Monday, June 27, 2011

The Burden of Following God - the explanation

The problem about writing for me is that I never know what I'm going to write next. I decided that for a season that I wouldn't have a real plan for this blog. I would simply write when I felt the need to write. I wasn't trying to grow my blog or increase my readers (you 7 readers are the best readers anyways).  I simply wanted an outlet for whatever God has put on my heart.

The problem comes when what God is putting on my heart is tough to say and tough to hear.

I've been sitting on this one for a while. It's been percolating up in my brain which can be dangerous. It's grown from a single thought to a multi-part series that is still growing. But it's tough to write something as you are still trying to figure out. So the next few posts are going to be part of my processing.

I'm calling this series. The Burden of Following God

Just the title is hard for me to write. I guess it's because for 10 years I've tried to tell people of all of the great things about following God. It seems weird to start a post talking about the burdens of following God. I mean why would you want to talk about the negative aspects of a potential decision?

"Hello sir. You should buy this car! It's got an amazing interior. It has awesome engine in it! And it gets 3 miles to the gallon which will cause you quickly to abandon your child's college fund and you'll have to mortgage your house in order to afford the gas for it!"

So that's a crappy analogy but you get the idea. It's weird to start off by talking about the burdens of something. So why do it?

1. I Hate Sugar Coating-  Unless it's on top of an otherwise bland bowl of cereal, I hate sugar coating. But in the church, we've done this for far too long. We've made it sound like following God is a walk in the park. Like all of a sudden when you follow God, everyone sings everywhere they go and there are always flowers and puppies. (this going on the assumption that flowers and puppies make people happy). The truth is that life is still hard after following God...and sometimes it's hard as a result of it. (sometimes the flowers give you allergies and the puppies pee on your new shoes). I feel like it's time to be honest with people. Following God is hard.

2. Jesus did it-  The thing I love about Jesus is that he doesn't do #1. As we'll cover throughout this series, Jesus is pretty blunt about the realities of following Him.  He was clear that there would be struggles to come. I figure if Jesus did it....I can do it too.


As I began to think through this series, I realized something though. That with every burden that I discovered, there was a glimpse of hope that accompanied it.  That's the beauty of God.  When there's something hard, God provides something to give hope. We'll cover that side of things as well.

So that's the explanation. My request of you is to open your mind and heart as I venture down this road for a little bit. If you read the burden, take a minute to read the hope that comes with it.

I think that's it for now. Talk to you soon. 

Jon

2 comments:

  1. I'm so excited that you're posting again! It's been a while (:

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  2. It has. I really have been sitting on this one for a while. I started writing this series before my last post on the 6th. I hope it challenges and encourages you!

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