In a BlackBerry World

I was going to write about trading BlackBerrys (BlackBerries?) with Jesus. About giving up ours and taking His. And about how His would surely be programmed perfectly – allotting lots of time for prayer and proper priorities. And then I realized –

That’s not the trade Jesus wants to make. He’s holding out for more. He’s not just after obedient servants, who agree to spend more time in prayer and pay more attention to the wife and kids. He’s after disciples. Wholehearted followers. And what do disciples do?
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it” (Lk. 9:23-24 NIV).

In this BlackBerry world, it’s our whole life He wants. Or rather, our lives… for haven’t we splintered ourselves into many persons? As Richard Foster writes in The Freedom of Simplicity, “Within all of us is a whole conglomerate of selves.” He speaks of the business self, the parental self, the religious self, and others. Each, he says, are rugged individualists, and each self holds out for his vested interests, until we are torn many ways: the parental self scolds that we are neglecting the family when we tend to business interests, and the business self protests when we take time to volunteer at the church, etc. We live lives of “frantic faithfulness” to each one, yet some part of us is always dissatisfied!

But when we bring our many “selves” to Jesus and make Him the Source and the Goal of everything, then all of those inner “selves” begin walking the same direction in inward harmony as we follow Him - because we have One Person to please and one will to follow. As we do that, He takes all our responsibilities into account and leads us to fulfill them in the best way; we only need give ourselves to the task He puts before us at that moment. When we have laid down our life, BlackBerry and all, we have committed ourselves to one task and one alone, and it’s a simple one: following Him.

When the schedule screams for frantic action and the parental side of us feels guilty and the practical side warns of imminent disaster and yet another worthy cause pleads for our involvement, it is good to be able to adjust the blinders, focus on One Person, watch what direction he is leading, and step out after Him.

In this splintered, distracting, hyperactive BlackBerry world, Jesus still offers one simple yoke: give Me your life; take Mine. He whispers one simple call: Learn from me. And He promises one simple result: rest.