Nobody Told Me There’d Be Days Like This

Strange Days Indeed

Not long ago I read an account from a federal inmate in which he couldn’t say enough about the pleasures of incarceration. Compared to the real world, there is free food, free health care, free housing, free clothes, and you don’t have to work. He had a valid point, yet the entire world considers prison a terrible fate to be avoided at all costs. And it’s more than societal programming, inside all humans, self strives to rule supreme. And self doesn’t like being told what to do. Unfortunately, in prison self doesn’t get a choice.

I’ll admit there is a bit of comfort in a daily routine and in prison you will definitely get a chance to see if you like all your days the same. But that’s where he and I part company because when the food is terrible, the health care is third world, and the overcrowding is epic……….it doesn’t matter if it’s free.

Having said that, the most difficult part is adjusting to the involuntary and total surrender of all personal liberties. Living life on a floating schedule completely at the mercy of others whims; at a moment's notice told when and where to go or stay. In short, choice is stripped away and you become like Eddie Money, with no control. 

In America, it’s deeply unnerving to go from the freedom we take for granted to being herded like cattle. It’s difficult and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone! 

But following Jesus is harder! 

I know it sounds crazy but hear me out! Unlike prison, where your rights are forcibly stripped away, following Jesus requires you to willingly lay down your will. To declare a never ending war against your inner self while pledging fealty to a Lord whose wishes seem to run in direct contradiction to all your natural tendencies. And it comes with no promise of a life filled with bon bons and soap operas. I’ve had some absolutely terrible times as a full fledged spirit filled follower of Jesus, and although I’ve never stopped following, it’s been no bed of roses. We don’t hear much preaching about it but the truth is that growing into a reasonable facsimile of Jesus is hard climbing. 

We can’t say we weren’t warned since Jesus told us there would be days like these and they would be filled with trouble. Adjusting to life as a follower of Jesus is often filled with new and upsetting challenges.

I’m in the construction industry these days and have learned about something called a change order. It’s used when the contractor, after starting the job, finds something unexpected that wasn’t in the original bid, so the work and pricing have to be adjusted. That’s how those first couple of years with Jesus felt like to me. Like He was saying, “Now that I’m in here Mark, it’s a lot worse than I expected, so we're going to have to demo you down to the frame and start over.”  

C.S. Lewis puts it much better:

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so your not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and doesn’t seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of -  throwing up a new wing here, putting in an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

Plus, before I was a follower, I was essentially blind to my defects. But now I’ve got the Holy Spirit within me calling attention to them. My old ugly habits and attitudes are gone but they still always seem to sneak back around at precisely my weakest moments. And the temptations seem never ending. 

God’s world must be the exact opposite of ours because every commandment remains so counterintuitive. Love your enemies, return hatred with kindness, treat your neighbor as yourself. Tough sledding when someone does something callous or cruel that makes steam come out of your ears. It takes all you’ve got not to fire back at them the same way. 

It seems like we’re swimming upstream against the current of the world around us. Friends no longer understand us. Recently an old friend told me that they had been meaning to get together but they were afraid that it might tempt me to sin since I’d made this “religious” change. Sometimes following is going to require sacrifice. Growth is painful. But God is not going to let us stay the same and getting out of our comfort zone is going to be required for most of us. 

Now that I’ve painted such a rosy picture of following Jesus, it raises the question, “Why do it?” Why do I follow Him when I say it’s harder than prison? Does it make sense that I wouldn’t wish prison on anyone, but whole heartedly wish Jesus on everyone?

That question makes me pause and consider. Not because I think it’s not worth it, but because it’s hard to express exactly what has happened to me. Without a doubt, this life is better than my life before, even with trouble clouds always on the horizon. The thing is, they don’t seem much like trouble anymore; they seem like simply part of this world and I have a friend who handles those sorts of things for me. 

My mind has always been my most formidable enemy and therein lies the biggest change in my life since becoming a follower. My consciousness has been altered somewhere along the way. The things that have always been most important and what I considered vital to a happy life have been supplanted by a belief system that ten years ago would have seemed completely alien to me. A belief system that owes its existence to unexpected peace during times of uncertainty, a strange joy in the midst of sorrow, and an utter assurance when tomorrow appears dreadful.

At times the process has most assuredly been painful but somehow I feel profoundly grateful for having been subjected to it. There are still plenty of times I find myself wondering, “What is God doing?” But there is an unshakeable hope that rests on something that apparently is immovable because it never waivers…..That He wants the best for me and will see it done. This results in a confidence, born from a little bit of maturity and a whole lot of grace, about the future that is profoundly comforting. 

The answer to “why” is simple……….against all worldly logic, following Him has made me happy!

And that, my friends, is the Holy Grail of this life!

Keep Following!