To Be All In

Consumer or Follower?  I don't think I've ever used those two words together in a sentence.  Yes, we have the producer/consumer food chain lessons in third grade....and fourth....and seventh....and in biology.  And then we hear the leader/follower lessons in youth group and even from our parents.  "Be a leader, not a follower."  But never really together. Until a few days ago. And now I can't seem to get them out of my head.

"Are you a consumer of Christ or a follower of Christ?"  The question fell heavily into the middle of my small group the other night. I glanced around the room, wondering how others would respond.  Dancing awkwardly in my head were the words, "follower, of course." I mean, my story. My life. My blessings.  Of course, I'm a follower of Christ.  I'm not *that* selfish to think I just consume Christ. Right?  Right.

Yeah, right.

The online dictionary defines a consumer as one that consumes, especially one that acquires goods and services for direct use or ownership rather than for resale or use in production and manufacturing. That same dictionary defines a follower as a person who accepts the teachings of another; a disciple; a servant; a subordinate.  

So, let's dissect the metaphor. A consumer would be one to accept God's blessings--shelter, food, family, job, friends, "happiness."  The list goes on. Life as we know it. Having recently moved, I marveled at how all the details fell (and continue to fall) into place--dream job for Todd, house sold and bought all within a few weeks, ridiculously low mortgage rate, travels this summer to and from, house budget staying the same. These are God's blessings! He loves us! We are following Him so He's taking care of all the details!  I remember so many moments when I would pause and think those statements with exclamation points. And yes, they are absolutely true--He has blessed us, He loves us, and He is taking care of all the details.  But....what about my heart?

Do I follow Christ because I want Him to bless me?  Do I follow Him because He promises He will give me what I need and take care of me?  Are His blessings I consume for my use in production and manufacturing?  To make my life work the way that I think maybe He wants me to live it?

As C.S. Lewis says, "We want not so much a Father but a grandfather in heaven, a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, "What does it matter so long as they are contented?" When our hearts rejoice in the blessings and yet, we want to stay comfortable and cozy and curled in the lap of our grandfather, I think we are really just consumers. We praise Him, we thank Him, and yes, He wants to give all of this to us, but there is more. He wants something more from us.

He wants us to follow Him.  Maybe even down the rabbit hole.

A follower is a person who accepts the teachings of another. This means all of His teachings. Even the ones we avoid reading or heeding because it makes us uncomfortable.  The church we attend has recently started a journey through the book of Acts.  I love the book of Acts.  I remember reading it my freshman year at Westminster Christian Academy.  I had only been in a Christian school for a semester, and suddenly as a 14 year old, I sat in Mrs. Warren's Life of Christ/New Testament class learning of the Passion week and the early church.  The early church understood what it meant to follow Christ. In other words, they took the leap and went **all in** to follow Him, regardless of possible outcome....like, you know, death.  Even Wikipedia has a list of early Christian martyrs. I question....would I be willing to take that leap?  Would I be willing to go **all in**? Would I be willing to look around me and forsake all what I cling to as mine to follow Christ?

A servant. A subordinate.  If I follow Christ, then I'm not running the show.  I'm not the boss. I'm serving Him. Maybe that's being friendly with people I don't particularly like.  Maybe that's doing a job I don't particularly enjoy.  Maybe it's closing my eyes to all my wants and washing my neighbor's feet. Or maybe it's being content to be with Christ alone.

As I reflect on consumer or follower, I've come to see how much I consume Christ, sometimes missing what it means to follow Him. Yes, I believe in Him with all my heart and I trust Him for my every need, but I'm quick to become more about what He's doing for me rather than me following Him.  When I was a widow and often devouring books on Heaven and eternity, I came across the story of Vibia Perpetua.  I remember reading it and weeping at her courage and her love for Jesus.

Her example of **all in** is one to remember.

Death of a Martyr, 203 AD

The Roman persecution of Christians began during the reign of Nero (see Nero Persecutes the Christians, 64 AD) and persisted until Christianity was recognized as a legitimate religion by the Emperor Constantine 249 years later.

This persecution was justified by the belief that the Christians' refusal to pay homage to Rome's pagan gods provoked their wrath. The disastrous consequence of a flood, drought, earthquake, or other calamity, was often attributed to the Christians' lack of piety and the resultant retribution of the gods. Christians were denounced as enemies of men and the gods and therefore subject to the severest tortures.

Conviction did not lead inevitably to execution. Pardon would be granted if the Christian threw a few grains of incense on the altar of the pagan god and thereby recognize its dominance. If this offer was refused, more severe measures such as scourging or other tortures were implemented. If these failed, the victim was lead to the circus or theater and subjected to a horrible death for the amusement of the crowd and the placation of the gods.

A Martyr's Death

Vibia Perpetua was a young woman of noble birth. She was twenty-two, a wife, a mother of a young son and a Christian. In the city of Carthage in North Africa on March 7 of the year 203 she was put to death for her religious convictions. Her story comes to us from three eyewitness accounts written shortly after her death.

Perpetua was one of five Christians condemned to death in the arena. One of her companions, Felicitas, was a slave and eight months pregnant. Two days before her execution she gave birth to a daughter. Pepetua's father was a pagan and came often to the prison (many times with Perpetua's son in his arms) to plead with his daughter to renounce her religion and save her life - to no avail.

On March 7 Perpetua and her four companions were led to the arena where the crowd demanded they be scourged. Then a boar, a bear and a leopard were loosened upon the men while the women were attacked by a wild bull. Wounded, Perpetua was then put to the sword.

"When I was in the hands of the persecutors, my father in his tender solicitude tried hard to pervert me from the faith.

'My father,' I said, 'you see this pitcher. Can we call it by any other name than what it is?'

'No,' he said.

'Nor can I' [I said], 'call myself by any other name than that of Christian.'

So he went away, but, on the rumor that we were to be tried, wasted away with anxiety.

A Victim in the Arena From a Roman Mosaic

'Daughter,' he said, 'have pity on my gray hairs; have pity on thy father. Do not give me over to disgrace. Behold thy brothers, thy mother, and thy aunt: behold thy child who cannot live without thee. Do not destroy us all.'

Thus spake my father, kissing my hands, and throwing himself at my feet. And I wept because of my father, for he alone of all my family would not rejoice in my martyrdom. So I comforted him, saying:

'In this trial what God determines will take place. We are not in our own keeping, but in God's.' So he left me - weeping bitterly.

[Perpetua and another Christian woman, Felicitas, were tossed and gored by a bull; but despite cruel manglings yet survived. Perpetua, says a sympathizing recorder] seemed in a trance. 'When are we to be tossed?' she asked, and could scarcely be induced to believe that she had suffered, in spite of the marks on her body. [They were presently stabbed to death by gladiators] after having exhorted the others to 'stand fast in the faith and love one another,' she guided to her own throat the uncertain hand of the young gladiator."

References:
   Perpetua's account appears in Davis, William Stearns, Readings in Ancient History vol. II (1913); Duruy, Victor, History of Rome and the Roman People (1883); Gibbon, Edward, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1896-1902).

Eyewitness to History.com