A good question from Rich Dixon

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I was pouring morning coffee.

Becky asked, “What would Jesus do?”

Either I missed something…or I wasn’t awake yet.

“And…?”

“Maybe it’s more like, ‘What is Jesus doing?’”

She was off to play with our dog, Ernie. Eventually I caught on. Becky’s apparently out-of-nowhere comment was really a concise summary of my thoughts last week.

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My response: Believing is easy. Faith is hard.

It’s easy to say I follow Jesus, to claim my beliefs from my comfortable living room. Easy to gather in a real or online bubble with like-minded folks, to be a cheerleader before a friendly crowd.

Easy, until I actually have to do something about it. Until I have to sacrifice, or trust when it doesn’t go my way. Then I encounter that pesky question:

“Do I really believe what I believe?”

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In school, I was an “outcomes” guy. What’s required to get an “A”? Will this be on the test?

I avoided the processes of education, things like thinking, understanding, questioning. It was all about the scoreboard.

I think a lot of us want to be “A” students of Jesus. Like The Rich Young Ruler, we want a list, a set of rules. We want to know what will be on the test.

We might hear Jesus’ reply something like this:

I’ve told you the process: Love God; love your neighbor.Seek justice, love mercy, walk humbly.

So do that. Let go of the things that offer the illusion of security. Trust Me for the outcome. Trust that I’m at work and I know what I’m doing.

If we take Him seriously, we might be sad, because we’re very wealthy. Like the young man, we don’t want to let go of our illusions of security.

Believing is easy. Faith is hard.