No Daylight | The Right Call S1E4

In the West we've spent centuries fighting slavery and anything that smells of limited freedom. To us, obedience feels like coercion.

Have we really stopped it, though? Or do the masters just look different? We'll surrender hours to scrolling, driven by fear of missing out. We'll chase money, career and fame, and sacrifice family time or health without a second thought. We hate anyone else's chains while we forge our own. As Jacob Marley told Scrooge, "I wear the chain I forged in life... I girded it on of my own free will."

So the question isn't whether to obey. We already do, and we're pretty good at it. The real question is where we hook the last link of the chain.

The cell

Picture ourselves in a dark cell, a metal collar around our neck, holding the other end of a heavy chain we forged link by link. On the wall are rings: money, social media, career, family. Then a voice says, "Hand me your end. I know the way out." Behind Him all we see is darkness. All we have is His word.

"My cross to bear" misses the mark

We say "it's my cross to bear" about some burden we just have to endure. That kind of passive resignation is a strong predictor of burnout.

When Jesus said take up your cross, He meant something far worse. In first-century Rome, the cross was a tool of terror. The condemned was scourged until his back was an open wound, then carried a crossbeam of about a hundred pounds through jeering crowds to the place of execution. Once you picked it up, there was no turning back. It meant the complete loss of autonomy and life as you knew it.

He also said, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Daily, not once. Chosen, not forced. Following Him, not some random hardship. That's voluntary alignment.

My dad and the death claim

After retiring from the Navy, my dad became a New York Life agent. I followed him and lasted about a year. I didn't like the cold calls, the fact-finding, or making people feel the pain. I don't think my dad liked those things either. Then, nine months in, he delivered a death claim. Everyone else showed up to that widow with a bill. My dad showed up with a check.

The work didn't change. How he thought about the work changed, and that changed how he did everything. That's the power of voluntary alignment to a worthy mission.

Partial obedience

Many of us say, "I follow the rules. I pray, I go to church, I tithe. So why doesn't my yoke feel easy?" Usually it's partial obedience: compliance without full, heart-level buy-in. The moment we ask, "How much is enough?" we've created daylight between us and our master, and hesitation and exhaustion move in.

Jesus left none. "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." In the garden: "Not my will, but yours, be done." No bargaining.

That standard applies to the earthly masters appointed over us too. When we give our boss the same no-daylight obedience, the work gets done faster and better, and people who don't yet know Christ start asking why we're so different.

The roundabout

Picture servanthood as a traffic circle with Christ at the center. That's home base, where we learn, rest and grow. At the right moment He points to an exit and says go. We take the mission, stay connected the whole way, and return to center when it's done. "I am the vine; you are the branches... apart from me you can do nothing." Grapevine wood cut from the vine is good only for the fire. Connected, it just produces fruit.

This week

• Notice where we're asking, "Is this enough?" If we're asking, it isn't.
• Find one place to stay more centered in His presence before taking the next exit.

A question to sit with

Where am I bargaining instead of surrendering?

This is Episode 4 of The Right Call: Wisdom Simply Applied.