Clearance Rack Christianity

I love a bargain. Comment on something new I have and my response is usually to tell you where I got it and what a great deal it was. Every time I show my husband something new, I quickly tell him how much it was originally and how much I paid for it. The larger the discrepancy between the two prices, the more I like it. And of course I want him to be impressed and to be grateful to be married to such a bargain hunting wife. On occasion he has suggested that I will “buying anything on sale.” But I promise that is not true. It’s just that other than groceries, I don’t buy anything unless it is on sale.

But there is something even better than buying on sale; buying from the clearance rack! For those of you who may not be informed those are the items that the store simply wants to get rid of so they slash the prices 60 percent or 70 percent or more. There is just something so great about getting something at such a bargain.

I know I am not alone in this obsession, especially during the hard economic times that we are experiencing as a nation. We all love to get a great deal; to get something for a special price. That way we can feel as if we are saving money even while spending it.

I do have to confess however, that there have been times that my “great deal” turned out to be “not so great after all.” I have purchased clothes because of the great price only to discover that it really doesn’t look that great or I really don’t like it when I get it home. Sometimes the fit is really not very good. I have bought things for my home that turn out to be the wrong color, it simply doesn’t work as advertised, or it turned out to be something I never really used.

Truth be told, some things are worth what you pay for them. If you don’t pay much, it’s because it isn’t worth much. Sometimes we have to pay a lot to get something of value and worth.
We live in a nation of people looking for bargains. And I’m not talking about just in our purchases. I talking about the way we live our lives. It is increasingly popular to seek to have things and to be something without having to go to the trouble or paying full price.

I recently engaged in conversation with a young woman in a restaurant. She wants to be a counselor. Originally she attended the local community college but that just seemed to take to long and she had to take too many classes unrelated to her subject. She told me she had found a school online that would teach her counseling skills in just two short years. However she didn’t stay with the program long either because every time she submitted a paper the professor returned it to her with many corrections in the grammar and spelling. She indignantly told me that she was not going to school to learn to write well, she was going to learn psychology and how to be a counselor. If all they were going to do was complain about her writing, well, she would just show them; she dropped out. She didn’t want to pay the price of getting an education and a degree. She just wanted to be a counselor, now and without too much effort.

We smile at that, shake our heads and roll our eyes; too often we are all guilty to wanting to get something for “half-price.” We can even be guilty of taking that attitude into our spiritual life. Too often we live out our life in Christ as though we are shopping for a bargain.

We want to love Jesus, have Him answer all our prayers, and give us a peaceful, trouble-free life all in exchange for our showing up to church a few times a month, being a good person, giving our offerings, and saying our prayers most days. The rest of the time we would like very much to live our lives on our own terms and in a way that pleases us. I think clearance racks are a great when it comes to shopping, but it is something we must avoid in our spiritual life.

In reading the gospels, we see vast crowds of people following Jesus bringing their sick and lame loved ones to Him. They were ready with their hands out when He offered them food to eat and a way out of the difficulties of their lives. Jesus understood that many of them were simply looking for a bargain: a way to get the goods things from life in Christ, without paying the price of living for Him.

If we read a little further in the gospels we find that when Jesus was arrested and brought before the authorities--the cost of following Jesus became much higher--suddenly the crowds were gone. Only a few dared to stand at the cross with Jesus. People were looking for a bargain; they weren’t willing to pay the cost.
Oh, don’t misunderstand what I am saying. Salvation is a free gift. We couldn’t afford it if we had to earn it or buy it with our own merits. Jesus Christ paid the price for our salvation on the cross. He offers redemption freely to all who ask and believe on Him.

Living the Christian life, however, will cost us everything. When we try to be a Christian for a bargain basement price, we make a mockery out of the salvation of Christ. Jesus wants us to know that when it comes to our relationship with Him, if we try to do it on the cheap, we end up with something that is not worth anything. Our relationship with Christ is worth any cost or sacrifice we need to make.

The words of Jesus in our scripture passage today are shocking and they make us a bit uncomfortable.

• If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.

• And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off.

• And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.

Cutting off hands and feet or gouging out our eyes is not the image we like of Jesus. We prefer to think of Him as peaceful, loving, gracious, and kind. Indeed, He is all those things, but when it comes to our relationship with God, Jesus is telling us that we should allow nothing to get in the way of it being all it should be--even if it involves drastic measures.

Jesus understood how what it was to be human. He knew there are temptations all around us. He understood our weaknesses and our frailties. By telling us to cut off our hands or gouge out our eyes, He is not advocating maiming ourselves just to be sensational. He is demonstrating to us how serious we are to be in making sure that we put out of our lives anything that gets in the way of living holy lives.

We are not to be a Christian the cheapest way we can as though it is something off the clearance rack. You know, I’ve perused many clearance racks and many times it is obvious why the item is on sale so cheaply--because it really isn’t worth having. It is the same with clearance rack Christianity--it’s just not worth having.

If we are to take the words of Jesus seriously here it may mean putting filters on our computers in order to avoid sin. I recently learned of a man that had trouble going to the wrong sites on his computer. He set his filter to the highest setting so much so that it basically didn’t allow him to go anywhere without typing in a password before proceeding. Just to make sure that he had to think about it and to ensure he made the right choice about the sites he used he made his password, “JesusChrist.” That way he was reminded of his commitment to Christ and holy living with every choice he made.

Now that may seem extreme to you. But it is not extreme compared to cutting off a hand or plucking out an eye. That is exactly the point Jesus is making here. We should do whatever is necessary to avoid the temptations to sin.

We may need to turn off the television, or change our places of recreation. We might even need to give up some of our friendships. As Christians we need to live in cocoon, avoiding the world. We need to be in the world and influencing it for Jesus, but when there are times when we find ourselves being influenced by the world more than we are influencing them for the holy life, then it’s time for drastic measures.

Jesus tells us that we need to acknowledge our own vulnerabilities and the things that prevent us from being the Holy people He has called us to be. Then we must to do what is necessary to remove the temptations and the stumbling blocks from our lives. Let’s be honest; it is impossible to be holy without giving up unholy activities.

What in your life causes you to sin?

Oh yes, I know we get a little uncomfortable talking about sin. After all we are a holy people. We teach and preach that when we are filled with the Holy Spirit we don’t have to sin everyday in thought word and deed. I believe that. I believe that God’s Holy Spirit can so fill us that we have the power to live free from sin. I think too often, however, we interpret that to mean that as sanctified holy people, we cannot sin.

As a result we may refuse to acknowledge the sin that is in our lives. We give it names like; righteous indignation (when it is really carnal anger), a long memory (when it is really a grudge), a personality conflict (when it is really an unforgiving heart), a prayer request (when it is really gossip), an exaggeration (when it is really a lie), or cutting a few corners (when it is really cheating).

Making excuses for actions that don’t glorify Christ or exemplify holy living is just trying to live our life in Christ off the clearance rack. There are always consequences for those actions. Just as we live with the purchases we make, whether good or bad, Jesus reminds us that there are consequences to the price we pay for our Christianity.

Jesus spells it out for us here in this passage:

• It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.

• It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.

• It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.

Anytime we begin talking about hell, we get a bit uncomfortable. To be honest, there are also consequences in this life such as broken relationships and wounding others. Jesus wants us to know that these are the things that place us on that slippery slope of compromise, ultimately leading to the destruction of our relationship with Him.

Jesus took this seriously. That tells me we are to do the same. We can try to live the Holy life on our own compromised terms and wind up with an eternity in hell, or we can pay the price and be willing to do things God’s way and live out eternity in the kingdom of God.

God is serious about the way we live our lives and the consequences of our actions. While the price we pay in this life of giving up or changing our actions may seem extreme or too steep a price, I can assure you that it is a cost well worth it. For the kingdom of God is a place where God’s will is done and all remnants of sin are gone. Jesus is calling us in this life to do all we can to prepare for that life.

I have personally never met them, but I’ve heard rumor that there are actually people in the world who don’t even look at the price when they make a purchase. They apparently have enough money in their bank account that cost isn’t really an issue. They just know when they want something they will get it--no matter the price.

I will never be that type of shopper, but that is exactly the kind of Christian I want to be. When God shows me an area in my life that needs to be changed or even eliminated, I want to be the person who doesn’t even bother to count the cost. I just want to do it immediately because I am convinced that nothing is more important to me than being a part of the Kingdom of God.

When we shop we make choices. We have to decide how much we are willing to spend to get the desired item. Many times that means giving up something else to be able to afford the item we want. We have to make those same choices today in our relationship with Christ. How much are we willing to give, and to give up, to have a relationship with Christ that ensures us the kingdom of God? I cannot answer that question for you. I can’t look into your life and tell you what changes you may need to make, and what sacrifices following Christ will cost you. So I ask you today to look deep in your heart. Listen to the voice of Christ as He shows you the areas of your life that need to be cut off or plucked out. Don’t settle for clearance rack Christianity. Follow the words of Jesus as He tells us that there is no price is too high for the kingdom of God.