Crossroads Church Of God

The young wife casts a coy look at her husband. Instantly, she is reassured that he does. "But how much?"

The young man declares the totality of his love, each sentence growing from the last until he proudly insists he would gladly give up his life for her.

A scene like this brings a smile to our faces. We admire the young lover's willingness to throw away everything in pursuit of his love. It's romantic, it's enviable. We are proud that humans are capable of such devotion.

And how differently we feel about it, when one of the lovers is God. Why are we so willing to sacrifice in the name of love for another human, and yet meet the love of God with such reluctance?

Flu season is just around the corner! Don’t you just love hearing that! I suppose everyone has different remedies when it comes to dealing with the flu, but the goal is always the same…do what it takes to get well! For some people that is drinking lots of liquids. For others it is getting more rest. In addition, people will take medicines to help them get well, or, at least deal with the symptoms. In some cases, you need to go to a doctor and get an antibiotic. And there is always the flu shot! Again…you do what it takes to get well!

“Hurry! Hurry! Fast and Scurry!” These were the words my mother used to chide me with, when I needed to get something done quickly. As I’ve grown older, I’ve hoped for the pace to slacken, but no such luck. If anything, the pace has increased.

It’s the way of the world. If we stop, if we try and sit still, we start to fidget. We feel restless. All of the tasks we have set for ourselves begin to close in on us. We’re almost ready to scream. We have too much to do; we can’t just sit here and do nothing!

We can rationalize it however we want, claim we’re looking forward to getting started, that we’re eager, excited, that the tasks need to get done, and they won’t get done unless we get started. But behind it all is fear. What are we afraid of?

It's not an idle question. To come is to arrive, while to go is to depart. "Come" implies that the place you have arrived at is more than just a temporary stopping-place. It means the place you have arrived at is where you intend to stay. All of us "go shopping," few of us "come shopping."

Because of the relationship between those words, we assume the logical sequence is first to go, and only after we go do we come. But is that really the way it's supposed to be?

You don’t understand me! No one understands me!

How many times have those anguished words come from my lips? How many more times have they put on their hob-nailed boots and stomped across my mind?

In the dark of my soul’s night, I’m sure this is true. My pain is severe, and no matter the good intentions of those around me, their words of comfort and love find no hold. Why not?

An avid student of the law once asked Jesus "What is the most important commandment?" To my ears, this is a very modern question. Management gurus of all stripes today give the same advice: Locate your biggest problems and concentrate on those first.

We are told the intent of the question was to test Jesus. But I can't help wondering if there wasn't a little something more behind it. As a student of the law, the young man must have noticed how difficult it was to obey the law completely. He had probably noticed in himself a tendency to break several commandments on a regular basis. So which of these was going to cause him the most trouble? Which of these was his biggest problem, the one he should tackle first?