Do You Have Room For Jesus?

Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – April 6, 2017

By Tripp Prince

I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. John 8:37

I’m a person who craves order and predictable rhythms of life. I thrive on detailed planning and the consistent execution of a plan. Unexpected interruptions and spontaneity threaten to throw me into a tailspin of anxiety or confusion- they aren’t accounted for, can’t be controlled, and might change my planned outcome!

Jesus Christ is a glorious interruption in the story of creation that wasn’t accounted for, cannot be controlled, and undoubtedly changed the outcome of history.

When we encounter the living Word of God, Jesus Christ, we are faced with one of two decisions. One option is to hear his radical invitation into a life of self-denial, a life in which we are willing to join him in his death so that we may be united to him in his resurrection (Rom. 6), and yet find it so foreign and unexpected that we reject him. We assume, like the Jews of his day, that we already know all that we should know and His word doesn’t fit into our system or worldview. We instead prefer to put him in a neat, predictable box where he doesn’t surprise us or ask anything of us. This is the Jesus of our own creation, not the Son of God.

If it is truly Jesus that we seek, he will always interrupt our plans, force us to find new priorities, and leave behind cherished positions and values in order to make room for him in our lives. This is the other possible response to an encounter with Jesus. We hear his word, are convicted and change everything so that we can see the world through his eyes. The things he loves start to become the things we love, and we start to desire what he desires.

The question posed to the Jews in John 8 is a question that every human being must wrestle with and respond to: do you have room for Jesus in your life? Said another way, are you willing to reorder and reorient your life in such a way that the good news of the gospel is the lens by which you make sense of everything else in your life and world?
Jesus isn’t just asking for you to open up a small space for him to fit in alongside everything else that promises to give you meaning, things like your job, kids, or health. To make room for Jesus is to give him entire control of every aspect of your life! As Bonhoeffer famously said, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” We must die to our own self-constructed visions of what is good, true, and fulfilling so that we can once again make room for the call of Christ in our lives.

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