Counterintuitive Christianity

I was reminded recently of an old (1970) song from the group, Bread, and David Gates, called, It Don't Matter to Me. The song says to his significant other, "It don't matter to me if you take up with someone who's better than me." What kind of crazy talk is that? He goes on to say, "'Cause your happiness is all I want, for you to find peace, your peace of mind." David Gates was obviously a loon.

I've written in the past about how counterintuitive Christianity is. One aspect that has been occupying my thoughts for a while now is this singular concept:

If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. (Matt 16:24)

This, quite starkly, stands in direct opposition to our standard way of thinking as humans in general and Americans in particular. "Take up a cross? Don't be silly. We don't embrace hardship and suffering. We flee it at all cost. Deny myself?? That's just crazy talk. Every human being has the right, nay, the obligation to pursue his or her own happiness, dreams, and aspirations. Deny myself? Don't be stupid."

We followers of Christ, however, should not -- must not -- respond that way. We Christ-ians are expected to embrace Christ's words and adhere to them with joy. But, what would that look like? We don't have a lot of examples to look to in order to see how that goes. The Christian life is predicated on death (Matt 16:24-26; Rom 6:4-5; etc.). We're supposed to be killing the flesh (Rom 8:13; Col 3:5). We're expected to die to self. What would that look like? It would make us respond differently when others try to steal, physically or otherwise, that which is ours (Matt 5:38-42). It would free us from desperately pursuing our own happiness in favor of finding greater happiness in giving to others (Acts 20:35). It would place the proper emphasis on relying on God for meeting our needs (Rom 8:32; Php 4:19) and free us to pursue meeting the needs of others. We would crave servitude for the sake of Christ (Mark 9:35) and find greater joy in it. The idolatry of greed (Col 3:5) would vanish and a lifelong satisfaction in God would replace it. We would be looking at a life that was extremely rare in today's world. I described this idea once to a Christian counselor. Her response was, "That's crazy."

I said we had few examples of this. We all know one.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Php 2:5-8)

If we are to be followers of Christ, is that not the ideal we ought to pursue? Think of that while we complain about our lives, our societal mistreatment, our lacks and losses. I think we might be missing the point. I think we might be missing a better option, a higher joy. And maybe, just maybe, David Gates wasn't so far out as we might think.