{"id":519,"date":"2014-03-06T11:37:06","date_gmt":"2014-03-06T16:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=519"},"modified":"2014-03-27T11:40:06","modified_gmt":"2014-03-27T16:40:06","slug":"how-to-choose-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=519","title":{"rendered":"How to Choose Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday after Ash Wednesday<\/span><\/h2>\n

Dt 30: 15-20; Luke 9: 22-25<\/span><\/h2>\n

Dc. Larry Brockman<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Will you choose to go after Jesus?\u00a0 Because if you do, you need to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus.\u00a0 That is the choice- to follow him or not to follow him.\u00a0 It\u2019s really our only choice.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It was like the choice that Moses passed on to the Israelis thousands of years earlier.\u00a0 They could choose life and prosperity; or death and gloom. Life and prosperity meant loving and obeying God, by following His commandments, statutes, and decrees.\u00a0 The other choice was automatically made if they abandoned the one true God, because it meant following after false gods.\u00a0 And Moses words were quite sobering on the consequences of that: namely, that they most certainly would perish.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Many of us can\u2019t relate to the idea of following false gods.\u00a0 It just seems like something the uneducated ancients did- worshiping some golden calf or superstitious force in nature.\u00a0 But I beg to differ; it is not all that different today in our educated society because we have a whole set of false gods in our society.\u00a0 And many people choose these false gods by default.\u00a0 Sex, money, facebook, video games, work, football, gossip, alcohol, drugs, following and emulating pop culture and secular fads, and a host of other things that we can become addicted to are the false gods in our society today. \u00a0\u00a0When people spend their time totally consumed in these things, they have chosen the false gods by default.\u00a0 Why? Because their preoccupation is on self, the ultimate false God.\u00a0 We heard that point over and over when Father Gallagher gave his mission here last month.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And it is easy to see if we are headed in that direction.\u00a0 Because when God asks for our time,\u00a0 As He is doing during this season of Lent,\u00a0 Then if all the other things in your life are too important; and you just can\u2019t find any time for God,\u00a0 It is then that you know that there\u2019s a false god or two in your life.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 message today was particularly pointed, wasn\u2019t it?\u00a0 First, he tells the story of what the consequences will be when he follows the will of God.\u00a0 It will mean suffering, ridicule, and death on a cross.\u00a0 Those were really heavy and sobering words.\u00a0 And then he tells us that if we want to go after him, we will have to deny ourselves.\u00a0 Yes, deny ourselves, deny ourselves the preoccupation with the other things of life that are too important; and rather, take up our cross instead.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But just what is your cross?\u00a0 Maybe it is that nagging thing in the back of your mind that you know you should be doing when you are spending all your time on yourself.\u00a0 It could be the right thing to do that is harder than just following after the popular thing in society.\u00a0 It could also be that thing that needs to be said or done, but you don\u2019t want to buck everybody else.\u00a0 In other words, it is loving and obeying God by following God\u2019s commandments rather than following the ways of the world.\u00a0 It is avoiding evil and sin.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

God has something wonderful in mind for each and every one of us.\u00a0 But we put roadblocks in the way of His will for us.\u00a0 We don\u2019t give God the time and attention He needs. Jesus was different.\u00a0 He made the time to examine his life and get it in harmony with the Father\u2019s plan for him.\u00a0 He went into the desert for 40 days, and found out who he was and what God\u2019s mission was for him.\u00a0 After he sorted it all out, then this Gospel passage presents the result in a nutshell.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We have 40 days to do the same.\u00a0 To deny ourselves, find our cross, take it up, and go after Jesus.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday after Ash Wednesday Dt 30: 15-20; Luke 9: 22-25 Dc. Larry Brockman \u00a0 Will you choose to go after Jesus?\u00a0 Because if you do, you need to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus.\u00a0 That is the choice- to follow him or not to follow him.\u00a0 It\u2019s really our only choice.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[277],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=519"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":521,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519\/revisions\/521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}