.

I mean, I see Christians like myself quoting many scriptures. You want to know one I just don't see quoted very often. It's this:

Whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Cannot be....

That is not might not be. That is not I'll have to get with the "following me" committee to see if they'll make an exception this time. Jesus said if you cannot leave behind everything that makes you comfortable and follow me into the lives of people who have been left to die in eternal discomfort, you cannot be my disciple.

That is a real conversation.That is a real conversation between me and Jesus.And that is a hard conversation to hear, frankly.

That is Jesus saying, Keith, you are not racist because you hate black people. That is Jesus saying, Keith, you are racist because you've been unwilling to bear the cross of following me into the possibility that some of my brothers and sisters have been left behind.

You know, in some ways the conversation would be easier to have with Jesus if I DID hate black people. In many ways, then, the conversation would be all about THEM.

But it's pretty clear in Luke, Jesus is saying, no, this conversation isn't about any THEM in this world, this conversation is all about YOU.

The Christian faith is radical. If we go through the day and feel like somehow we aren't carrying a cross, if we aren't feeling burdened, that's probably a sign we aren't being disciples. If we aren't having hard conversations and living our lives deep within people's lives who make us feel burdened, then we probably aren't following his lead.

We are probably following our own lead.

We are probably fighting the idea that life doesn't get to be about us anymore.

And trust me, I completely feel the angst of that fight.