What do I have apart from Christ?

About Contemplations:

As I read from my lectionary and other daily readings I make a habit of cherishing those truths that speak to my soul. I pray that these words reach your soul, too.

Much like meditations, these contemplations are meant to direct the gaze of our hearts to Jesus. These posts do not condone the positions and theology of the respective authors. Nor am I endorsing the views of the authors or the religious traditions they represent.

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Distractions, distractions

Let’s face it. This world has a lot of fun and compelling distractions. Many things compete for our attention: I love to get lost in YouTube and discover new channels and creators. Facebook Reels are addicting and blows up my Screen Time goals.

Many things attempt to lure our desires and wallets (looking at you, Amazon). Marketing teams from a pantheon of businesses assail us with ads.

More negatively, many things consume our thoughts, spawning worry, anxiety, or obsession: drama at the office, a bad A1C score, an unexpected phone call from the child’s school.

More positively, I enjoy many good and pleasurable things. I love to brew myself a fine single-origin light roast coffee from Costa Rica in the mornings. I love flying my new drone and capturing some amazing video of the beauty of Montana. Occasionally, I’ll enjoy a savory Hazy IPA from a local brewery.

So many things in this world. Each seeking to tickle our five senses and promise something … satisfying. Yes, that’s the word. Satisfy. That word has great value today.

But.

Recently, as I was reading through The Imitation of Christ, Kempis challenged my world-saturated sensibilities with this bold assertion:

Remember how dry and how undevout you are without Jesus, how unwise, how vain, and how ignorant you are when you desire anything but Jesus.

Truly, such a desire is more harmful to you than if you had lost all the world.

What can this world give you save through the help of Jesus? To be without Jesus is the pain of hell. And to be with him is a pleasant paradise. If Jesus is with you no enemy can grieve you. He who finds Jesus finds a treasure, better than all the other treasures, and he who loses Him has lost more than all the world.

He is most poor who lives without Jesus, and he is most rich who is with Him.

It is great wisdom to be closely familiar with Him and to keep Him. Be humble and peaceful, and Jesus will be with you; be devout and quiet, and He will abide with you (Thomas à Kempis, II, 8).

This passage caused me to pause and examine a lot about my values, desires, and priorities. Perhaps you may want to do the same.

Here are a few starter questions:

• What do you truly value in this world?

  • (What am I afraid to lose? What what would make me upset if I lost this thing?)

• What do you want in this life?

  • (What do I think will make me happy, or bring satisfaction?)

• What do you prioritize?

  • (What do I turn to first when I wake up in the morning. What do I do when I get off work or have some free time?)

I wrestled with these question and it startled me how much of what I valued, desired, and prioritized did not involve Jesus.

But, wait, why is that?

Let’s go back to the first part of Kempis’ admonition. “Remember how dry and how undevout you are without Jesus, how unwise, how vain, and how ignorant you are when you desire anything but Jesus.”

Basically, chasing after anything beside Jesus (apart from the blessings He has given us) we fall into vanity and ignorance.

However, if we abide in Christ, “Jesus will be with you.”

Bringing it home

Do you feel far from God? Do you feel like your prayers are pointless and bouncing off the ceiling?

What are you chasing?

Where are you abiding?

God’s Word has a lot to say about this…

1 John 2:15-17 BSB - Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.

The world is passing by … but those who concern themselves about God’s business are blessed.

Sounds like Kempis was on to something. Jesus isn’t just peripheral life to help us out—He is the life!

Jesus isn’t something we sprinkling in to enhance our faith—Jesus is our faith!

To underscore this, consider the vine illustration from John 15, Jesus describes Himself as a vine and His followers—the church—as the branches of the vine.

John 15:3-5 BSB - 4 Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.

5 I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing

“Apart from Me you can do nothing.” Ouch, this is Jesus speaking directly to His followers—us!

Do we believe this? Do we live this?

What is one thing you can reprioritize today?