If you are like me, you’ve been blessed with others who were
older, wiser, and placed by God in our lives as guides and mentors. Like me you learned that they knew much more
than we did. If we followed their lead it would result in a better
life. They were exemplary models, and
coaches in the ways of life that led to blessings in life’s good times and through
life’s challenges. Their strength and wisdom came from their own personal walk
with God. When they arose each morning,
they responded to his knock at their door to go out into His day,
to follow his lead, and conform to his agenda. And they did it not just on Sunday, but beyond.
Not everyone has guides and mentors, but all may have Christ our ultimate guide and mentor. As you can sometimes hear said often in Hawai’i, such a life
is “more betta.” Through the work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is the ultimate
guide, mentor, and coach. The joy of daily following Jesus’ lead is that in him
there is always more: more joy, more
grace, more wisdom, more life. Life in
him occasions the assurance that he is the Lord who makes possible greater
strength, deeper love, and sweeter peace.
This life in him is a life together with him and with others who long
for the fellowship such life makes possible.
But it is not a life that comes to us only because we will it to be
so. The desire that it will be so must
be ignited and maintained by disciplined action. Jesus said, “If you remain in me, you will
bear much fruit. (John 5:4). It takes sustained commitment to actively seek
increasing intimacy with Christ and a growing
love of others wherein love is an
action, a life given over to the benefit of others. It is a life that is lived beyond Sunday and
has a rhythm of daily immersion into the presence of God.
To lead such a life is to ask God to part the veil and let
us see life with him on the high road beyond Sunday and then to take that road. Often, when I
speak to groups about growing in the Grace of the Lord, I say that one hour in church on Sundays is not
following Christ. It is not remaining in
him. The fruit he promises is on the high road beyond Sunday. Such episodic contact with God at 11:00 am on
Sunday may occasion moments of God’s divine touch upon our hearts and mind, but
it is not the same as a sustained, daily life of journeying with Christ. Nor is it the same as a continuing fellowship
with others throughout the week who are God’s means of grace in our lives to help us grow our capacity to love as Christ loves.
There is a rhythm of daily life in Christ that goes beyond
Sunday. To go beyond means to pursue more of him, to move in a direction (the direction in which God is moving and
calling us to follow), to go beyond
a place of initial discomfort, into places of discovery, of
wonders, of daily habits
that form our imagination and shape our character, and increasingly to the place called the Kingdom. Beyond Sunday is a life of daily, close
proximity to and frequent encounters with Christ. Beyond Sunday is a life of discipline and
obedience with Christ on the high road of faith. Beyond Sunday there’s a life even “more betta!”
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