Like most of you reading this post, I live a life of luxury. I’m not a rich person – I drive used vehicles and usually let the Citipass book determine date night – but what I do have at my disposal is more free time, books, playlists, and recreational and artistic outlets than I know what to do with.

And when all else fails, I pay about twelve bucks a month for my secret weapon – 20 channels worth of broadcast cable, aka Plan B. Okay, it’s usually Plan A. Like many of you, I possess the luxury of distraction. For some of us it is overly active lives, for others of us it is being constantly entertained, and for others still it is the unending ruminations of self-awareness. But the bottom line is that, on any given day, I can find a way to cope with, if not completely avoid, the innumerable issues going on in my life, my family, and my community.

Yet deep down I know that I can’t truly fix my own problems, and that I need more than a way to cope. I need redemption.

I’m in the middle of a book entitled The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. I love this little book. While Pressfield and I share very different worldviews, he offers some incredible insight into the way we think and conduct our lives. In his book, Pressfield personifies “Resistance” as that force that keeps us as people from truly living our lives, from doing that for which we were made, and from overcoming what I would generally call the brokenness of our lives. Early on in the book, Pressfield claims that: “Resistance is not a peripheral opponent. Resistance arises from within. It is self-generated and self-perpetuated. Resistance is the enemy within.”

So what you’re telling me, Steve, is that I can neither avoid the fire, nor look long and hard enough for a way to put it out because, well, I am the fire. What I really need, then, is a Savior? Someone else who can put me out?

The simple answer to this is yes. I don’t need more of myself, more entertainment, more exercise, more expert insight, more time to think things through, or even more books like Pressfield’s. What I need is Jesus. And I realize that for me, and maybe some of you, this is a real problem. It is a problem because, if I can be honest, I don’t usually turn to Jesus for the day-to-day things in my life. I might throw up a quick prayer, but I don’t wait around for the response. In part, I think this is because I’ve been convinced I don’t need to, given all the other, more tangible, resources at hand for making my life work so incredibly well (right?). But also, as Bruce alluded to on Sunday, I struggle to see the connection between Christ’s life and his death. What I mean is this: Christ’s death, which consummated a perfect, sinless life and paid for my sins makes sense, but the life of the Good Shepherd who cares for his sheep, leads them, and chooses to lay down his life because he cares about them… that is where things become more difficult.

I am suspicious: suspicious that the Good Shepherd won’t respond to my prayers; suspicious that he doesn’t care about my life as much as I do; suspicious that waiting for and relying on Jesus to lead my life will take away from my life, and possibly hurt it, rather than give life back to me.

Here is what Jesus has been speaking into my life over the past eight months, Sunday morning as I brushed my teeth, and then later as Bruce spoke about the Life of Christ: “You need me, and I want you. You try so many other things besides me that you forget I’m there. The good news is that I am right here, and I have life for you. All you need to do is take it. I know what I am doing with your life, and you can trust me with it.”

When I resist God, it usually comes by way of plowing forward with whatever I am doing, regardless of how much grief it is causing myself or those I love. It doesn’t make any sense, but I believe that voice that says “keep this up, because it’s probably going to get a lot better if you stay on this course.” And rather than stopping and seeking real connection with God, pausing for the voice of the one who cares deeply about my life and gave his for it, I throw up my quick prayer and move headlong into the way of Resistance.

The good news is this: as hard or as fast as we run, we aren’t actually going anywhere. We can’t outrun the Good Shepherd, and he’ll never run from us. Jesus is waiting to give us life the moment we stop and turn to him. Right now. As I write this, and as you read it.

How do you resist God?
What methods do you employ? Why?
What are you afraid will happen if you stop resisting?

This week I encourage you to read several times through John 10, the story about the Good Shepherd. Pay attention to how much Jesus cares about you and your life. As you do, try to identify just one aspect of your life in which you resist God and rely on yourself. And when you find yourself in that place, step out and take a chance. See what happens when you stop resisting and start connecting. There is no hidden agenda, no catch, only the desire of God to give you life and make your soul whole.

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*Note: If you wish, you can look up this and other Bible passages online at biblegateway.com

Copyright © 2010 Bryan Norton