There's a trend in sports toward ever-increasing risk. From mountain climbing to snow boarding to skating down half-pipes...not to mention jumping out of planes, surfing massive waves and participating in triathlons. A lot of people extract meaning from life as they balance on precarious edges. They seem to want to feel like their life hangs in the balance to feel the adventure of living and to get a bigger rush out of life. Two programs I saw on TV tonight brought home the idea of risk outside of sports. I watched a photographer practically hanging out of an airplane to get the best pictures possible of a vintage plane flying over Alaskan mountains....and I watched a show that tracked the Navy Blue Angels flying team as they prepared for and then flew in their classic tight formations.
It occurred to me that Jesus lived on the edge when He walked here. Early in his ministry Jesus was speaking in his home town of Nazareth. At first people liked what they heard. We hear the crowd quoted in Luke chapter 4, verse 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked. Jesus had the crowd right where you'd think He wanted them...eating out of his hand..but then He spoke a bold truth in verse 24 "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. They turned on the local boy in a flash and an amazing thing happens (verses 29-30) They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
Unlike "Extreme Athletes" Jesus understood that there was no risk as long as He walked in the center of His Father's direction. He'd been to the edge when Satan had tempted Him in the wilderness and He had demonstrated a clear grasp of the solid support that comes from absolute obedience to the Father and the Father's Word. I suppose I am challenged to become more of an "Extreme Follower"....to make the adventure of life all about the persistent pursuit of our personal Lord. (to do otherwise is too great a risk!)
blessings,
Rob Smith
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