Kevin DeYoung article: On Mission, Changing the World, and Not Being Able to Do It All

Apprently, this got blown all over the blogosphere when it was first published late last month (I'm just getting around to reading it). It strikes a really good balance, I think, between the important call to self-denying sacrifice that Christ calls for (Luke 9:23), and the ridiculous over-extension we often find ourselves in, which can lead to burnout. Check out this quote:

I’m not for a minute advocating a cheap grace or an easy-believeism. But the yoke still is easy, right? And the burden still is light, is it not? The danger–and it’s a danger I’ve fallen foul of in my own preaching–is that in all our efforts to be prophetic, radical, and missional, we end up getting the story of Pilgrim’s Progress exactly backwards. “Come to the cross, Pilgrim, see the sacrifice for your sins. Isn’t that wonderful? Now bend over and let me load this burden on your back. There’s a lot of work we have to do, me and you.” A cross, yes. Jesus said we would have to carry one of those. But a cross that kills our sins, smashes our idols, and teaches us the folly of self-reliance. Not a burden to do the impossible. Not a burden to always do more for Jesus. Not a burden of bad news that never lets up and obedience that is always out reach.

Read the whole article here.
HT: Steve