Salt And Pepper?

Salt and Pepper?

Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Mark 10:21

Author Francis Chan points out that when people give their lives to Christ simply because they are looking for a get-out-of-hell-free card or because they want Jesus to “join” them on their journey through life, there is often little or no evidence of change. Why? Because they haven’t yet repented, haven’t yet grasped the enormity of what is required. Instead of allowing Christ to save and define them, they have simply added a little bit of Jesus, hoping that will “spiritualize” their lives. In their hearts, they want God to follow them around, helping them get wherever it is they want to go, rather than the other way around.

To put it another way, trying to add a little bit of Jesus to your life is like adding salt and pepper to a diet of rice and beans. At the end of the day, your food may taste a little better, but the truth is you are still dining on rice and beans.

Repentance, Chan says, is more like what happened when he met his wife. “When I use the word repent,” he says, “I think about the time I was in a dating relationship, until one day a girl named Lisa came to my church as a guest soloist and caught my attention. After getting to know her, I knew she was the one I wanted to be with. I didn’t consider it an option to ask Lisa if she wanted to date me also. I knew I had to break off the other relationship if I wanted to begin one with Lisa.

“In a sense, this is what repentance is like when we meet Jesus: We totally change direction.”^a

If we want God’s shalom to characterize our lives, we can’t simply try sprinkling a little more peace on top of the status quo. Instead, we have to turn our backs on whatever is holding us back, setting our hearts on the one who calls us forward. That’s the recipe for repentance—and for peace.

Lord, help me realize that I am following you and that you are not following me. Forgive me for my attachments to sin. Help me to sever them so I can turn to you wholeheartedly.

^a Francis Chan, Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2009), 123–24.