Reading 13

Luke 6:1-36

I am a planner. I’ve devoted so much time to discerning my path in life. I never go on a trip without mapping out the entire experience. In high school, I took a test that showed me what things I might be good at. Of course, I already knew what it would say – I had known what I wanted to do in life since I was 10 years old.

Like most college students, I prepared for my career in college. I built my resume, and hoped for the best. Even though things didn’t turn out exactly like I had expected, I still find myself at age 25 just about where I thought I would be. Married, kids, saving money for a house…I even have a retirement plan!

The ‘right’ path is well marked in America. And I have to admit – I like that! I like the certainty of being able to go down the checklist and say, “Yep, I’m headed for the top!” It seems like God is different. He doesn’t want us to get distracted by the great American checklist. The problem with the ‘Great American Checklist?’ Sometimes in the midst of choosing colleges and neighborhoods and clubs to belong to we actually forget that we are making choices. Sometimes, we let our fear of missing checkboxes or completing them to late get in the way of our relationship with God. And sometimes, if we aren’t careful, we let that fear stand in the way of offering up our choices to God first. We forget to ask God if our career, our dreams of marriage, and our expectations for a perfect life, are really part of his plan for us. Luke 6:1-12 reminds us that being in relationship with God is the only way to stay on the right path.

Jesus lived in a time when the Pharisees had taken ownership of the Sabbath. They had a ‘Great Sabbath Checklist’ which was a very convenient way to tell everyone what they should be doing on the Lord’s day. The best Pharisees were just trying to be helpful. The checklist was a surefire way to avoid doing anything ‘wrong’ on the Sabbath that might stand in the way of your eternal life. But sometimes, all of those checkboxes kept people from doing the right thing out of fear of judgment – not by God, but by other believers. Then came Jesus. Jesus never used the checklist, yet he still always managed to do what was right. What the Pharisees really disliked about the reaction Jesus has to their checklist was that Jesus gave ownership of holiness to God, not to them.

Concepts of ‘happiness’, ‘success’, and ‘love’ are well-defined in America. On any day of the week you can find the secrets to a great career on-line, the secrets to a smoldering hot relationship in Cosmo, and the complete response to a variety of social problems from pundits and analysts that dominate the media. Whatever our moral dilemma, Google and Yahoo are quick to supply an answer.

As you make decisions about your future, remember that no one holds your happiness, success, or worthiness of love other than God. Pray vigilantly, and when you look up and find yourself on a path that gets strange looks from passers by, remember that God likes to shake things up a little bit.

Melanie

Reading #13 (audio)