Porcupine Love

“Plainly put, a relationship with Jesus requires total, superior, and exclusive devotion.”
 - Radical by David Platt

Ouch. See, I like to think that I am devoted to Jesus. Part of me is totally and completely, overwhelmingly in love with Jesus. But, even that part is often in love with Jesus the way that you might be in love with a pet porcupine.

You love it, but you love it from a distance, because, if you get to close, thing stop being comfortable. You get poked. You bleed a little. The thing that looked so soft and fuzzy from a distance is quite clearly not.

Jesus isn't fuzzy. He said things and did things (and says things and does things) that don't fit inside of my boxes, that make it hard to follow Him. He asks that I not be afraid to give up everything. He tells me not to worry. He has this nasty habit of sending people out who seem ill-prepared to do the jobs that He asks of them, so that nobody can make the mistake of thinking that they did it on their own.

He requires total devotion (don't put your hand to the plow and then turn back around).

He requires superior devotion (don't love your father, mother, or any other human more than you love Me).

He requires exclusive devotion (a man cannot serve two masters).

This relationship is not something that I can pick up on Sundays and Wednesdays and Tuesdays and then drop in between. This relationship is not one that I can ever expect to be easy or painless or simple. And, it's not something that non-porcupine lovers can be expected to quite understand.

After all, who in their right minds intentionally hugs a porcupine?

When you run into something “sharp” that Jesus says, do you back away, or do you hold it tighter, until you understand?