of WWII called this “cheap grace”—everybody is okay.
Is there anything wrong with this picture? Remember Groucho Marx’s quip that he would not want to be a member of a group that had standards low enough to let him in? When we consider the time—sometimes even years!—and the demands to know about the faith required for church membership of converts in the days when Christianity was still illegal under the Roman Empire, we ought to be ashamed of how easy we have it.
If you want to do things right, the way Jesus is instructing, what would make it so hard to attain the life he promises? It must be that it is hard to keep your focus on Christ. But the thing is that when you focus on Jesus, the whole thing gets radically simplified.
Prayer: Don’t let me focus on the narrow gate or the hard way, but only on you, O Christ. Amen.
24 – Jekyll or Hyde?
Matthew 7:15–23 — (15) Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. (16) You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? (17) In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. (18) A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. (19) Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (20) Thus you will know them by their fruits. (21) Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. (22) On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ (23) Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evil-doers.’”
How many personalities do you have? Do you offer one persona to your grandparents and another to your roommate? Do you talk the same way to your parents as to your boy- or girlfriend? This is not to say that you have multiple personality disorder and need psychiatric attention. But it is to say that you might want to notice how you may differ as you relate to different audiences. The real test of who people are, says Jesus, is found in their “fruits”—what they actually do. They may talk the talk, but do they walk the walk?
Time for an inventory of your personalities. Check for several features: Is this particular persona consistent with your highest hopes for yourself? Is it the real you? Are there basic elements in it that are consistent with all your other personae? Are there elements in it that you don’t use in other relationships? Are there gestures, words, or topics that you avoid or include? What is that telling the other person about you? The issue here is whether there is a fundamental consistency across all of the “you’s” that you present to others.
Have the fragmenting possibilities of the college experience affected you in such a way as to encourage you to see your life in different parts, each needing a different you?
Prayer: Creator God, love all of the “me’s”; bring them together into the one person you created me to be. Amen.
25 – The One Teacher
Matthew 7:24–29 — (24) “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. (25) The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. (26) And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. (27) The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!” (28) Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, (29) for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
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