Different

We all have to live different than the rest of the crowd around us. This requires us to let go of habits that have been with us for all of our lives. This can cause us great anxiety because we find safety in going with the crowd and following the habits that are expected of us. However, Jesus looks at us and loves us. He wants us to take an inner journey that will require us to be different than the crowd of others.

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'"
"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Mark 10:17-22

Notice that Jesus looked at the man and loved him. He loved him so much that he asked him to look at the path he was following and if he really desired a different path then he had to do something different. This man had to let go of no longer following the crowd that knew the commandments with no inner reality of them. God looks at us and God loves us. God wants us to not just blindly follow the herd of others. William Wordsworth said that “habit rules the unreflecting herd." Jesus is asking this man, asking us, to reflect on our lives and not let habit rule us. An inner journey requires us to reflect and break away from the crowd and become an individual. To become a whole person using all the gifts that God put in us when we were created. This can create much anxiety, but it can also create much freedom and peace.

Look at, reflect on, your habits today. Are the habits you have leading to your individuality or helping you get along with the herd? Jesus may be challenging you to give up some of these habits because he looks at you and loves you. Will you walk away sad because you are unwilling to reflect and would rather keep the perceived secruity that can be found in the crowd? Will you reflect and change those habits and find the freedom that is in Christ and the joy of living the life that you were designed for?

Namaste'