No free lunches, then or now

The Prosperity Gospel (believe it to receive it, name it to claim it, you just need more faith, Jesus died so you could have a new jet...) is the modern day variant of all those folks some two millennia before who followed Jesus around because He could conjure wine out of water and feed 5000 with a little boy's lunch.  They liked the food and the miracles and the inspirational sayings and the way He humbled those with power and money and seemed to exalt the 'common man,' the 99% of the day, little understanding that He wasn't just addressing the rich and powerful but everyone.  He insulted a large portion of his followers one day and most of them drifted away after one of His more controversial speeches and even the apostles fled in terror one dark night in a garden, leaving Him utterly alone.

The modern evangelical movement claims Jesus's death on the cross is a free gift to any who would receive it, but that isn't exactly true.  Yes, it costs nothing, but then again, it costs everything.  It isn't a door prize or an eternal life insurance policy, it's a commitment, a radical lifestyle change, a drastic change of heart.  We are 'new creations,' we must 'die to self,' we must 'hate father and mother,' we must 'lose our life' to save it, we must not be offended by the cross though we become offensive to everyone else because of it.  It isn't an easy little prayer and then you get on with your life, except now you have 'the joy, joy, joy down in your heart,' it's a life sentence of sorrow, misunderstanding, embarrassment, humility, and gentleness.  You give up everything you want, and like Jesus in the garden, you pray, 'not my will, but Thine be done.'  You lay it all on the alter, some of it you might get to take back, but some you won't.

It's crazy, it's insane, at least to human sensibilities, but for all the promised trouble and discomfort, there's far more behind the curtain, once we willingly let it be ripped away, than we can even imagine.  'His yoke is easy and His burden light.'  We're going to have trouble in this world regardless, and though completely alien to how we think the world should work or how our life should be, it is extremely comforting (and very difficult) to trust one's fate to the Author thereof.  It's free, but it isn't; it's impossible but it's easy: the great paradox of life!  So will we be stalwart soldiers confident in our Heavenly Commander through the darkest hells of this war called life or will we flee at the first sign of discomfort like reluctant picnickers before an impending shower?  I once saw a billboard advertising recruitment for the Marines, it said 'we take commitments not applications,' and I couldn't word it better!