Dear Slavic Christian, are you willing to be obedient to God…to the Cross?

Often times I hear believers say, “God is perfect, I can’t be like God. Therefore I can never be perfect. What’s the point of trying. I might as well continue to sin and just believe that grace will cover me”

True, true. You can never be like God by your own efforts, you can never achieve perfection, and you are covered by His grace. But there’s another fascinating discovery that I have realized lately, in the garden of Gethsemane, Christ asked three times for the cup of pain, sin, shame, and condemnation of the entire world to pass by him-three times! Christ, who was perfect in every way, who was part of the trinity and God in physical form, experienced pain on a level we can never understand, to achieve this perfection on our behalf. 

Some may say, “Well of course, it was easy for Him because He is God.”

I’d like to provoke a deeper train of thought and ask you, “If the life of Christ was so effortless, He wouldn’t have needed to ask God to let the cup pass by three times. He would have just said, “You know what God, I’m backing out of this plan, I don’t want to keep doing this.” But He didn’t do that at all. 

He said, “God, it doesn’t matter what I want. The only thing that matters is what you want and I know what you want. So I’m going to fulfill your desire out of my obedience and love for you.” 

Dear Slavic Christian, “Have you come to that place of love, obedience, and faithfulness for the Father yet, or are you still saying, “God, I’m backing out of [this] plan. I’m running away because I don’t want what you want for me. Your desire is too painful. It’s too uncomfortable.”

What if I told you, this life is not about you. It’s about Him, at the beginning and end of the day. If you cannot drink from the cup God has prepared for you according to His glory and purpose, you can certainly walk away. The truth is, if you do, I can’t guarantee that you will ever know what true grace, love, hope, and faith feel like. 

Take this example from Christ. He could have taken the easy route. He could have chosen to not suffer any kind of pain, but he CHOSE to suffer…for you and I.

Dear reader, if that’s not love, I don’t know what is. If that’s not the perfect example of love and courage, driven by the Holy Spirit, I don’t know what is. If you and I are not willing to crucify our flesh and live for Jesus, I don’t know what else we have to live for. 

The question is, are you willing to choose to set your own desires, comfort, and agenda aside to potentially suffer this way so that His character will be revealed in you?

Are you willing to let go of yourself for Christ?

Now imagine if you answered yes to these questions. All of heaven will rejoice because that means that one more sinner realized their need for a Savior. All of heaven rejoices when we lay our lives down and say, “Lord, I don’t understand your plan and it seems terrifying to me to follow you in blind obedience, but I CHOOSE to because you’ve shown me a life worthy of your love when I do.”