on following

I have been thinking this week about the ways we follow Jesus, and I began wondering…what if we followed Jesus the way we watch TV? To me, that’s an interesting question and the answer is, it would be really nice if we followed Jesus the way we watch TV, wouldn’t it?

Think about it.

Following Jesus would be very convenient. TV’s can be turned on and off anytime we want. If following Jesus were that way, that would mean that we could listen to Jesus when we wanted to, or if we didn’t feel like it, we wouldn’t have to. It means that we could choose the most convenient time to spend time with Jesus too. We could fit him into our schedule. It wouldn’t be a matter of trying to live life with Jesus it would be trying to find space in our life for Jesus.

TV affords us lots of choices. We can channel surf all day, just looking for something that interests us. If following Jesus was like that, it would mean that we could develop selective hearing when it comes to Scripture. If there are parts of Scripture we don’t like to think about (like thinking about sin), that make us uncomfortable (like thinking about loving sinners) that bore us (like the OT), or that we don’t understand (like Revelation), we could ignore those.

When I watch TV, I camp out on the Food Network and ESPN, and maybe PBS if theres a good documentary on, that is what I love to watch. If following Jesus was like watching TV, then I could just camp out on the parts of Scripture that I liked the best (Like when Jesus says he came to save us, or when he does exciting miracles).

If following Jesus was like this, that would mean that I could decide how to follow him. Since I can choose what I listen to and what I don’t listen to, that means that I can personalize the way that I follow him. A custom-made discipleship program, not unlike many of the products marketed to us through our TV sets.

TV is also pretty comfortable. I can watch TV at home, relaxing on the couch. Watching TV doesn’t require much, except maybe a bowl of popcorn. What if following Jesus was as comfortable as watching TV? Well, it would mean that it wouldn’t require much. I don’t have to respond to TV when I watch it, I can just take it in. That would mean that I wouldn’t have to respond to Jesus either, I could just listen to what he says and that would be good enough, I wouldn’t have to respond in any particular way to what he says.

Watching TV is something I can do alone or in a group, really the choice is up to me. If following Jesus was like that, it would mean that community would be an option. It would give me the freedom to choose if I wanted to follow Jesus on my own or as part of a group, and there wouldn’t really be any consequences to that decision, either way, I’m just going to be sitting on the couch sort of passively taking in what Jesus says, I’ve already said I wouldn’t have to worry about responding to it or anything, so whether I’m alone or in a group really has little bearing on the way I follow Jesus.

TV is about entertaining me. If following Jesus was like that, it would mean that Jesus is all about entertaining me. It would mean that his whole purpose for doing what he did was to make me happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise. Whatever other aims or goals he had would take a backseat to the fact that he came first and foremost, to make my life better.

And when I watch TV, I hold the remote I’m in charge. What if I was in charge of the relationship between me and Jesus? I wouldn’t have to take orders from him. In fact, I could give some orders. “Jesus, I’d like for you to do this for me, Jesus, when are you going to get around to fixing that in my life?” If I held the “remote” in the relationship, I could turn him on and off whenever I wanted. I could change the channel to something else if I didn’t like what he had to say.

In a sense, if following Jesus was like watching TV, then following Jesus would always be done on my terms. I would be the one who could set the agenda, decide what I hear and how I respond. I would be the one who controls the relationship if following Jesus was like watching TV.

I get the sense that many Christians today really do follow Jesus like we all watch TV. We really value convenience and choice and so we want to be able to fit Jesus into our schedules and we like having lots of ways to follow him, so we can choose the way the works best for us. It is an appealing thing to think that following Jesus would be easy. As a culture we like getting something for nothing, and there are times when we apply that way of thinking to the way we follow Jesus, where we look for maximum blessing benefits with no money down. Mainly though, I think Christians, many times, tend to try and follow Jesus without giving up the remote. We end up being followers of Jesus who end up telling Jesus how we want to follow him. We want to follow Jesus, but we want to do it on our terms.

And what does that say about us? What does it say about us that we are people who want to follow Jesus, but we want to be the ones who set the agenda for the way we are going to follow him? Well, I think it says that we are human.