I believe we struggle to line Jesus up with what we do. We try to boil down Christ and Scripture into small phrases and concepts that we can fit into our lives and day-to-day activities. We make time to have a couple of Christian songs in our music playlists on our drive into school, to read a verse or two before the ever-present hand of time dictates we move to another activity, and try to recall His sayings when we are angry or scared or stressed.
This is wrong.
I'm not saying it is wrong in and of itself. It's a decent start. However, it betrays our attitude toward Christ; an attitude that He is a nice, even a great, section of life that helps us be better people, but that we also have other things in our lives we need to plan around. I personally have spent years being an apologist or even an advocate for this lifestyle - one in which we do not have to pick between Jesus and the things that distract us from Him, as long as the Bible doesn't specifically condemn them. No mention, no problem, right? Netflix, video games, Reddit, the Internet, and a million other things - as long as they aren't sexual or crude we can use them in moderation, right? I have said yes to this all of my life.
What we are missing by saying yes to this lifestyle is what the Bible, what Jesus intended for us to do with His Word, His life, His ministry that we have been so graciously given. It's not meant to be one thing in our lives:
1 John 2:5b-6: "By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked."
This statement has rekindled a passion within me to study the life of Jesus and how He lived. Notice how it doesn't say we should walk "like He walked" or "try to walk like He walked," it says we should simply do it. And you know something that I keep realizing as a read about Christ and the way He walked? He was permanently, eternally, unquestionably living in the knowledge of both His mission (Matthew 3:15-17) and the swift coming of the Kingdom of God (Matthew 4:17). We don't know what Jesus did on His off days, but I get the feeling that He didn't lounge around or waste time (certainly, He rested, but He rested with meaning and purpose, not just to mindlessly shut down and laze about). Every moment of Jesus's life we know about is lived with these two things in mind, and I can't imagine any moment of His life we don't know about was any different. And we are called to live just like this!
I want to challenge you and myself. Let's live with purpose like this. Let's work with purpose, rest with purpose, engage with others with purpose. And let's put away all those things that distract from that purpose. For me, when I watch TV or play a video game, if it isn't with other people, being used as a tool to maintain a relationship or encourage fellowship, I find myself drained afterward. It serves no purpose but distraction. This is the thing I am being convicted to weed out of my life so I might walk with the purpose with which Christ walked. It will be a long journey, but I have faith that it will be fulfilling and rewarding in ways I cannot even imagine right now. I challenge all those reading this to pray for God to reveal those things that distract you from walking with Christ's purpose. They will surely be different for each and every one of us, but I am convinced one thing will remain the same for all: the freedom and reward that will come.
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