Mr. Rogers (yes, THAT Mr. Rogers) was interviewed by Christianity Today magazine several years ago. For a man who never seemed to remember to put his sweater or shoes before the cameras started rolling, he had a powerful thought for those desiring simplicity…
“Life is deep and simple, and what our society gives us is shallow and complicated.”
Boom.
I’d consider letting a guy like that be my neighbour.
I used to be drawn to the idea of self-denial. I went through a phase when the word “ascetic” struck me as a beautiful word. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve been through church history classes. I’ve heard the stories of monks who lived in trees for a year, who mutilated their bodies, who lived as animals punishing themselves–and yes, I sat wide-eyed and swallowed hard as I concluded that they were insane. Or at least misled.
All the same, somewhere in the mix, I admired the fire of such men and women. “Lukewarm” would never be a label stuck on them. Jesus himself is the one who told his followers that we must “deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him”, and I’m not often convinced that the Western Church in general (and myself more specifically) knows very much about that critical idea.
Today, I came across this blurb on the subject…
Sixteenth-century spiritual director Francois Fenelon clarifies a confusing biblical concept:
“Self-denial has its place in a Christian’s life, but God doesn’t ask you to choose what is most painful to you. If you followed this path you would soon ruin your health, reputation, business, and friendship.
Self-denial consists of bearing patiently all those things that God allows to pass into your life. If you don’t refuse anything that comes in God’s order, you are tasting of the cross of Jesus Christ.”
And that is what we are meant to taste of… of the “tree of life”.
I just finished “Simply Christian” by N.T. Wright. While I wouldn’t want to “spoil the ending for you”, I’m going to show you the final paragraph of the book.
Say “Christianity” to ten folks, and you’ll likely have ten images flash across ten minds: Life after death, morals and ethics, heaven, opponents to secular society, average citizens who attend church regularly, decent folks who try to be nice, and on it goes.
But I’d have to agree with Wright that those aren’t what the Bible is speaking about when it speaks of Jesus and what he invites us into.
Here’s that last paragraph…
Made for spirituality, we wallow in introspection. Made for joy, we settle for pleasure. Made for justice, we clamor for vengeance. Made for relationship, we insist on our own way. Made for beauty, we are satisfied with sentiment.
But new creation has already begun. The sun has begun to rise. Christians are called to leave behind, in the tomb of Jesus Christ, all that belongs to the brokenness and incompleteness of the present world.
It is time, in the power of the Spirit, to take up our proper role, our fully human role, as agents, heralds, and stewards of the new day that is dawning.
That, quite simply, is what it means to be Christian: To follow Jesus Christ into the new world, God’s new world, which he has thrown open before us.
Now go get into some of that!
The following was printed some time ago in an American publication called Nation’s Business. It was a list of informal guidelines from an experienced Army colonel to new military officers. I’ll bet you won’t need long to apply these to more than army life.
I’m pretty sure a book could be written about #5 alone. “The easy way is always mined”… man, that’s the truth.
It reminds me of a line from the movie “A League of Their Own”… “If it was easy, everyone would do it.” Yeah, the easy way gets picked over by everyone, even those who have little to no heart.
It reminds me of an image of Jesus’… “Broad is the road” and crowded is the road too. They’ll never be a shortage of traffic on easy roads. I find myself looking for them too.
The theme of simplicity has long struck a chord with me. A Richard Foster book carries the title “The Freedom of Simplicity”–I suppose I’m drawn to the idea of greater freedom just like people of all types have been longing for it since the start of time. And I guess that deep inside, I really believe that the phrase is true: Freedom IS found in simplifying. Complicating things never seems to lead there.
Maybe that’s why #5 jumps out for me.
The important things are always simple.
The simple things are always hard.
The easy way is always mined.
I came across this quote today…
“You can measure the character of a man by the size of the things that make him angry.”
Zing!
If I didn’t know better, I’d think that was a heck of an inconvenient character assessment. You’d have to be out of your mind to measure yourself in a moment of anger or frustration.
Measurements like that could be … well… they might… hmmm… it just doesn’t seem flattering.