Stay Close

Growing up, I always wished my mother was a Methodist. Then things wouldn’t have been such a big deal. We wouldn’t have had so many rules. Methodists just went to church and didn’t worry about rules. They were happy…they weren’t eaten up with guilt.

Now, we weren’t as carried away as the Church of God with hair in tight buns and homemade dresses mid calf, but the Baptists in my childhood, took righteous and holy living to a whole new level that the Methodists and Episcopalians never even knew existed. We followed the rules.

Whose rules?

Jesus had a conversation with Matthew, a tax collector. Tax collectors were pond scum as far as Jews were concerned…in a class by themselves. There were sinners and then far below sinners, were tax collectors. Matthew obviously had some issues.

It wasn’t really a conversation….there was no dialogue. Jesus just saw Matthew, approached him and said, “Follow Me.” Didn’t say, “Clean up your act, quit being deceptive, stop cheating people, change your clothes, go to temple, follow the rules and get back to me when you have a better track record,” ….nothing. Just, “Follow Me.”

What if we follow all the rules but we’re still a jerk? Irritable, petty, condescending, patronizing, critical? What if we’re still short tempered, impatient or haughty? Think all those people we’re interfacing with on a daily basis, care….that we’ve followed all the rules? That we don’t drink, smoke, chew, go to R rated movies, miss church on Sundays? That we’re pre millennium, post millennium, reformed, Baptists or Methodists? No! They don’t CARE!

What they do care about is that the person they work with or live with or volunteer with is a joy to work with or live with ….that you are not irritable, petty, condescending, patronizing, critical. That you are not short tempered, impatient or haughty. They don’t worry if you’re going to show up on red or green.

I worked for a lady once and every day we’d brace ourselves in anticipation of her mood for the day. Red meant duck, stay out of her way. Green meant everyone breathed a sigh of relief. You knew her color when she walked through the door.

Problem is, I was born analytical, stubborn, judgmental or whatever trait you inherited. Maybe my family has been that way for generations. It’s not in my makeup to be kind and tenderhearted, sweet…I’m just not that way. Neither was Matthew which was why Jesus didn’t give him a list of temple rules. He just said, “Follow Me.” What He didn’t explain was that following Him would change his heart which would change his actions. Being a follower of Christ would produce change. Matthew was to just stay close to Jesus. Matthew wouldn’t just try harder….he’d stay close and over the years, thinking back over his life, he would realize that a transformation had taken place. He had assumed by association, a likeness to Christ.

We want to be like Christ in how we think. Have all our doctrine right. Be on the same page regarding the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the Second Coming and every other capitalized issue in the Bible. We can reason that out and DO it. And this is important. In fact, it’s foundational…critical that my faith be based on truth. But I think my kids knew all the doctrine they would ever need to know before they were 12! What happened after that was in place?

When you interface with a lost and dying world that has no lasting peace and has no hope and you have the secret to both, they don’t CARE about the doctrine, the rules….they look at the talking head and then watch as he interfaces with the world around him. Is he critical, impatient, mean spirited? Or is he kind, tenderhearted, patient, caring? Are you relational so dialogue can even begin?

Let’s move it a step closer. I do the kind, tenderhearted thing really well with my world. At home….now that’s the gut wrencher. Am I kind, tenderhearted, patient, longsuffering, with a servant’s heart…at home?

I try.

But trying lasts just so long and then you’re exhausted and you revert back to the real you.

So does Jesus say, “Try harder?” Nope…He just says, “Follow Me…stay close. Read my word. Talk to me often. Watch me….and my Spirit will change your heart and your actions will follow. The real you will become….like Me.”

God ordains circumstances, events in your life to transform you into the image of His Son….to make you more like Him. It isn’t church. It’s the world and jobs and families. The idea is that when the world sees you, it knows that’s what Jesus was like. If they had coffee with you, if they worked with you, if they lived in the same house with you, they’d know that’s what He was like. He’d be just like you….straightforward but kind, honest but encouraging, tenderhearted, compassionate, diplomatic, patient. Caring.

I cannot produce those attributes. I can’t act like that…react or respond like that. It’s just not me. But it’s Him. And the incredible thing is, He lives within me and His business is to reproduce Himself. So when it’s not me…my knee jerk reaction needs to be to turn to Him, whom I’m following closely, and ask him to be Himself through me.

Stay close.