The Lawn
Every house has a lawn full of grass. Yet I can think of exactly one person that I know who says that they enjoy mowing their yard.
For that one guy, mowing his yard is a hobby. And maybe for a few others also. But for the rest of us, we do not mow our yards because we specifically enjoy it or look forward to it. We mow our yards because we like having a nice yard.
For most of us, mowing the lawn is not something we particularly want. Having a mowed yard is what we want.
We don’t do it because we like it. We do it because it's worth it.
In that reality lies a very important challenge. Sometimes in life, the only thing standing between where you are and where you want to be is something that you don’t want to do.
Maybe you’re a person who has some bills to pay and you want to be a person whose bills are paid, but standing between where you are and where you want to be is a long week of work at a job you don’t necessarily like.
Maybe you’re a person who has a health issue and you want to be a person who doesn’t have a health issue, but standing between where you are and where you want to be are some treatment options that sound pretty unpleasant.
Maybe you’re a person whose life is falling apart and you want to be a person whose life is coming back together, but standing between where you are and where you want to be are some really important choices that you need to make and follow through with.
In all of those cases and many, many more you are like the person standing in tall grass who wants a nice yard but doesn’t like to mow. Chances are you can probably get to where you want to be. You just have to do something that you don’t want to do to get there.
As I ponder that I am encouraged by the fact that once upon a time, Jesus had a very similar problem. It was night time, and He was in such a tight spot that He was literally sweating blood. He was on a hill in a grove of trees, surrounded by a world of people who were hopelessly doomed. Because of their sins, they and every other person that would ever lived were condemned inescapably to Hell.
But Jesus was no regular guy. He was and is the Son of God come from Heaven, and the reason He came was to offer rescue and real life forever to these people, and all people.
He knew that standing between the doom that all people are born into and the freedom and real life that He wanted for us was something horrible for Him. The hard thing standing between where we were and where He wanted us to be was His own horrible death. If there was going to be any hope for us He had to die as a sacrifice for our sins.
So He sat on that hilltop. Under those trees. Waiting for the bad guys to come and take Him to torture Him and murder Him. And he prayed.
To His Father in Heaven He said basically, “God, if there is any other way, I don’t want to do this.”
It was the only way, just like He knew it was. And He was willing. He did the hard thing of dying as a sacrificial trade. His death so that we could have real life.
Jesus died. Then He came back to life, and ascended into Heaven. In the book of Hebrews as people were already going out all over the world to announce the truth of this amazing salvation, we get a glimpse into the mind of Jesus. A glimpse at His motivation as He was choosing to do the hard thing.
“For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
He did the hard thing for the joy of what would come after. And do you know what the “joy” was?
Personally, I think His joy was you.
As you gaze into your own life and consider where you are, where you want to be, and the hard things that may lie in between, I have two thoughts. First, if the thing you want is the right thing, then the hard things in between are worth it. Second and far more importantly, Jesus has already done the hardest thing that you need the most and could never do for yourself.
If you are willing to get honest with God about the hard truth that you are a sinner, and you are willing to choose to believe that Jesus came and died to be your Savior, then you are going to have the privilege of following Him into a new life forever.
It is as if Jesus is standing there waiting for your permission to mow the overgrown, tangled up lawn of your soul. And you just get to say yes.
What a life.
