Stop trying to sit at the tables Jesus flipped!





Recently we had friends over for dinner, one of our friend's water bottles has a sticker that reads: "Stop trying to sit at the tables Jesus flipped", in conversation he shared that it is a reminder for him daily to think about what it is that he is surrounding himself with, what tables he is sitting at. 




This had me thinking about my own journey, and how I got to where I am now. This week marks my exit from public school education into a new world of alternative education, a calling from Jesus on my life, one that I am so excited for, but one that comes with a cost. In church today the message was in Luke 14, with the parable of the great banquet and the cost of discipleship.   

The question?

You see for years I've been so blessed by God in my career, I love teaching, I love building relationships with students, I even felt like I was at a point of thriving, like how can it get any better? Then I began hearing Jesus talking to me about the cost of following Him... I began looking at my days and felt Jesus tugging at my heart, that He wants more from me... More than the parts of the day where He is in my life, He wants more, He calls me deeper. A beautiful analogy was one shared by our pastor in church today, Jesus is not a plugin, He doesn't want to be a bible study each morning, or prayer at night, not only a midweek bible study with friends or a Sunday morning church service, He wants ALL of us.  In Luke 14:27 He says: "Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." So how can I then continue down this path, be in a place where my days are spent being Jesus to others, but not being able to talk freely and teach my students about the love Jesus has for them?   It's like Luke 14:34 says: "Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?" I began feeling like a hypocrite, how can I claim to be a Christian, following Jesus, but in the biggest part of my day, I cannot talk freely about my Jesus? What good is a foolish Christian? 

I would have conversations with Jesus this past year trying to convince Him that I was doing His kingdom work, even though I can't profess Him out loud or teach from the Bible, "It's ok Jesus, I'm comfortable here Jesus, This is a good job, It's just one thing in this curriculum that's been added, I can just skim it over, oh but if I don't teach that Jesus, I'll be ok, someone else can teach that part to the students..." and so it would go on. But you see as time went on I realized that I was becoming a foolish Christian, I love Jesus, with all my heart, I didn't want to be foolish anymore, I didn't want to shut out his calling for my life, all of a sudden I stopped counting the cost of what it would mean to follow Jesus and I began to listen and trust in God's plan for my life! 

Jesus says in Jeremiah 29:11-14 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord. We are called into a relationship with Jesus, we are to live lives that are sanctified, set apart, a life of devotion to Jesus. Our flesh has such a grip on us, that we think we can bargain with Jesus as to have the things of this world and Jesus, but you see we cannot, we are living in this world, but we are not of this world! 

So this year I stepped down from a job that I love because Jesus is calling me for a higher purpose, the cost of giving up the riches of this world is nothing compared to the cost of becoming a foolish Christian. I want to be on fire for Jesus, when this world ends I want to know that I did everything I could for my brothers and sisters to come to know Christ. Because of God's promises, I know that I will have a rich life, not a perfect life, but a life that is set apart, a life that is sanctified, a life that would glorify Him with every breath I take.


Written in May 2022








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