Narrow vs. Wide

Well...the photo thing fell by the wayside this weekend.

I'll pick that back up tomorrow...

...but in the meantime this is something that's been on my mind as I read Radical, and Richard talked about it last night and summed it up on his blog - read the full blog here - it's worth it!

Here's the part that's ringing in my ears:

"Let’s get practical. The fall line of discipleship asks hard things of us, that are contrary to our world:

1. Forgive, when the rest of the world tells us to exact revenge, and our hearts tell us to keep our pain

2. Give generously – 10% or more to your church, and to the poor; give your time, and your extra space at your table, when our world tells us, “You earned it, it’s yours, keep it for yourself – or spend it.”

3. Your sexuality belongs in the covenant relationship of marriage, while the wide road is filled with alternatives.

4. Your life is not your own, so the only important question is “what does God ask of me.” This stands in contrast to a world of autonomy.

5. You are made to be part of a community that is committed to making God’s reign visible, so find a church family and commit to it, in spite of the fact that it will take you all of ten minutes to find flaws in it. This stands in contrast to the spiritual consumerism that characterizes American Christianity, which is a wide road where the masses feed at the trough of religious programming, seeking to fill the void by passively consuming.

The Exhaustion of the Wide Road. Watch this: (referring to the above concepts by number)

1. Bitterness is killing people, while those who forgive walk upright, find joy, sleep better, lower their blood pressure and cortisol presence, and on and on it goes.

2. Those who give find not only joy, but financial provision in their lives as, having put God’s priorities first, they are enabled to get their financial house in order, living within their means, and finding joy in what they have, rather than self-medicating by shopping.

3. There’s overwhelming scientific evidence of a correlation between multiple sex partners, and increased levels of depression, leading to increased use of counseling and medication. Much of this is documented in the recent book, which is more of statistical presentation than a theological treatise.

4. The NY Times recently wrote about “decision fatigue,” the thesis of which is that the multiplication of choices we face is paralyzing us.

5. Spiritual consumerism creates a passivity that bypasses discipleship, while giving attenders the illusion that they’re maturing because they know how to sit still for 75 minutes on Sunday. Rubbish. Maturity isn’t sitting, but serving.

These are markers on the wide road, and people on that road are tired. They’re tired of being two people, tired of guilt, tired of not sleeping well, tired of self-medicating by sinking into addictive behavior, tired of their own critical spirit, tired of the joylessness and stress that sometimes characterize their lives. There’s got to be a better way."

I'm challenged. First of all, if we're talking about skiing I barely get off the bunny hill let alone make it up the chair lift to even criss-cross down the mountain. So the fall line sounds terrifying to me. But it also makes a whole lot of sense. Therefore I'm challenged in my faith. Where have I taken the wide path and lowered the bar for my convenience? Just so I can feel better about my attempts.

Lord I pray I may find the narrow road and then I pray to have the courage to take it.