I watched a movie one night called “The Vow”. I love the way God can use absolutely anything to get your attention. I remember my husband telling me once that he was in a place of condemnation concerning his life, his attitude and actions. He was on a flight and casually watching some advertisements on a screen. Suddenly up popped the ad for Mainstay gin – boldly suggesting “You can stay as you are for the rest of your life, or you can change to Mainstay”.
All he heard was — “you can stay as you are for the rest of your life, or you can change”. He was deeply challenged and began to seek God for answers and direction.
As I watched “The Vow” one interaction between mother and daughter tugged at my heart. The daughter, who had suffered memory loss after an accident, became aware of the reason she had left home. Her father had had an affair with her best friend. She was furious and asked her mother why she had not simply “left him”.
It was the mother’s response that was simple but profound. “I chose to stay with him for all the things he’s done right; not the one thing he’s done wrong. I chose to forgive him.” I was deeply moved by the message. It got me thinking about how many emotional, self centred choices we make.
I wondered whether we court more of “self” than we realise? In becoming so preoccupied with how I feel, what I want and what I think, our world could end up very small and narrow. In this world, we cannot grasp the bigger picture – the eternal plan – and extract the things that are most valuable in the long term. So many emotional decisions are made with sometimes little thought of another’s pain or the impact on those who live in our world.
I thought of Jesus as He made His way to Gethsemane to pray before facing the cross. I found it interesting that the scripture records that he crossed a stream called Kidron. It seems a small detail until I began to look up the meaning of Kidron – Cedron (dark, turbid) and its significance. It was also a valley – dry except for winter torrents – near Jerusalem; it formed the eastern boundary of Jerusalem; it was crossed by David and Christ; it was used for burials and was a dumping site for idols
What has always been exciting for me? about Jesus is that He was fully man on this earth. He had emotions. He asked questions. He became tired. He wept. He crossed over His Kidron where any residue of His own will, needs or desires would be left behind. He entered a dark place, alone as He sweated drops of blood prior to the cross. When David crossed his Kidron, he entered the wilderness – He was fleeing from his son who, at that stage, “had sought to win the hearts of Israel” and replace his father as king.
Wearing arm bands with “WWJD” inscribed on them may seem cheesy to some or off the wall. On deeper reflection, it is possibly one of the most empowering and challenging of questions. “What would Jesus do?” Grahame Cooke, author, said “We are in Christ, becoming like Christ”. A single, simple phrase but a true statement.
I guess we all cross our Kidrons when we choose to dump things (idols) and choose God’s way. When we become selfless instead of selfish; when we value eternal things rather than material; when status in the eyes of man becomes less important and having much becomes firstly and only a means to give more, we know who we are and whose we are and when we learn to make faith choices rather than those driven by our own desires, needs or wants.