In the scene from the Hobbit, Gandalf says he’s looking for someone to go on an adventure and he invites Bilbo to participate with him. Bilbo’s response: “We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. I don’t want any adventures, thank you. Not today.” Gandalf serves as a Jesus-like figure in this scene from the Hobbit. In our lives, it’s Jesus who is looking for someone to share in an amazing adventure with Him. It’s the most awesome invite you will ever get. This invitation is not a religious one but an invitation to follow Jesus. Jesus said, “Follow Me.” Unfortunately, like Bilbo some of us close the door on his invitation; some ignore his invite; some are just along for the ride as consumers, not followers. Why the resistance to following? Because over time, most of us discover there’s a cost to pay for the adventure of following Him. Yes, there are huge benefits to following Jesus. He will make you a better person, a better parent, a better employee, more honest, more generous, with a better purpose in life. In spite of all the benefits of following, we discover along the way there’s a cost associated with following Jesus. Every great adventure has a cost, even with the benefits. Jesus offers each of us the free gift of salvation—the forgiveness of sins—a guaranteed reservation in Heaven. It’s a free gift when we personally trust Jesus as our Savior. It did cost Jesus his life to be the payment for our sin, and to take on the punishment we deserved. Yet, it costs us nothing to trust Him, but following Jesus eventually costs us something. But, here’s something I’ve struggled with in my own life, maybe you relate: we like the benefits, but we don’t like the costs, do we? With every great adventure, there is a cost. We are going to look at a radical question, a radical comeback, a radical reprimand, and a radical set of demands. You’ll have some choices to make, realizing that joining God’s adventure is a radical risk, but there are eternal rewards.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 17:00:23 +0000
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