Clothes-Pins

My head is spinning right now with so many things on my mind, so many things to share. This past weekend, I was a part of three different communities of faith. And let me just say that, for me, that is a lot of church for one weekend. On Saturday night I was at Aqueous, On Sunday Morning I was at Coastal Hills, and on Sunday night I was at The Bridge. On Sunday morning I was invited to lead worship at Coastal Hills, which is a Baptist church in Santa Barbara. The pastor there is a very nice man and is making a huge effort to connect with the college generation by having their “Cutting Edge” service at 11:00 with a full band. They also have a 9:00 a.m., more traditional service that cators to an older generation where they sing hyms acompanied by an organist. It was a pretty interesting experience.

Saturday night at Aqueous was very thought provoking. Pastor Billy brought us toMark 8:31 where, after Jesus tells the disciples that he will be sacrificing his life on the cross, Peter tells Jesus that he shouldnt talk like that. Jesus then tells Peter:

Get away from me, Satan! You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.

I never quite understood why Peter would tell Jesus not to talk that way. It didnt make sense to me. Billy brought this insight: if you have ever studdied satanism, you would find that satan’s first goal is not to get you to worship him, but instead to get you to think about yourself at all times. The first command of satanism is to do whatever makes you feel good whenever you feel like doing it. Peter didnt like when Jesus was talking about his life of sacrifice because it infringed on Peter’s own selfish ambition. Jesus, telling Peter: “Get away from me, Satan”, recognized that Peter was being motivated completely by selfishness. What Jesus was talking about didnt fit into Peter’s plan for his own life. Jesus goes on to preach the life of sacrifice to the disciples and the crowds around him saying that “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life.” So many of us are filled with selfish ambition just like Peter was. We are striving so hard to buy that house, to get that next pay raise at work, to make sure that we save enough money for our retirement, that we forget the Christ calls us to a place of death to all our selfish ambition. Taking a clothes-pin on our tables and marking it with our names, we took it and placed it on a line that hung across the room and then took communion. Neither side of the line was in site, representing time in both directions, from the beginning of time to the infinite future. As we placed our clothes-pin on the line of time, we were asked to reflect on the fact that our lives are such a small slab in eternity, and we can spend it trying to build up our savings account, trying to work our way to the top of our corporations, striving to own a house, or we can spend it realizing that our God has called us to shoulder our cross and follow him. God desperately wants to have a relationship with us, but when we are busy following our own selfish ambitions, we dont have time for God.

God, continue to make me a man of passion for you. When I get caught up in my own selfish ambitions, help me to realize the things that actually matter in my life and to throw away the things that will be gone when I am dead. Extend your grace to me God as I grow. Help me to fall in love with you more and more each day I wake. To the God that created the heavens and the earth.