Hush Your Mouth & Follow Jesus

I recently read about a psychological test where people were placed in a room with buttons to push and told that they had to figure out a sequence of pushing those buttons that would cause a light to flash.  They would then be awarded a point.  

The object was to get as many points as they could in a thirty-minute period.   

So, the participants would start pushing buttons and eventually the light flash.  Then they would try to repeat the sequence, but it wouldn't work (because the light had nothing to do with the buttons).  

As a result, the participants would start doing other things: jumping up and down then pushing the buttons, tapping their feet , standing on one foot... Each person came up with their own unique sets of beliefs about how to get the light to flash. 

And they were convinced they were right. 

I've noticed something sad in common Christian culture over the past several years.  There seems to be a near-obsession with being right.  As a result, common Christian culture has become steeped in an arrogance that troubles me.  

Far too many of us Christians are approaching Jesus as a problem to be solved rather than a Way to be followed.  And nine times out of ten, we settle on solutions that fit our own needs.  

The longer I follow Jesus, the more I realize just how little I know.  In fact, I've learned far more from being wrong than I have from the few occasions I came close to getting things right.  And I've also realized that sometimes I need to "slow my roll," keep my mouth shut and simply follow Jesus without trying to figure everything out.

To borrow a bit from Frederick Buechner, when Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father, except through me," he wasn't saying that any particular ethic, doctrine, denomination, church, theological or political bent was the way, the truth and the life...  

What Jesus said was that HE was the Way the Truth and the Life.  

May you find the strength today to simply follow Jesus and let him lead you.  May you give up your need to be right or to have all of your questions resolved, and simply stumble after Him.  And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.