Dear Friends:
But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant their demand. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will (Luke 23:23-25, NIV).,
Let's talk about the insistent demands in your life. Who makes those demands? Who is wishing that you would give up Jesus to do what they want? I am just saying . . . .
I walk into the house at the end of a long day and pull my cell phone from my belt and lay it on the desk and do the same with my pager. Then I open up my lap-top computer and read and respond to the emails that have accumulated over the course of the day. There are insistent voices and they are shouting loudly to be heard.
Do they prevail?
I glance over at my closed Bible, remember that breakfast was eaten on the run but time taken for reflection and prayer was non-existent, recollect the hardness in my heart and the knife-edge to my voice when I demanded of some poor soul who failed to meet expectations, "Do you not know that I have power . . . ?" (John 19:10).
It's clear whose voices are prevailing over Jesus, but does it help at all that they are very religious voices?
The demanders and the shouters who insisted that Jesus be surrendered to their will were the devout of the devout, leaders of the temple and the nation. They come in the name of the Lord with expectations and responsibilities. How can it be right to refuse them?
But what if the price of my service is my relationship with Jesus? Indeed, such a thing is possible as Jesus famously observed --
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord', will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?'Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers'" (Matt 7:21-23).
It has been said that nothing conflicts with the love of Christ like service to Christ. How can that be? How can working hard for the Lord, being spiritual and effective in witness make us "evildoers"? Jesus raised the issue, after all. Shouldn't we give it some thought?
Isn't thinking precisely the point? We don't want to think about whether our service is what Christ wants because thinking about what Christ wants from us requires listening, really listening, to him and responding to what he tells us. What if he wants something different from the well-worn ruts that we travel in our daily commute for his service?
We stand off at a comfortable distance and tell our "Moses," "You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us, or we will die" (Ex 20:19).
Jesus says to us, "Then die." "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple . . . None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions" (Luke 14:26-27,33).
Do "possessions" include my glowing performance evaluation and vested retirement plan? Who are you working for? Who am I working for?
"Only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven" will enter the kingdom of heaven. We have Jesus' word on this, but does he have our heart, soul, mind and strength in the consecrated devotion that he says marks the greatest love of all (Matt 22:36-37).
When did the vision of our service become something called "goals and objectives"? If Christ does not possess our hearts in passionate intimacy, our sense of accomplishment and our successes in meeting our goals and objectives can only be pride. Nothing corrodes away the tensile strength of a loving relationship like pride and self-absorption.
What does repentance look like for the dedicated, obsessive, compulsive servant who heeds those insistent, shouted demands on time, energy and talent that prevail over our personal relationship with Christ? How does one transfixed by the adrenaline rushes of fires, tornadoes and earthquakes pause to hear the voice out of the silence that asks, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (1 Kings 19:13).
When a marriage has grown cold and spouses have become distant because of the demands of work or an insistence that being "right" is more important than the relationship, is the cure working harder and longer hours and performing more perfectly? No, love is re-ignited and the marriage begins to heal when the spouses spend time with each other, being honest and tender with each other, considering what causes the other pain and what will bring him or her happiness, and recommitting to the covenant that brought them together in the first place.
Repentance means a change of direction. What change would it mean for you to listen and obey Jesus' call in the midst of your busiest day to "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while" (Mark 6:31)?
Do you think the Lord would love you less if you confessed the weight of your burden, the depth of your exhaustion and admitted that he was speaking to you when he said, "Come to me, all you are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest" (Matt 11:28). His invitation is for a lifetime of relationship and not just for a weekend retreat to "recharge the batteries."
Jesus Christ offered Pilate grace and truth. Pilate listened to the insistent voices demanding that Jesus be eliminated and a thief and a murderer, representing the ultimate in selfishness, be released into their community. Pilate gave them what they wanted and surrendered Jesus to their will rather than surrender his life to Jesus.
I ask again, who is making the insistent demands in your life? Who are the loudest voices clamoring that you give them what they want? Who is asking that you give up Jesus to them?
These are questions that precede the cross. How will you answer them?
"O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him" (Ps 34:8).
Under the mercy of Christ,
Kent
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Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.
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Kent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.
Finding God's grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent's passions. He has written two books, Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Places published by Review & Herald in 2002 and Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God's Love Through Prayer, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God's encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, "A Word of Grace for Your Monday" that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.