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As we head further into Holy Week, we will be reminded of the path Jesus took—a path that can be aptly described as costly, inconvenient, and uncomfortable:
- He’s going to confront people that have turned the temple into a “den of robbers.”
- He will get down on his hands and knees to wash the feet of loved ones who will both betray him and deny him.
- He will be in such prayerful anguish that he will sweat blood.
- He will be arrested, mocked, tortured, and crucified.
To be a follower of Jesus is to emulate a man whose crowning moment was cruciform in nature, a man who often said that anyone who wants to follow him must also carry a cross of their own.
If we follow in his footsteps, we will encounter many moments that resemble his final days—moments that are costly, inconvenient, and uncomfortable.
Yet, deep down, there isn’t a person among us who does not treasure comfort. It seems natural for us to seek happiness and unnatural for us to do hard things with hard people (including the hardest of all: ourselves).
To get to the place where we can embrace the God of Holy Week—the God of cruciformity and discomfort, we need that same God to prune us of our many idols, including the idol of comfort. Will you pray that sort of prayer as these days approach?
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TODAY’s PRAYER: King Jesus, as we encounter your passion anew, prune us of any unhealthy desire for comfort. You know our tendencies—how we seek happiness and shy away from displeasure, how we so easily desire the diversion of amusement rather the labor of service, how we’d rather swim in ignorant bliss than have the truth shatter our convenient illusions. Help us to follow you. Help us take utter delight in you even as that leads us down paths of discomfort and difficulty. Help us to seek the glory of the One who did the hardest thing of all.
Please don’t hear what I’m not saying! Because yes, there are plenty of times when our discomfort is trying to send us an important message about the brokenness of our present circumstances. In those cases, it is important to heed the message of discomfort and escape the brokenness. Please don’t endure abuse or mistreatment in the name of cruciformity. In this post, I’m specifically referring to the moments when we choose comfort and convenience when God is calling us to carry a cross.
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