Oatmeal and Heart Disease

“Boys, eat your oatmeal so you won't get heart disease.” Calls out Whitney, not happy that her energies in making the porridge were being wasted by the boys indifference. Then I hear Angela call out, “No, no Whitney, it prevents cancer.” Did these two facts about oatmeal move the boys to eat. Not at all. They simply looked at their bowls, and probably were thinking, 'Surely heart disease and cancer must be better than this.'

In reflecting on their response, I saw something very basic about human nature. We tend to not allow facts to confuse the obvious, especially where desire and want come in. Jesus saw this as a major road block in following HIM. This is why he said to his disciples, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Matt. 16:24  He saw man's bent to desire and passion, one that would lead to their own judgment. All three require an action of the mind, will and emotion.

“It is possible to be a follower of Jesus without being a disciple. To be a camp follower without being a soldier of the king; to be a hanger on in some great work without pulling one's weight. Once someone was talking to a great scholar about a younger man. He said, “So and so tells me that he was one of your students.” The teacher answered devastatingly, “He may have attended my lectures, but he was not one of my students.” There is a world of difference between attending lectures and being a student. It is one of the supreme handicaps of the church that in the church there are so many distant followers of Jesus and so few real disciples.” ~William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke

"Gethsemane is simply that hour when you finally align your will with the will of God. It is when you agree, accept, embrace...your crucifixion. Any human daring to follow a divine path will come upon a Gethsemane. Each will tarry there until he realigns his will with divinity, or he will completely miss the divine way of things. Acquiescence to destruction. That is Gethsemane." ~Gene Edwards