No Guts...No Glory

Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.’ ‘You don’t know what you are asking,’ Jesus said.  ‘Can you drink the cup I drink’ Mark 10:37-38.

The disciples had walked many roads together with their Teacher, and had shared such amazing intimacy with Jesus.  They witnessed miracles together and grew in love, respect and reverence for their precious friend.  As their loyalty and commitment grew so did their desire to join Jesus on every level.  But Jesus knew the state of their hearts…they wanted the glam without the gore…the glory without the guts. 

We are so much like the disciples as we grow in our own spiritual lives.  We move closer to God and pursue deeper intimacy with Him.  We praise and worship with one set of lips and fear future suffering with the other set of lips.  We want to reign with Him but He knows the desire of our hearts will never be drinking the cup He drinks…we don’t want bad things to come into our life.  We are no better than the disciples who wanted to sit at His side but walked away as He hung on the cross.  We say we want more of Jesus but pray to God that nothing bad ever happens to us.  Like the disciples we really have divided hearts and minds about reigning with Jesus.  Our spirit tells us we want to walk right beside Him but our flesh tells us to take cover and hide.  Our spirit tells us we want to live abandoned for Him but our flesh reminds us of what it is like to feel pain.  Our spirit tells us that were destined for some suffering with Him but our flesh tells us we deserve comfort.

 

For goodness sake, we can’t even survive inconvenience must less discomfort and God forbid suffering!  If we are to reign with Christ for the kingdom of God we MUST SETTLE in our hearts that we will experience pain and suffering up ahead...toughs time are in our future.  Until we settle this truth deep in our spiritual veins we will always reserve a portion of ourselves from God.  We will never live abandoned without the knowledge and expectation of future discomfort.  When we live and move in the changing seasons of our lives, we get into the spiritual rhythm of life as God intended.  It is in the deep valleys that the invisibility of God becomes the visible manifestation of His presence, a glorious deposit of what our spiritual inheritance in eternity will be. 

Oh God, give us courage and the boldness to pursue You on every level on earth as we will experience in Heaven.  Amen.