detachment

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21

Radical change is only possible when you're willing to let it happen. Being willing involves a certain level of detachment from the things of this world - of both material things and relationships. Jesus always made me nervous when he told his disciples just what they would have to leave to follow him:

²¹Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."

 ²²But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

Matthew 8:21-22 

³⁷"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; ³⁸and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 10:37-39

Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, ¹⁹honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'"

 ²⁰"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"

 ²¹Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

Matthew 19:18-21

I always thought to myself "but God would never really ask me to leave my family." The reality is that I don't know what God is going to ask me to leave behind in my future, but I need to be ready for whatever that will be. The only way that's possible is to maintain a level of detachment from what I care the most about. That doesn't mean that I won't invest time and energy into people and causes, but there needs to be a space between my heart and my grip on them. And in that space, God dwells.