This movie finally released a few weeks ago. The nearest theater that’s hosting it is in a town that’s a little more high class than me. We can’t really afford it.
So I re-read the book instead. I hadn’t read it in forever. It’s fantastic. If you haven’t read Don Miller’s breakout classic, Blue Like Jazz, get it.
Some stuff I highlighted this time:
“The problem is not a certain type of legislation or even a certain politician; the problem is the same that it has always been. I am the problem” (Loc 232).
“‘Don, the Bible is so good with chocolate. I always thought the Bible was more of a salad thing, you know, but it isn’t. It is a chocolate thing'”(Loc 505).
“I will love God because He first loved me. I will obey God because I love God. But if I cannot accept God’s love, I cannot love Him in return, and I cannot obey Him” (Loc 753).
“Your problem is not that God is not fulfilling, your problem is that you are spoiled” (Loc 821).
“I don’t think any church has ever been relevant to culture, to the human struggle, unless it believed in Jesus and the power of His gospel” (Loc 1018).
“The most difficult lie I have ever contended with is this: Life is a story about me” (Loc 1632).
And a short passage from Chapter 15 that really punched me in the face (again):
I was in San Francisco recently staying at this bed and breakfast place for people who are in the city to do ministry. It was a small house, but there were probably fifteen people living there at the time. The guy who ran the place, Bill, was always making meals or cleaning up after us, and I took note of his incredible patience and kindness. I noticed that not all of us did our dishes after a meal, and very few people thanked him for cooking.
One morning, before anybody woke up, Bill and I were drinking coffee at the dining room table. I told him I lived with five guys and that it was difficult for me because I liked my space and needed my privacy. I asked him how he kept such a good attitude all the time with so many people abusing his kindness.
Bill set down his coffee and looked me in the eye. “Don,” he said. “If we are not willing to wake up in the morning and die to ourselves, perhaps we should ask ourselves whether or not we are really following Jesus.”
If you haven’t read Blue Like Jazz, you need to.
“perhaps we should ask ourselves whether or not we are really following Jesus.”
True. But we each must find our own path balancing the two truths: “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” and “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” We shouldn’t get caught up in trying to measure up to someone else’s righteousness but keeping our eyes on Jesus, letting Him be our focal point. Most of us do get “punched in the face” if our hearts are sensitive to His Spirit. Weird that so often it doesn’t seem to be an easy yoke or a light burden, eh?
I heard a great sermon several years ago on Matthew 11, by a guy named Cory Russell. He talked about what a wonderfully constructed sermon that chapter is.
It ends with the bid to “come to Me, all ye who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” and the promise that His yoke is easy. But it starts with John the Baptist and, “The kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” He starts by rebuking the crowd for not entering into John’s devotion. Cory talked about how we find the “rest” and the “easy yoke” when we enter into following Jesus with everything that we have. Jesus seemed to exalt John, rebuke the lukewarm, and then promise rest.
I don’t think the “rest” necessarily comes as soon as we say a sinner’s prayer. Most people find that it gets really hard, really quickly. I think the “rest” comes bit by bit as we take up our cross and die to ourselves and start living for others like Jesus does.
Like the guy in the Blue Like Jazz story. He wasn’t striving to be a good Christian and earn “servant points.” He was at peace, at rest, with his role. I think it was because he had accepted that Jesus calls us to be a slave of all, and he was just doing it.