This morning I was driving to work and a strange thought came into my mind. If Jesus came down and took over my body, what would he do first? In other words, if Jesus were to actually start living in my body, with my life the way it is currently set up right now, what would be the first thing he would do?
I’ve been thinking about this all morning now and I came to one answer that I believe he would do first. I believe he would start emptying my life of all the stuff in it that’s getting in the way of me connecting to God. In fact, I think he would probably do something similar to what he did to start off his ministry on earth. He would probably go to the wilderness and fast for 40 days. Because I don’t think Jesus would be able to survive in this world as the Son of God if he were this disconnected to God and SO connected to so many other things that he would probably call gods in my life.
So my next step of thinking was to ask the question, “If I were to go to the wilderness today for a 40-day fast from not just food but from my entire life, what would I have the hardest time being away from?”
Once I asked that question, I automatically started coming up with all the excuses why I can’t possibly do something like that in my life. Here is a taste of my inner thoughts about this:
“Well I certainly can’t do that in my life right now because I have too much responsibility at home with Megan and the kids. Megan would kill me if I were to leave her for 40 days to be with God. And I would DEFINITELY miss food the most! My body isn’t ready for a 40-day fast. I would need some time to prepare my body for something like that. I would probably pass out after the first 24 hours. And how on earth would I be able to do my ministry at Central? I would get fired if I tried to abandon my responsibilities at Central or at the Children’s Home for 40 days! And if I got fired, how on earth would I be able to pay all of my bills? I have a mortgage, a car payment, loads of student loans, and all sorts of other bills. I would be late on all my payments. And anyway, what would I do for 40 days by myself? That would be miserable! I would be bored stiff after the first day or two and then I’d probably go crazy. Could I at least bring my laptop and find a retreat center that has Wi-Fi? What about my I-Pod or a few books to read? It’s March… I would miss all of March Madness! Ohio State is ranked number 1 right now. I can’t miss watching them in the post season!”
I imagine if you were to go through this same mind exercise, you would probably have a similar monologue about all of the things you would be missing out on. But did you notice one thing missing that never really went through my mind as I went into a panic attack? I never once thought anything about God in all of that. I never thought, “Will I at least get to bring my Bible?” or “That would really be nice to spend so much time in prayer and meditation. I would probably get really close to God.”
What does all of this say about me and where I’m at right now? Is God optional for me? Could I go 40-days without reading or praying to God and not really notice it? I don’t ever think of my family, food, my job, my money, or my electronics as idols. I do think of Ohio State athletics as an idol in my life and it is something I’ve fought for years. But the rest I don’t ever see as idols. But when there is a threat of emptying my life of things, those are the first things I worry about.
Today starts an important part of the year for Catholics and some Protestants. Today is Ash Wednesday and the start of Lint. The idea of it is to empty ourselves from something in our lives that we normally can’t live without. I challenge you to join me and millions of other people in participation of this ritual in an effort to move God up the list of necessities in your life. For me, I am going to give up all caffeine. I stopped drinking coffee a few weeks ago but now I am going to cut out all caffeine in my life and whenever I get a craving for it, I will seek God instead.
If our goal is to be like Jesus, then our goal should be to cut out everything in our life that keeps us from being close to God so that if Jesus were to take over our bodies today, he wouldn’t need to change much about our lives in order to be close to his Father in heaven.
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