Most of us know about the two-edged sword a credit card can be. They are great for emergencies or accumulating points towards airline miles or gift cards. Credit cards are often safer to use in the digital world because fraud can be a problem with online shopping. Then there is the sharper side that plastic money can bring, like tempting folks to impulsively shop or make purchases that exceed budgets. This is painfully apparent when the bill arrives and the balance is larger than we remember spending. If there is more month than money, folks resort to the little box on the notice that says “minimum balance due” and console themselves that they will reconcile their overspending next month. Minimum balance due mentality has led the globe into a financial crisis, not to mention lining the pockets of creditors with millions of dollars in interest. It lures people to live above their means. It deceives them into thinking they can afford a maximum lifestyle on a minimum balance-due payment plan. This doesn’t work out well. Just ask the bankruptcy courts, whose dockets are full of cases of folks struggling to get by.
This idea of doing enough to get by bleeds into other areas. Have you ever had a coworker who just did enough to get a paycheck but really didn’t meet the standards of daily production.? How about at group functions where the folks always step up, help out, and clean up while others occupy themselves and try to look busy? It gets all of our danders up. Pursuing excellence in any area can be crippled by ” what am I going to get out of it? What’s in it for me thinking. If the reward is not readily available or for the common good without personal gain, many folks opt-out and continue doing what they must do to get by. For years, I have used the term “Minimum balance due” in my teaching about the daily struggle of discipleship.
In His sermon in Matthew, after addressing divorce, vows, and the importance of the integrity of our word, Jesus goes on to illustrate what responding with a heart set on “choosing the more excellent way” looks like. He starts out by comparing what we have held as truthful to what He declares is a godly response. Jesus tells us that no longer should we repay evil for evil but rather directs us to not engage in such thinking and behavior and continues with what is a stance for love. He then addresses not just to respond with loving submission but to give the coat beyond the shirt and walk the extra mile if asked to walk one mile. This speaks to a heart that wants to engage in what the Message refers to as tit-for-tat business. It is a challenge for us all to do more than what is expected. Going above and beyond is not part of the culture we find ourselves in. Following Jesus in obedience means doing more, giving more, overlooking more, seeking peace more, and doing it with a thankful heart for the opportunity. I sometimes can cooperate with the Holy Spirit and obey Christ. However, I often do so out of a spirit of thinking I can impress God with my goodness when, deep down, I am still angry and resentful about giving and going the extra mile.
From a spiritual health perspective, the minimum balance due attitude hurts me more than I am willing to admit. God created me with the capacity to love, relate, and be in community with others. When I use the tit-for-tat response system, I am not living in the full fellowship and acceptance Jesus has offered me in a personal relationship with Him. Therefore, I won’t be able to have personal peace with Him, myself, and others. All the feelings I stuff in the closet when I just “do to get by” instead of living out the truth of God’s word harms me and brings dishonor to the name of Christ whom I proclaim I am living for. Bitterness and a fake facade of a do-gooder tire us out far more than doing the extra right thing in the first place. In the long run, choosing the minimum due payment of kindness or forgiveness can bankrupt our joy, and the interest is compounded by broken relationships, failed ministries, and hardened hearts. Following Jesus closely keeps my heart soft and … healthy.
What does the extra mile look like? You know where God is stretching you. Maybe it is realizing that you ultimately work for God on your job, and you need to do the best you can despite what others are doing around you. Maybe it is taking the time to stop and listen to the person at church who talks too much and listens so little, making eye contact and appreciating their input, it may be or not. Perhaps it is casting personal feelings aside at family gatherings where that one relative just grinds your gears, and you offer mercy over sarcasm. Then there are the really treacherous extra miles some are called to go, like forgiving abusive parents and spouses. Praying for wayward children. Moving past the wounding betrayal of a friend. I share all kinds of excuses and justifications with the Lord in my prayer closet about how tired I am; the extra mile is too exhausting. I frequently whine that I feel no one else is doing it either. He reminds me to come to Him for the rest I need to carry me the distance. I complain that I have forgiven at least 70 x 7, and He tells me His forgiveness( my resource) is as deep as the sea of forgetfulness in which He casts my wrongdoings. He speaks to me that He sees the hurt inflicted and that He will make it right. Jesus comforts me with the thought of heaven, where everything will be just and set right.
The choir shared one of my Dad’s favorite old hymns at his funeral. The chorus goes like this.
“When I’ve gone the last mile of the way, I will rest at the close of the day. I shall see the great King in His beauty when I’ve gone the last mile of the way.”
Today, the extra mile Jesus is calling me to just takes me closer to all that He has provided for me through His redemption, and I celebrate that I never walk alone. He has paid the maximum so that my minimum can be multiplied should I choose to follow Him.
Lord, today, my balance sheet of serving others demands too high of a price, and my flesh longs to do the minimum to get by. But Lord, my spirit is convinced you held nothing back to save me, paying my sin ransom in full. Jesus
give me strength and resolve to go where you want me to go and give what you want me to give, no matter how far or how much.
Return to the vineyard where the 5 o’clock worker asks “Love Who?” when the Moments on the Mountain” series continues.
5oclockworker.com 