Day 192 Less is More

July 17, 2015

Day 192

Following Christ did not start with an ascent of my intellect. I did not lay out the pro's and the con's and go with what seemed logical. But instead, there was a tap on my shoulder, an inner stirring of my heart, an understanding of an offer, a moving of the Spirit. It was this that began a relationship that has put me on a different road, it has placed me in an invisible kingdom, and given me a completely new set of values. I am an outcast with some other outcasts. We define the minority.

What I have learned is that there is a principle of The Few/Less in operation in this invisible kingdom. The Body of Christ is not an accumulation of friends unified by their commonness. They are not all living in a communal soup looking, acting, and thinking the same way. The Body of Christ is full of misfits, losers, and folks who are weak, affirming their weakness. We are only unified by Jesus Christ. And many times we experience a painful whittling away of some very dear folks who leave us because they are done.  

The road is really narrow and not so pleasant. We are members not due to the lure of the ease of our life with Him but because we are welcomed by His love, overwhelmed by His mercy and thankful for His compassionate grace. We are in love with our follower. We could not imagine life without Him. We affirm He is our crutch, our Savior, our Helper and all the other words that affirm our neediness, our dependence, our lack, our vulnerability, our lack of status.

Why we follow Jesus has nothing to do with our culture, our parents, or our location. But rather it has everything to do with being chosen by Him. We are not part of this kingdom because our parents made it look cool, or because our friends were really convincing. We know this kingdom operates under The Few/Less principle. We know there is less room to move on the very narrow road. We know we are walking with fewer and fewer comrades. We are part of this kingdom because we had an encounter and continue to have encounters with the One who wooed us. 

So many think this road is narrow because of rules. It is just because they do not know. This road is narrow because of His love. He loves deep and hard and it causes us to move away from the main stream. This is not about a majority rule, a quorum. We move with the abused, the underprivileged, the less fortunate. We are stoopers having a hard time looking into the eyes of sin but knowing that Jesus's love is sufficient for sin. 

We see beyond what the world offers and we are smitten and willing to go without and live with this Few/Less principle. He asks us to take up our cross and follow Him. He went alone to the cross so that He could walk with us. This has made all the difference, less means more of Him.

Are you a follower of Jesus? Why are you surprised by the lack of support? His garden experience was enjoyed with few. 

(This lovely garden was created by a woman who walks alone. Her husband died last summer and out of her pain she has created beauty. She would tell you as she grasps her chest that she is so in love with her Savior. This does not alleviate her deep grief, she wants her husband but Jesus has become more sweeter to her than she could ever imagine. He has asked her to dine with Him.  Rev. 3:19)