Adventure
Life is an adventure, not a competition. I am not striving to accumulate more wealth and resources than my fellow man or to beat out the competition. My desire is to live fully in the plans and purposes God has for me. This is the adventure. And Jesus encourages me in this journey to stay vigilant and awake and to pay attention. He encourages me to live in a state of readiness, ready for service, and ready for his return.
He instructs me not to worry and not to fear. He encourages me not to concern myself with greed or gain. But to concern myself with higher things, like the condition of my soul and the good news of the kingdom of God. Higher things like love and forgiveness, and the eternal treasure that will never end.
Since the journey is long and difficult, it takes great effort to stay vigilant and to stay focused. And there are many distractions to divert our attention and to disrupt our vigilance. It is easy to become sidetracked with almost everything in which we are involved. And most all of these are good things, the very fabric of the lives that we build. These include our education and our health, our families and our communities, our jobs and careers and our investments in our financial future, and the places that we worship. Any of these can become the priority of the particular moment.
And in my desire to be vigilant and responsible, I can become anxious and worried about my success in all these areas. Yet Jesus encourages and instructs us to live free and unfettered from anxiety and fear, trusting in the God who made, loves, looks after, and provides for us. He encourages us to do our part and to do our jobs, to work hard and be responsible, but to trust the Father with all of our cares and concerns, and with our very lives knowing that all will be well.
In this we need constant reminders and encouragement. We often get caught in a trap of comparison, measuring our lives and our success with that of others. The world has road maps of success, A+B=C, you do these simple things, and this is the wonderful result. We see what we think is blessing in others’ lives, yet we don’t see the whole picture. We may see a successful business empire, but we don’t see the broken marriage. We see what we believe is fruitful ministry without seeing the dysfunctional family. People chase all kinds of things not knowing the ultimate price.
Friendship
This is why friendship with God is so important and where our ultimate vigilance should be placed. Why would we choose to gain the whole world and lose our souls? The only way to ensure that doesn’t happen is walking with God. It’s choosing him and placing him and his ideas above our own. It’s listening for him and to him, cherishing his words and ideas and placing our trust in him and his unfailing love for us.
The twelfth chapter of Luke begins with large crowds surrounding Jesus. The Message translation states, “but Jesus’ primary concern was his disciples (Luke 12:1).” As Jesus addressed his disciples, he began by stating “I’m speaking to you as dear friends (verse 4).” Later he states, “Don’t be afraid of missing out. You’re my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself (verse 32).”
This is what walking with God is all about. When we immerse ourselves in religion, our lives become centered on performance, on the dos and the don’ts. When our lives are immersed in friendship with God, it becomes centered on relationship and love. Moral codes don’t touch the soul, but relationships do.
When I consider the God revealed in Jesus, particularly when I consider the relationships between Jesus and his disciples, I see what a loving, compassionate friend he is. Early on, he invites them to travel with him, not because of any particular qualification or gift they have, just because he wants to be their friend. The very first of the twelve was Andrew, the disciple who previously followed John the Baptist. Andrew happened to be standing nearby when John proclaimed, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29 NIV)!
Andrew had an interest in God, evident by his following John in the desert, watching his austere lifestyle and listening to his preaching. It is no surprise then that when he heard such a bold proclamation, he would turn his attention to Jesus. He asked Jesus where he was staying and Jesus said, “Come and see!” So, he followed. It’s as simple as that!
Recently I asked a pastor friend to lunch. Early on during our lunch he looked at me and asked a few questions such as “why are we here?” and “what do you need?” or “what can I do for you?” I told him that I had no agenda, I just wanted to have lunch and be his friend.
Friendship is one of God’s greatest gifts. From the beginning of the creation story until today, it has always been true that life is better when shared with others. Yet it isn’t just being with others as in a crowd that will suffice because we all know we can be in a crowd and feel alone. It’s about intimacy and love, being connected and mattering to each other. Even God himself wasn’t enough for Adam. So, he created another, an intimate one, formed from Adam’s side and brought her to Adam.