Catch 22

As a christian, life so often seems to be a catch 22. We so badly want to have everything together, progressing forward with fluidity. Much like anyone else, we want financial security, our family to make good decisions, rich relationships with our friends, and our sons and daughters to find happiness. When we finally achieve some of these things, we begin to rely on ourselves in life. We think we can "make it on our own," because now, everything seems to be on the right path. Throughout the process of getting to where we want to be in life, we often follow Jesus wholeheartedly, but when we arrive at this pinnacle, we jump in front of Him. Most of the time, we do this subconsciously. When everything is going just how we imagined, life's struggles aren't there anymore to remind us to pray, to connect with Jesus. We feel like we don't need Him, right here, right now, like we did before we reached this point. A lot of times, when help isn't urgent, we're not as quick to connect with God.

The problem with this habit is that when we think we can do it on our own, and we wander off and stop following Him, we lose track of what's important in life. We then begin to focus on so many things other than Jesus. We start to want more money, we take our health for granted, or we forget to give praise back to God. We begin to place other things in front of God on the priority list, essentially, making them the things for which we live, making them our own little mini-gods, if you will.

Peter, Jesus' close friend, knew this all too well. In Matthew chapter 16, after Peter tells Jesus that Jesus will not be killed, Jesus says to Peter, "Get behind me Satan." Jesus followed up by saying that Peter was setting his mind on the things of men, rather than on the things of God. Now it's important to note that the Greek word Jesus uses here is a word that essentially means "follow me." This is a different word Jesus used to Satan in Matthew chapter 4 when he was being tempted in the desert. In Satan's case, Jesus used a Greek word that meant "leave me." You see, when we manage to screw things up, Jesus doesn't want us to leave Him. He wants to lead us out of our troubles. He wants to protect us from harm. He wants us to follow His lead to a place that was better than we could have previously imagined.

The christian life can be a catch 22 because when everything is going our way, we all too often think we can do it on our own. When our business is booming, it's so easy to believe it's a direct result of our own intelligence. When our children grow up to be God-fearing adults, it's because we raised them correctly. We are quick to forget that God works through people. We forget that He works through us, and when we are bottomed-out, we want more out of life, and we are led to beg God for a way out. We need to learn to follow Jesus as all times, through the good, the bad, and the ugly.

He wants us to run with Him.