I thought about my past two posts. I’ve talked about urgency. And I realized that we often confuse urgent with frantic activity. We confuse urgent with serious faces. We confuse urgent with loud voices and high blood pressure.
I realized that can’t always be true. The urgency of becoming like Christ, of following Jesus isn’t marked by frantic serious loudness. It is marked with presence. A Christ follower wants to be with Christ.
But that still sounds pretty serious.
The urgent desire of a Nancy Swanson follower is to be with Nancy. At least this Nancy follower. And I don’t want to be with her to be frantic and serious and loud. I want to be with her to hear her laugh. I want to be with her to know what makes her smile and to do that and to smile too. I want to be with her to talk about what matters to us both.
That’s what I want when I think about following Christ, too.
I don’t want to spend all my time being paranoid about what He will think. I don’t want to spend my energy being frantic to keep Him happy the way some secretaries are about their bosses. I don’t want to spend every waking moment wondering whether I will be good enough or perfect enough or happy enough. I don’t want to waste the rest of my life measuring up to other disciples.
And I think that the Person who said,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”
would agree.
300 words a day 
Rob
Thanks for the clarification. If I’m honest, the previous use of urgent did make me a bit anxious…weird reaction.
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Jon Swanson
Rob, i’m glad. There had been a bit of that same anxiousness for me which wasn’t quite right. I mean, there is an urgency, but.
Philip – thanks. I’m glad it helps.
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Philip
I really like your the example of you and Nancy. It makes it all so clear and real.
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paul merrill
Praise Jesus that He accepts us as we are!!
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Jon Swanson
Paul and Anna – your comments work together so well. He accepts us as we are (Wait, I thought we were supposed to accept him) and then invites us to go with Him. There is a welcome, rest, now let’s go, to being a disciple, a follower. And I like the tangibility of the image for the big brother.
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anna
I think it becomes “easy” and “light” to the extent that our urgency is about being with Him and following in the I want to do everything just like my big brother whom I idolize kind of way.
There are also the mornings when one lies in bed and says, Jesus, you’re going to have to carry me today, because I feel like I can’t do it. And he does … and you do.
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