“Most men die at twenty-five, but aren’t buried until they are seventy-five.” A famous quote from Benjamin Franklin describes most of our lives. A search for safety and security has most of us full of fear and trying to control our worlds in one way or another. As we withdraw from adventure and choose security we lose our lives. The more we try and control people, security, future events, and our happiness, the more we choose death over life.
Trading living for existing, we are walking dead.
Photo by KC Newman photography
Many of us know that Jesus died for our eternal lives. We often forget that we are meant to live now, not merely survive our time on this rock.
We are meant to chase adventure and live a life that is overflowing. A life of peace, adventure, and freedom is yours, however, the more you try and control, the more you trade peace for fear, an adventure for security, and freedom for bondage. That is the price that comes with controlling your world. The appearance of control that is, because you and I know despite our best efforts we can’t control a thing outside of ourselves. We struggle to control ourselves let alone those things that are outside of our boundaries.
Our control wakes us up in the middle of the night, raises our blood pressure, and leaves us restless with a short fuse. We are a walking time bomb ready to explode with the slightest inconvenience.
What’s worse is that often the walking dead encourage others to join them in their zombie-like state.
“Be careful! Are you sure that’s smart? Are you going to make less money?” Focus on fear we tell others in so many words.
We would try and stop Jesus and His disciples nowadays. We would tell them to be realistic and play it safe. I would mock those that left their jobs to follow a wild eye dreamer named Jesus. I would tell them that they are leaving their future by following this man. I would mean well, but I’d be wrong. I would squelch the movement of God. I am ashamed of how fearful and dead I can be. I can exist and yet I want to live. I settle, but I want more. I am afraid to hand over my whole life to the One that knows me, but I would just be walking dead.
LIFE! Life is in surrendering that which we want to clinch hold of. Surrendering to God’s will and trusting that He made you for a purpose. He made you run wild in the adventure. A life following God is the only life that is overflowing. It’s listening to that inner cry from deep inside that you have squelched into a whisper. Childlike faith one moment at a time and inviting God into all the spaces of your life. Only then will you be joining the living in this life He promised you and I. You can have a journey worth remembering by following Jesus on this adventure. Be blessed on your journey.
Do you struggle to be part of the walking dead?
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Originally published on Zechariah Newman
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Photo credit: Shutterstock ID 421682224