Give Me Jesus

This morning at Mass I had the privilege of singing a beautiful song with our very talented praise band. And even though I've sang the words to that song a hundred times, I couldn't help but be captivated by their very simple and very profound words: "You can have all this world, give me Jesus"

You see, this is what I love about Lent, because the closer we get to Holy Week, the more intense it gets. This is where the boys are separated from the men. This is when we're forced to face the reality of the depth of our faith. There's no "my yolk is easy" talk now, instead Jesus says follow me, and it won't be easy, it will cost you everything, but it will be worth it. Read this from the gospel this morning:

"Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast
came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee,
and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”
Philip went and told Andrew;
then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
Jesus answered them,
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it,
and whoever hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me,
and where I am, there also will my servant be.
The Father will honor whoever serves me. Jn 12:20-26
I don't think it matters who we are - a normal church-goer, a priest, a missionary, an addict - this verse hits us all where it hurts the most. At Mass this morning our priest spoke about asking a teenager if he could give up his cell phone for just one day and the mortified response he got. But the reason this verse hurts isn't because he's asking us to give up a cell phone, or sin, or money, or even a job. That's the easy stuff. It's easy to swap out the bad stuff and replace it with Christ. But the reason that this terrifies me is that He doesn't just ask for the bad, He asks for the good too. When I think about the things I'm hanging on to in this life, it's not cell phones or money or material things at all. It's people.

This is where it gets hard. Do I love Jesus enough to give everything, even the most sacred treasure I have on this earth, my family, if I was asked to? When I pray can I truly pray "you can have ALL this world" and truly mean ALL of them?

I was thinking about this as we drove home from church, and how the author of the book "The Hardest Peace" and blog Mundane Faithfulness, Kara Tippetts, really understands this so much better than most of us. As a wife and mother of young children fighting a losing battle with cancer, she writes about her love for her family, but that clinging to even the best gifts we're given here is missing out on the greater promise. Marriage, family, the love that we experience here on earth is just a sign of what waits for us in heaven. But Kara says "we lack imagination for what we can't see, feel, smell and taste. We are reckless in our grasping for more time, and forget the best is yet to come. We simply have so little imagination for our forever home, and yet I feel Jesus is very gentle with us in our lack of understanding" (The Hardest Peace, pg 104 - Seriously, read the whole book, it's so good!) I know that God is using Kara's story to challenge my heart. And this evening, her husband posted on her blog that she passed away today.

The reading for today continued with Jesus's prayer:
“I am troubled now. Yet what should I say?
‘Father, save me from this hour’?
But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.
Father, glorify your name.”
Then a voice came from heaven,
“I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” Jn 12:27-29

Kara or her husband or children would not have been blamed for having asked God to save her. Even Jesus was troubled with what the Father was asking of Him. But Kara understood there is a bigger picture, and that it was for this purpose that she came. Having shared her story and the heart of Christ with thousands of people, God is certainly glorifying His name through her. And I'm sure she has already realized it was worth it.

When I think about the life, my 3 boys, that I want to cling to, I have to pray for faith like Jesus. That when faced with the ultimate sacrifices, I won't ask to be saved, but instead understand that quite possibly it was for this purpose that I am here, and only that God's name be glorified. I think for all of us this is a daily struggle, to stay focused on Jesus. So I will try and fail, try again, and pray. Pray for faith like Jesus, that the words "you can have all this world, give me Jesus" transform from song lyrics into a heartfelt prayer, and then a life lived out.

Give me Jesus

Take a few minutes to listen to the song and pray it. https://youtu.be/wS4JQi4dgvg