| The senseless pursuit of worthlessness |

Too often I have seen and heard of people who once claimed the mantle of Christ and now no longer do. Their eternal destination is beyond my comprehension, and so I will not venture in that direction with this entry. But I do wonder why. Why give up something of so much worth as a result of its mere inconvenience? Is there any other reason? None that I can come to right now.

When I think about the journey of the Christian life, I cannot help but think of its all encompassing nature. The Christian life is not a funky armband you wear that lets you store your salvation like you would store your Ipod or Iphone. No, the Christian life is - at first sight - burdensome. We are called to let go of worldly treasures, to pick up a big ol' cross, put on full spiritual armour, and then journey through life as the enemy shoots venomous arrows at us. It's a funny picture, but one that most Christians take seriously; the Christian life requires our all.

And yet there are some who seemingly turn away from God, giving up the Christian life in favour of all sorts of earthly treasures and pleasures. The inconvenience of the cross and the armour and of being the subject of target practice seems to outweigh the twofold prize: then and now, future and present.

I love the words of Jesus as he states, "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?" Thus the prize for "then" becomes eternal life with God through Christ Jesus. And the prize for now becomes a plethora of amazing gifts: safety, security, passion, vision, truth, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and so on, and so forth.

Perhaps the inconvenience begins with the illusion that we can have both the world and our soul. Perhaps there is a sneaky desire to have it all. Or perhaps we are like children who constantly test our Father. We slowly - one piece at a time - grab hold of the world and look to heaven to see if He will punish us. But I assure you, our punishment is our miscalculation. Economically speaking, giving up some temporary loot in favour of eternal and everlasting riches, you'd be a fool to give up on God. This is why I say, giving up on God is the senseless pursuit of worthlessness.