TGIF

I’m teaching through the Sermon on the Mount in our church and I’m working very hard to exposit what I think is the most important passage in all of Scripture.

The demands Christ makes on those who follow Him seem impossible to actually live..and most commentators try to soften them by saying that Jesus is speaking with hyperbole and exaggeration to make His points.

Just as I was about to write a paragraph explaining that concept, the Holy Spirit (or maybe it was Liam the Cat) stopped me in my mental tracks…it was possible to live that way and I’d better teach that it was.

When I asked that voice in my head how it was possible, the explanation left me without excuse.

“It’s simple…love people like you love your cats.”

I remembered how I’d lost a lot of sleep the last couple of nights…cats waking me up for a snack or in Liams case, just to chat.

I remembered how when I didn’t want to get up and chat, Liam began pushing everything off my desk onto the floor.

I remembered getting up to get Trappy a snack and then getting up again because it was evidently, the wrong snack.

I remembered when Beau came in to use the litter box and I had no choice but to get up or asphyxiate.

I remembered finally falling into a deep sleep when Trye woke me up to tell me that one of the cats had thrown up.

I am responsible for all things “cat” in the household…so I got up and cleaned up the mess.

Never once was I offended or angry…I count all things “cat” as joy.

The end of this wisdom is that I can follow Jesus if I can just love people like I love cats.

I have proven already that I can live with a group of creatures without offense and with joy…so I am without excuse.

I can do this if I choose to.

While I’ve never met a cat I didn’t like, I don’t like many humans.

While I greet every cat as if we’re long lost kin,I wear a permanent scowl so people will leave me alone.

I thrive on solitude away from people and as long as I have a cat, I’m never lonely.

The problem and the solution are the same.

Love.

In truth, I have good reasons for not loving people…but Jesus says that they are not good enough to continue in disobedience.

He had good reasons to dislike us…so He died to change us.

He taught us that obedience is costly and often painful…but it is the expectation.

An expectation rooted in love.

To be fully human and truly a follower of Jesus, all things must begin and end in love.

I’m going to try…so if you see me and I offer you a treat and try to pet you, I’m just trying to follow Him.

Make your own application…