Yoder: Living Clog-Free
By Kathy Yoder
Being a follower of Jesus Christ isn’t always easy, so why do I think it should be? Maybe I’m influenced by my culture: Lose 10 pounds in five days. Transform your life forever in five easy steps. Learn a foreign language while your sleep. Pour this magic liquid down your drain and it will be clog free for life!
But life is never clog-free. Just when things are running smoothly, a big clog plugs up our lives. The job we depended on getting, no longer exists. Or the person we thought we’d marry moves away. The big test we thought we’d ace, we fail. A friend turns her back on us. A child we love grows up and drifts away. There are so many clogs that prevent life from running smoothly.
But whoever said that life was easy? That it was clog-free? We watch movies. Talk shows. Entertainment “news” shows. Life looks easy for the beautiful people. The ones in the spotlight who make lots of money. But is it? How many famous people have died from drug abuse? Marilyn Monroe. Heath Ledger. Jimi Hendrix. Judy Garland. Chris Farley. Keith Moon. Michael Jackson. Jean Seberg. Truman Capote. Hank Williams. Brittany Murphy and so many more.
The world offers illusions of success and happiness, but what the world offers is just that. An illusion. It’s like when Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man are hoping that the Great Wizard will help them. They’ve completed the impossible; they’ve obtained the wicked witches’ broom. Toto, Dorothy’s dog, runs back and pulls the curtain away from the ordinary man who’s running the machine. He’s the reality behind the illusion of the great Wizard. He says, “Ignore the man behind the curtain.” But he is the man behind the curtain.
Jesus Christ is not an illusion. He’s the Son of Man and the Son of God. God the Father sent Him into our world more than 2,000 years ago not to condemn us, but to save us from our sin (John 3:17).
The Father knew that His son would suffer and die. There’s a special bond that exists between a parent and a child. Charles Dickens said that to “become a parent is to forever wear your heart on your sleeve.” It’s true. When I became a mom my life changed forever. I never realized that I could love someone so unconditionally or love someone so much more than I love myself. Could any of us send our own child into harm’s way even if we knew in doing so millions of lives would be saved?
But that’s what God the Father did. He who knows all. The Alpha and the Omega. The Beginning and the End. He knew that Jesus would be crucified on the cross and die. So why did the Father do that? The answer won’t be found on a talk show or in an entertainment magazine. The answer is simple, but many people ignore it and allow the truth to go down the drain.
The answer is found in one of the most well-known Bible verses, John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
God sent Jesus because He loves us. “For you created my inmost being. You knit me together in our mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13“). He knew us before we were even born. He knows our last day on earth and every day in-between. God is the author of time. He sees it all at once.
He knows every mistake we’ll ever make. That’s why He sent Jesus to earth. So that our mistakes, our sins, could be forgiven on the cross. Jesus took our punishment. He died on Calvary. But the best news of all is that after three days Jesus conquered death. He rose from the dead. Now our sins can be forgiven.
There’s nothing too terrible that God will not forgive if we are sincerely sorry and ask for His forgiveness. But that doesn’t mean we should just go back to our old ways. Jesus calls us to be different. He calls us to follow Him.
What does it mean to take up our cross and follow Jesus? It means that we surrender all to Him. We surrender our life. In some countries, that could be literal. Some people risk death for believing in God. We surrender what we think is important. We simply follow Jesus. We do not follow the world. Others may think that a life devoted to Jesus is a life that is wasted. One that simply goes down the drain. It seems like foolishness. But it’s the best life of all. It’s not always easy, but when it comes to eternity, it is clog-free.
Kathy Yoder is a devotional writer and Christian author. She may be reached at kathyyoder4@gmail.com and Kathyyoder.com.
