If we wait to get the numbers, then we will be lost in the numbers. — Mother Theresa
A little known pet peeve of mine is politicians who poll before they take a position. I shouldn’t be upset though our society is full of examples of doing surveys before new products, new ideas, or new concepts are introduced. After all a politician may lose an election or a business might lose money if the answer wasn’t known before a risk was taken.
But I tend to believe Mother Theresa has it right. If we wait on the answer we become lost in being popular rather than being right or doing what is right. God’s call to us is not — “be popular.” I think that is why the gospels are so emphatic about Jesus’ disciples being called to follow him and the cast away whatever they were doing and walked with Jesus. Now I wasn’t there at the time and maybe the disciples had been listening to Jesus for awhile before they left with him. But the gospel writers had a point to make. When we receive the call we shouldn’t poll or check the “numbers.” We are to drop our “nets of entanglement” and follow God.
Another story in the gospels points out how difficult this is to do in real life. The young man who asked Jesus what he had to do? He tithed, he gave to the poor, etc. But Jesus saw the “net” that was holding on to him. So Jesus told him to give up all that he had in worldly possessions, and the young man could not set aside that net. I don’t know many people who could do that as well. We do get “lost in the numbers.” Lent is a time to examine our lives and discover what is keeping us tangled in the nets of life. Lent is a time to think about quit waiting on the numbers.
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