Renunciation

Renunciation what in the heck is that? Renunciation by definition is the act of rejecting or disowning or disclaiming. What makes this so important to us today? I wonder how many of us really think about rejecting or disowning or disclaiming things that are important to us these days. I know that with the "economy" the way it is we are all thinking about what is really important to purchase or save for and we are thinking about what is really important to us in life at all levels.
Jesus talks about the idea of renunciation in a way that just knocks our socks off!

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 10:37-39 (NIV)

"Don't think I've come to make life cozy. I've come to cut—make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law—cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer father or mother over me, you don't deserve me. If you prefer son or daughter over me, you don't deserve me.
"If you don't go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don't deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you'll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you'll find both yourself and me."

Matthew 10:37-39 (Message)

Are we really ready to renounce all the things we hold dear to totally find God? Are we really ready to leave all that we so deeply care about to actually find the life that Christ talks about that is filled with peace, love, joy, abundance, and kindness? Are we ready to disown all the things that we think make up our "self" to find our "self" in God? Are we ready to give up what others think about us, the things that we have, the reputation that we so dearly want to hold onto, or the credibility we think we will find by what we do or that others praise us for to find Jesus?

I think that I all too often hold onto these things as a way to measure my success both spiritually and physically. I need to stop and let go of all of these people, places, and things that I think hold my future and just allow God to have it. I need to renounce all these things, reject them as holding some truth about me and my life and find my life only in Jesus. It is when I do this that I find peace beyond understanding, patience in the mist of a storm, and joy in the deepest despair. I no longer hold onto the form of what I can see - others, my body, the money I make, my success - and I find my worth and value in what God says about me in the spiritual and eternal. This is when I get an eternal perspective and I live an eternal life.

Namaste'