People in the Christian world like to push the radical commitments of people who followed Jesus as if they totally abandoned everything to follow the person they were certain was God’s Son. I don’t see if that way. Sure, everyone gave up something significant when they first followed Jesus…but no one gave up everything with total abandon. And though Jesus calls us to greater and greater abandon in our commitment to Him, He is satisfied with a timid faith at first–following Him for selfish reasons–if nothing else.

I think Jesus’ followers in particular, wanted to be famous, wanted to learn from the most popular teacher and miracle worker of the day, and wanted a change from fishing and tax collecting. I think that’s evident in how dumb they were at times, and the couple of arguments over who was Jesus’ #2 guy.

Abraham was the same way. He followed God after God promised to bless him and make him a blessing. He struggled trust God in lots of ways after he set out for Canaan…and it was only toward the end of his life that he followed God with total abandon–willing to give his only Son to God if he had to.

I am the same way. I followed God because I didn’t want to go to hell. I followed Him because I wanted to get rid of the intense loneliness, the God-shaped-hole in my life. I didn’t follow with total abandon when I started out, I followed with selfish interest. However, as the years passed and I got to know God better and better, my commitment and abandon increased. Still though, I don’t expect people who are Christians to match my level of commitment, and I certainly don’t expect non-Christians to enter the faith with my intensity. That intensity grows over time. Jesus is our Savior when we first enter a relationship with Him…but we only grow to call Him Lord.

John the Baptist and Jesus were radically different than the people around them, and they called people to radical change…and yet they lived our their differences in a way that attracted people rather than running them off.

Coming into a relationship with God through Jesus does cause radical change–we suddenly find ourselves talking to God and wanting to know Him better, so we align our lives with His. Some of those changes are tiny, some are huge. Some are private, some are public.

I must strive to live the different in the way that Jesus did–attractionally. I must find the joy in God’s way and celebrate that. It’s easier said than done, but today I will do my best.

If God can convince wise men to travel months across the scorching desert in order to deliver a king-sized care package of gold to a poor family with a baby in Bethlehem, then He can probably take care of me too. Seriously, that’s the ultimate care package!

Though it comes as a pleasant surprise in the movies we see of Jesus birth, the gift of the wise men also triggers Joseph and Mary’s journey and stay in Egypt…for which they will need money they don’t have…or didn’t have until the wise men dropped it off. I just think it’s cool how God provided a HUGE gift for them out of nowhere. And though this gift was related to Jesus, God’s Son, I am reminded that God has no problem sending what we need, sometimes right before we need it, in a miraculous way, just to remind us that He cares.

I don’t know if God will send me a dream, a huge gift, or a special visitor in the near future, but I know I’ll have what I need when I need it. He takes great care of His children, and I am proud and blessed to call myself on of those!

Today begins a new journey through the Scriptures. I make it a practice to begin every day by reading the Bible and praying–my way of trying to get in tune with God so that I can hear Him throughout the day. In recent days I’ve been using reading plans from the Bible app and Bible.com, but today I want to go back to a resource that allows me to reflect upon what I’ve read with great intention. So I picked up a little book that has arranged the Scripture for me, and I plan to regularly post to my blog about what God is teaching/telling me.

The thing that has jumped out to me so far: in Matthews account of Jesus’ parents, God told them Jesus would be important, but He didn’t tell them nearly HOW important He would be. Joseph and Mary walked through her unexpected and embarrassing pregnancy without the promise that He would be a king or that He was going to be considered God’s son. He was even given a common name for the time. Oh the surprise that awaited them!

Oh the surprise that awaits me too, when God asks me to serve, but doesn’t explain just how great the impact of my actions will be! I wish He often provided a little more perspective and motivation, but sometimes I have to learn to enjoy the surprises that He tends to store up for me until the perfect moment. God’s a good parent…I should be faster to trust and serve Him.