We See Dead People

You may feel very much alive, but you're dead to us. Christ spent a large part of His ministry focusing on death . . His own and the death of those who would follow Him. In fact, he didn't seem to be able to help people who held on to their life like the rich young man in Matthew 19:16-26. The ironic thing is that what we often hold so tightly isn't worth holding on to in the first place. On your death bed, what will be important to you? How much you made? How well you were able to control people and your environment? How hard you tried to make life work? Probably not. At that point, you may be more concerned with your relationship with God and the people that are important to you. Guess what? Those are just the things God is concerned with. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus answered, "You shall love the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40) . . . Not easy commands when you've got a life to live, but on your deathbed, easily your main focus.

You're already Dead

"How do I work up all that love?" you say. The good news is that you don't have to "work up" anything. Dead people don't show up for work. They aren't even expected to call in. You're already dead, although you may not be ready to admit it yet, but neither was the rich young ruler. He had places to go and people to see and a life of actually being a very religious & obedient person. Jesus watched him walk away in sadness. Why? Because the young man couldn't admit that he really was a loser, a dead duck without dependence on someone else for his righteousness. He had credentials and long resume of good behavior. Jesus wasn't impressed. And the passage isn't about how hard it is for rich people to enter the kingdom; it's main thrust is that no matter how difficult it is for some to trust, "with God all things are possible."(Matt 19:26)

Let yourself in on the Joke

Don't wait for your deathbed or a terminal diagnosis to live like you were dying. Loving God and others is more of a freedom than an obligation to a person who has no life of his/her own. Once you let yourself in on the joke that you never really did have any control over your life in the first place, and once you recognize that you were created as a dependent image-bearer for relationship with the God of the universe, you can laugh all the way to unemployment line for the Self-Righteous. That's who Jesus deals with-- the people who recognize they're dead and their only life is "hid" in Christ. (Colossians 3:3 "For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God"). The Gospel is easy because we all have what it takes-- one lousy, messed up life--and its hard because we strive to make life work in our own prideful independence, rather than as a little, humble child.