Fitting Jesus into our lives

One of my jobs at home is to pack the car, especially when we go on holiday. I don’t know why it’s my job, but it is. Actually, I think I’m quite good at it – just ask the rest of my family! And I don’t know if it’s always a dad’s job, but it often seems to be.

The secret of packing a car well is to put the big, solid things in first: suitcases, boxes, tent… that sort of thing. You carry on with the medium-sized things, and you finish with the smallest and squashiest things, the things that can be squeezed into the little spaces that are left. If you pack the car in the reverse order, you’ll find you don’t have room for the suitcases or the tent… and that could be serious.

It’s not hard to see that this is a useful metaphor for living as a Christian. How are we packing the ‘car’ of our lives? Are we constantly trying to fit Jesus in, squeezing him into the spaces that are left, once we’ve got all the really important things loaded? Or does he go in first, with everything else packed around – and selected by – him?

The thing is, Jesus is stubbornly awkward, refusing to be squeezed in, resolutely insisting on being put first. He keeps saying annoying things, like this: “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God … No-one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:60, 62).