This LifeLog is about Excellence In Life. A Subject on which Jesus of Nazareth is arguably the foremost authority. His followers, the world over, believe that he established himself as the Lord of Life by what he accomplished at about this time of year nearly 19 ¼ Centuries ago.
Believers call this Season Lent. Many make considerable effort, during the 40 days of Lent, to renew their awareness of Christ’s Passion … the price he paid to set death “working backwards.” I regret that the Tradition I grew up in did not practice this important spiritual discipline. Only for now 3 years have I done so. And the worshipful attention to all that Christ has done for us; for me personally, has stirred new understanding of it all in me.
Walter Wangerin Jr. has contributed greatly to my Lenten enrichment. His little book Reliving the Passion: Meditations on the Suffering Death, and Resurrection of Jesus as Recorded in Mark has transformed these happenings from recitations and ritual to a heart-warming, spiritually renewing re-living of the “Greatest” events that have ever taken place. Wangerin sees what Mark tells in vivid, poignant detail. His word pictures readily become images indelibly etched on the reader’s consciousness.
One such impression is made by his description of a woman’s pouring perfume over the head of Jesus. Of this generous gesture (The perfume was worth a year’s income.) he writes that it was, “An act of pure love for Jesus particularly … an act so completely focused on the Christ that not a dram of worldly benefit was gained … .”
I am convicted by this description of something I’ve heard about since early childhood; something so familiar it has virtually lost its meaning. What have I done so exclusively; so generously for Jesus that not one microgram of personal “benefit” was gained?
About the time this conviction begins to spiral into the gloom of abject guilt mongering I remember, again, St. Paul’s instructions to believers in 1st Century Colossae. (See his letter to the Colossians 3:23.) “Whatever you do work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord, as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” The phrase, “as working for the Lord, not for men,” is another way of saying what Wangerin wrote: “completely focused on Christ.” “Whatever,” anything you do, can be done completely, exclusively for Jesus. That’s this 1st Century Preacher’s mandate.
How is this done?
A more important question may be, “where do we begin?”
We begin, I believe, with our love for Jesus. BECAUSE WE LOVE HIM WE DO WHAT WE DO FOR HIS SAKE ALONE. Of course the spiraling into guilt has raised questions about my love for him; its authenticity and all. How can I call what motivates me “love” when I compare it to the sacrifice of a year’s income spontaneously, irretrievably given simply and solely in his honor. Such doubt comes from the assumption that genuine love is authenticated by the feelings that accompany it. The truth is love is a choice. St. Paul’s instructions are, “do it with all our heart.” This does not mean, “with great passion” though passion often accompanies it. It means “with all there is of you.” Do, he insists, “anything you do with all there is of you. Do it “for the Lord.” There’s nothing complicated about that. “Whatever,” any act will suffice: getting out of bed in the morning; preparing for the day; eating … anything we do. For the Lord: he’s the first person for whom we do whatever we do even if it is, practically speaking, for someone else. By a deliberate act of our will, by choice, we do every small and large thing we do for him – the one who gives everything there is of himself for us – with everything there is of ourselves. There’s no constraint. It’s an act of a free will. It doesn’t need to be great in the way we materialists measure greatness. Nor does it need to be perfect. Simply the sincerest most considerate effort a childlike heart would offer in that moment. No posturing; no pretense; completely transparent uncompromised love; like pouring $40,000.00 or more worth of perfume on someone you love.
Several years ago one of our Sons bought me a gift that has always had special meaning for me. He was 9 or 10 years old then. I don’t remember whether it was a Birthday or Holiday gift. What I do remember is that this boy carefully chose the gift and bought it with his own money. It was a letter opener. There was a bronze plaque attached to its wooden handle. The plaque was embossed with the words, “LIVE EACH DAY FOR JESUS.” Few gifts have meant more to me than this one. A boy I love dearly, who loves me and Jesus, made a sincere effort to honor both of us in the simple act of gift giving. Because his love for Jesus was so prominent an influence in his choice of gift I was not only deeply honored. I was also profoundly inspired to do then what I am today longing to do with even greater ardor. “Live each day … do whatever I do … for Jesus.” He did this thing that he did out of love for me his Dad as though he were doing it for Jesus. But I, the one for whom he bought the gift, was not short changed. On the contrary life is richer and more meaningful for me because he gave out of a heart whose loyalties are rightly ordered.
Excellence in Life comes to the gift and the giver when Jesus is the reason we do what we do and are the people we are …
