Category Archives: John

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Kick The Approval Habit

Being With Jesus:
John 5:41

“Your approval or disapproval means nothing to me, for as I know so well, you don’t have God’s love within you.”

One of the secrets to Jesus’ life—his incomparable achievements, his inner joy, his impact on history—was his freedom from the need for human approval. He understood his identity was in God; his Father’s approval was his true north. Nothing else mattered; nothing else swayed him—even to the point of enduring the worst kind of rejection and suffering to fulfill what his identity demanded of him. And that is why we call him Savior!

Don’t you wish you could live that way too—free from the addiction of human approval? Well, you can—and you should. Now it won’t be easy to embrace that your true identity comes from God, because your enemy, Satan, works constantly to rob you of it and replace it with a false identity that requires the constant approval of others.  But it will be well worth the effort to live, like Jesus did, as the person God’s sees you to be.

And how does God see you? Probably the most powerful truth in Scripture on God’s view of you is Ephesians 2:10,

“For you are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for you to do…”

Do you realize what that means? You—right now, not someday, but right now—are God’s masterpiece. You are his work of art created anew in Christ to reflect the supernatural beauty, fundamental goodness and intrinsic worth of God himself. That is why Ephesians 2:11 goes on to say, “Therefore, remember…” Don’t forget who you are and “Whose” you are and what he has done to recreate you!

You see, you are not the sum total of what you do and how well you do it. That’s not your identity. Obviously, you live in a world where you are expected to perform at a high level of effectiveness and excellence if you hope to succeed and have the approval of others. That is what you must do, but that’s not who you are! And if you make your performance the basis of your identity and worth, your life will be dominated by anxiety, dissatisfaction, fear of failure and all kinds of other insecurities.

Ephesians 2:10I am not the sum total of what I do and how well I do it. That is not my identity. Nor am I the sum total of what others think of me. My worth is not the result of their approval. I am of inestimable worth and infinite value because God says so! And He says I am His masterpiece!

Likewise, you are not the sum total of what others think about you. Your worth is not the result of their approval. You live in a world governed by popularity and polls where approval and acceptance are important. It would be foolish to deny that. But your worth is not based on whether others think you are pretty or powerful or charismatic or charming. You are of inestimable worth and infinite value because God says so. He says, “you are my work of art! A masterpiece. When I made you, I outdid myself! And when sin messed you up, I spent a lot to restore you; I paid to reclaim you as my very own with my son’s blood. Don’t ever forget that!”

If you do, you will succumb to this debilitating addiction that blinds you to the truth that you are of such high value to God. Being addicted to the approval of others will lead you to become a people-pleaser, overly sensitive to criticism and ultimately to a life where the fear of rejection affects everything about you.

God doesn’t want you to live your life addicted to others’ approval; he paid with his sons’ blood to set you free from the fear of rejection. That is why in Ephesians 2:11 the Apostle Paul called you to a very spiritual activity—the practice of remembering. What do you need to remember?

For one, remember that striving for other people’s approval is a wasted expenditure of energy and counterproductive to your faith. It’s foolish to exert effort to get what God has already given! When you catch yourself trying to convince people how smart, successful or striking you are just to gain their admiration, just stop and practice remembering: Remember just how enriching and freeing it is to live in God’s acceptance and approval.

For another, remember that other people’s opinions can only enslave you if you let them. Author David Burns writes, “It is not another person’s approval that makes me feel good. It’s my belief that there is validity to their approval or disapproval.”

Quit giving other people’s opinion of you that kind of divine power. Suppose you were to visit a psychiatric ward, and a patient came up to you and said, “I had a vision, and I was told the fourth person to walk through that door today would be special messenger from God. You’re the fourth, so I know you are the chosen, the holy one, the world’s savior. Let me kiss your feet.” Would you base your identity on that? Would your self-esteem rise as a result of that? Of course not! Why? You considered the source.

God is the only true source for your identity; only God’s opinion truly matters! As Ephesians 2:10 says, “You are his workmanship.” As your Designer, he alone is qualified to evaluate your worth. So don’t give worship to another’s judgment of you!

Practice remembering who you are—and Whose you are—and you will begin to live a lot more like Jesus did: free from the need for others’ approval.

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“The fear of human opinion will only disable; trusting in God will keep you stable.” (Proverbs 29:25)

Getting To Know Jesus: If you haven’t already, memorize Ephesians 2:10. And for extra credit, memorize I John 3:1 as well. Then each day this week, spend time before you head out for the day and before you go to sleep at night meditating on what God’s truth means for you.

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The Best Investment You Will Ever Make

Being With Jesus:
John 4:34-38

Jesus said to them, “My food is doing the will of him who sent me and finishing the work he has given me. Don’t you say, ‘Four months more and then comes the harvest’? But I tell you to open your eyes and look to the field—they are gleaming white, all ready for the harvest! The reaper is already being rewarded and getting in a harvest for eternal life, so that both sower and reaper may be glad together. For in this harvest the old saying comes true, ‘One man sows and another reaps.’ I have sent you to reap a harvest for which you never labored; other men have worked hard and you have reaped the results of their labors.”

Today’s AP headline screams “World stock markets plunged and Wall Street was due to suffer heavy losses on Monday after China’s main index sank 8.5 percent amid fears over the health of the world’s second-largest economy.” Obviously, your money is not as safe as you’d like it to be. But Jesus spoke of an investment you can make that will yield never-ending, ever-increasing returns. He promised that those who give financially to missions will get in on an eternal harvest that is unprecedented in history. If there was ever a time, it’s now to repurpose your life, especially your finances for greater missional engagement. Jesus says to you, “open your eyes and look to the field—they are gleaming white, all ready for the harvest! The reaper is already being rewarded and getting in a harvest for eternal life.” (John 4:35-36)

Yes, now is the time! It’s true, there has never been a greater opportunity for return on your missions investment than right now—your investment of praying for missions, giving to missions, encouraging missionaries, going on a mission and in a way that encompasses everything about you, living a missions driven life. And by “missions”, I mean anything that has to do with proclaiming Christ in places with no sustainable Christian witness to those who haven’t received the Good News yet and influencing them into God’s eternal kingdom.

That’s what Jesus is prophetically saying in John 4:34-38. In verse 35, he pleads with his disciples: “Open your eyes; see the fields! Now is the time—they’re ripe for harvest.” And notice how he frames his missions appeal in terms of return on investment in verse 36: “The reaper will get rewarded now, plus bring in a harvest that’s eternal.” (JBP)

The Fields Are White Unto HarvestAs we sit at the end of the age, the evidence shouts that this is a “kairos” moment. “Kairos” is the Greek word used in the New Testament for a God-opportunity; “chronos”, on the other hand, is the word used for actual time, that is, chronological time. This is that kairos time of which Jesus spoke where those who pray for, go on and give to missions will get in on an eternal harvest that is unprecedented in history.

If there was ever a time, it’s now to repurpose your life for greater missional engagement. If you’ve not, get all in, make the change to go all out for missions. If you already are engaged in missions, recalibrate for more. Now is the time! Don’t miss out!

As you correctly absorb John 4, there are three unavoidable convictions you will lay claim to in relation to the huge and ripened harvest that is our present world:

First, you will become convinced that doing missions is your divine mandate. In verse 34, Jesus directly connected reaching this foreign seeker (the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar) with both the will and the work of God: “What keeps me going is to do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started.” (MSG)

I realize that what I’m talking about—dedicating your time, energy and money…or more of it—may not be too comfortable for you. Unless you are convinced of what Jesus was convinced of—that this is the will and work of God—any call to commit your resources of time and energy will seem pushy about this. But sincerely pray about it. Don’t do or not do it because a pastor or missionary is pressuring you. Open your heart to God, and simply ask, “God, help me to see the harvest—and what you would have me to do about it!”

Secondly, you will become convinced that doing missions brings the deepest satisfaction. In verse 32, Jesus said, “this is my nourishment!” It has been my experience that missional investment and involvement satisfies a core desire like no other. In an age that deeply longs for satisfaction but can never seem to really find it, I can promise you this: what deeply satisfied Jesus’ soul will be that which can only and fully satisfy your soul!

Thirdly, you will become convinced that the missional sacrifice of others demands your best sacrifice. Notice verse 38: “I’m sending you to reap what you’ve not worked for. Others have done the hard work, now you’ll reap the benefits of their labor.” The investment of those who’ve gone before us demands that we do no less.

Think of the comfort missionaries have given up over the centuries to take Jesus to unreached people. It is the story of sacrifice! They died—often literally—to our version of the good life to bring the Good News so others can live.

James Calvert, in the 1800’s, shipped off to go as a missionary to the cannibals on the Fiji Islands. As they neared the islands, the captain tried to dissuade him back.“You’ll lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among these savages.” To that, Calvert replied, “Captain, we died before we came here.”

To Calvert—and other missionaries, I think they would all say, it was no sacrifice; it was our nourishment; it was our calling. We would do it all over again.

When you consider missionaries, starting with Jesus clear down to those serving in far away and difficult places in the world today, their sacrifice is best honored by your sacrifice! Mine, too! Missions is your calling! It’s your privilege. It will be your nourishment! And in eternity, it will prove to be the best investment you ever made.

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“The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become.” (Henry Martyn)

Getting To Know Jesus: Your assignment this week is to give an offering to a missions organization. It is not the only way to be missional, it is a good start, because as Jesus said, “where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)

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How We Kill Our Christian Witness

Being With Jesus:
John 3:16-17

“God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it. There is no eternal doom awaiting those who trust him to save them. But those who don’t trust him have already been tried and condemned for not believing in the only Son of God.”

Unfortunately for too many Christians, John 3:17 gets lost in the shadows of the verse that immediately precedes it—John 3:16. Who doesn’t love that verse? It is the heart of God—his sacrificial love for a sinful world; it’s the Bible summed up in one short verse; it’s the simplest yet most powerful collection of words the world has ever known. The truth that Jesus declares in John 3:16 is the only hope for the world.

But Jesus’ followers often miss what follows: he didn’t come to force his gracious offer of eternal life down the throats of those who resisted. His plan wasn’t to set up a spiritual police state to enforce adherence to his sacrificial love. He wasn’t even going to publically condemn those who foolishly, perhaps even violently, rejected the divine plan to eternal life.

So why do so many believers have an insatiable need to condemn the unbelieving world? If condemnation were what sinners needed, Jesus would have done that. Rather, Jesus understood that their very resistance of his grace and rejection of his atonement was all the condemnation that was needed. The unbelieving world already stood condemned. Why condemn what was already condemned?

Contrary to Jesus’ approach, condemnation seems too often to be our leading evangelistic strategy. But when believers, churches and spiritual leaders take to their social media outlets to decry the current crisis of morality in America, or lash out on the airwaves about the obvious failures of our out-of-control government, or write in their blogs about the evils of gay marriage or the horror of late term abortion or the ills of our increasingly secular culture, we are well on our way to destroying whatever Christian witness we might have once been able to exert. Does that mean I am in favor of those things, or believe that we should never speak out about sin or injustice in the world? Not at all!

It’s just sadly interesting to me that we tend to pass too quickly over the greatest truth in the Bible, John 3:16, and go right for the jugular vein in condemning what already stands condemned when Jesus himself, the one we represent, didn’t even do that. Christian pollster George Barna summarized recently some research on the church’s perception in the world by stating, “the Christian community is not known for love.” If Jesus was known for loving the world so much that he gave his life to redeem it, why should that be any less true of his followers? He concludes that this perception renders ineffective most of our evangelistic efforts. Our condemning voice overshadows our loving heart.

So what should be our response to all of these ills in the world that need to be set aright? Are we to just idly stand by, do nothing and say nothing? No—we would be derelict in our discipleship to take that approach.

We would, however, be far more effective in reaching and redeeming the world if we would do what Jesus did. The best evangelism remains that by our love—for the Lord, for each other, and for the lost—that an unbelieving world will be attracted to our Savior. Like Jesus, when we demonstrate selfless, stubborn, sacrificial love, we will have the undeniable effect that Jesus had: the world will be both repulsed yet attracted by God’s irresistible love in us.

That is the strange thing about God’s love: while every human being fundamentally craves it, because of sin, many foolishly, sadly reject. Those who do stand condemned already. Yet the fact remains, whether our witness is embraced or repulsed, we have an undeniable impact in forgoing condemnation and letting love speak for itself. The Apostle Peter,

“You’ve been chosen…to declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his light …[So] live such good lives among unbelievers that even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us…Always be ready [to share your faith], but do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (I Peter 2:9 & 12, 3:16)

I watch too many believers who are anything but that as they engage in politics, cultural issues or theological debates. It seems that some Christian’s are more passionate about their point of view than pointing people to Jesus. We would win more debates, elections and, souls too, if we’d learn to offer our opinions with more love and less condemnation.

The word “evangelism” is from a compound Greek word, “eu,” meaning “good” (euphoria) and “aggelos” meaning “messenger” (angel). So euaggelos is simply “a good messenger.” Our task is just translating the Good News by our selfless, sacrificial lives in a way that connects—or reconnects—lost people with a loving God.

Bottom line: Jesus didn’t condemn; he just fiercely, stubbornly, unconditionally loved. We should go and do likewise.

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“You must be the good news before you can share the good news.”
(Joe Aldrich)

 

Getting To Know Jesus: Your assignment this week will be to light a candle instead of cursing darkness when you come across the temptation to condemn. And believe me, you will face such a temptation.

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A Frivolous Miracle Or An Extravagant God?

Being With Jesus:
John 2:11

This miracle at Cana in Galilee —turning water into wine at a wedding—was Jesus’ first public demonstration of his heaven-sent power. And his disciples believed that he really was the Messiah.

Turning water into wine! Really? For your first miracle, you choose to keep the party guests happy by miraculously making sure there is a free flow of adult beverages. Wouldn’t it have been more impressive in announcing to the world that you, the Messiah, have arrived by raising a dead person back to life or by performing some other more worthy miracle—like supplying a starving family with food or creating money for a destitute widow or by healing a young child dying with leukemia?

Doesn’t running out of wine at a wedding seem like a first-world problem? And doesn’t God stooping to supply the new, improved wine for a wedding reception seem a bit frivolous? So why this frivolous miracle as his inaugural miracle?

Well, only God knows the answer to that question, but here’s what I think: what might seem like a frivolous miracle is really the introduction of an extravagant God.

You see, many of us have been conditioned to believe that God doesn’t intervene in relatively unimportant human affairs when more pressing concerns are on his plate, like war, global warming, human trafficking or widespread injustice. We have trouble believing that the Almighty intervenes in our ordinary, unimportant, trivial affairs.

But does he? Well, sometimes! Can I expect that of him? Does he care about my wedding reception or my favorite sports teaming winning the big game or my missing iPhone? Should I really be bothering him with my ordinary, unimportant stuff?

I don’t mean to be irreverent, but it doesn’t hurt to ask! Jesus helped his mom, who was likely coordinating this wedding, out of a jam by changing ceremonial water, which theologically, may represent the limits of human fallenness, into party wine, which represents the liberality of divine grace. Jesus didn’t have to. It wasn’t on his agenda. He wasn’t responding to a life and death need. But he did it anyway.

A Miracle of Extravagance What that shows us is something pretty cool: The extravagant nature of this God revealed in a miracle you and I probably wouldn’t have dared to ask for.

That’s the God I want and need every day of my life. And that’s the God we’re offered in Jesus!

This “frivolous” miracle brings a distant, unreachable God out of the heavenly realms and right into our humble realities. It’s significant in the Gospel of John’s account that verse 11 says the very first place Jesus chose to “reveal his glory” was somewhere very ordinary. He chose a home for his first miracle. He went public at a wedding—a common human event, in the small village of Cana—a wide spot in the road.

So what does that tell us? Simply this: Jesus desires to be real—and to reveal God—in your daily ordinariness, too. He wants to reveal glory—that is, God’s manifest presence—in the nitty-gritty reality of your life: your marriage, family, work, school and private world. It also means that he cares about what you do in your ordinary days—your marriage, job, school, private times—your life outside the sacredness of church. God doesn’t want to just show up for you at church on Sunday mornings. He wants to be real, and powerful and close, even in your unexciting, uneventful moment-by-moment world.

Nothing about your life is too insignificant to qualify for God’s extravagant grace—apparently not even the beverages on the menu at your party!

That’s the God you and I want and need every day of our lives. And that’s the God we’re offered in Jesus!

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“Consider God’s generosity toward you rather than your own unworthiness in his sight, and live in his strength, rather than in the thoughts of your own weakness. (St. Vincent De Paul)

 

Getting To Know Jesus: Make a list of your wants—not your needs—and take them before God in your prayer time. As you do, reflect on this verse: “You can ask him for anything, using my name, and I will do it, for this will bring praise to the Father because of what I, the Son, will do for you. Yes, ask anything, using my name, and I will do it!” (John 14:13-14)

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Under New Ownership

Being With Jesus:
John 1:1-5 (NLT)

“Before anything else existed, there was Christ, with God. He has always been alive and is himself God. He created everything there is—nothing exists that he didn’t make. Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to all mankind. His life is the light that shines through the darkness—and the darkness can never extinguish it.”

Think for a moment about the significance of John’s words in verse 3:

“Jesus created everything there is—nothing exists that he didn’t make.”

Now if you hold the Bible to be true—that it is God’s authentic, inspired, authoritative Word—then there is no more significant chapter in the Bible than John 1. And there are no greater words that bear upon your life than what you find in verse 3.

If nothing exists that Jesus didn’t make, including you, then what does that mean for you? Simply, yet most profoundly, this: You are not your own; rather, you are owned. God created you, and as your Creator, he has a right to rule over you. You are not the god of your life. You are not the king of you. You have no rights of godship, no authority to sit on the throne of your kingdom, no grounds for demanding your way, getting what you want, fulfilling your wishes, achieving your dreams or tickling your fancy.

Jesus has moved in and your life is under new ownership. Therefore, self must be dethroned; it must actually be obliterated!

Since God created you, along with everything else that you see and don’t see, he therefore owns everything. And since he designed everything in the universe, then everything exists for his pleasure and his purpose. And by the way, John 1 tells us, since Jesus was with God from the beginning, and actually is God, and in fact was the agent of creation, then it is actually Jesus who holds the deed of ownership over you—ownership that is only honored through his Lordship over your life. Abraham Kuyper said it well:

“There is not an inch of any sphere of life of which
Jesus Christ the Lord does not say, ‘Mine.’”

And by the way, that is a very good thing! You see, the good news is that his ownership is not grievous or burdensome. God is no tyrant, even though he has every right to be. In fact, it is just the opposite with God. It is an ownership that is loving, generous and gracious. John says this is clearly demonstrated in the life of Jesus, who came to earth in human form to reveal in living color the God who is full of glory, grace and truth (John 1:14). Furthermore, to all who surrender and reorder their lives to God’s rightful ownership, God himself invites them into a personal relationship  in the same way that Jesus lived in relationship with God: as child with Father (John 1:12).

Yes, you are under new ownership. And as self is dethroned, even obliterated, ownership becomes relationship. Then, through relationship, you will witness his glory, you will discover his truth and you will experience his grace. You will now be living in the loving care of the eternal Father as his dearly loved child.

05_40_4Iamthelightoftheworld_web1Abraham Kuyper was right: “There is not an inch of any sphere of life of which Jesus Christ the Lord does not say, ‘Mine.’” If you claim Jesus as Lord of your life, then he holds the deed of ownership over you. But this is no grievous ownership. Rather, as you take the step to dethrone self and enthrone Jesus as your sole owner, you will personally and powerfully experience this beautiful reality declared throughout the Gospel of John: the light of life; a light that can never be extinguished—the abundant life now and eternal life forever.

Following Christ you must dethrone self in order to enthrone him as Lord of your life. But his ownership is not grievous. Rather, ownership becomes relationship through which you are empowered to witness his glory, discover his truth and experience his grace. When Jesus takes sole ownership of you, you are privileged to now live in the loving care of the eternal Father as his dearly loved child.

With that in mind, it is imperative that you realign everything about your life—words, relationships, thoughts, wishes, plans, actions, patterns—to the fact that Jesus is Lord of you. Everything else must become a distant second to that. Truly, since he created you, anything that doesn’t fall under his absolute Lordship over your life doesn’t deserve to exist at all. As William Barclay said,

“The essence of Christianity is not the enthronement
but the obliteration of self.”

Now obviously, you will need the help of the Holy Spirit to achieve complete surrender to his utter ownership—which is a subject that much of the rest of Scripture fleshes out. But as you take the step to dethrone self and enthrone Jesus as the owner of you, you will experience this beautiful reality of John’s Gospel: a light that can never be extinguished—the abundant life now (John 10:10) and eternal life forever (John 3:16).

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“In order for any to have Christ as their Saviour they must first have received Him as their “Lord”, as their King to rule over them, for God saves none in their rebellion against Him. We must cease our rebellion against Him and His authority and give Him the throne of our hearts as our ruler or He is not our Saviour no matter what our profession.” (I.C. Herendeen)

Getting To Know Jesus: Perhaps you may want to join me in offering this heartfelt prayer, “Jesus, you are the rightful ruler of me. I surrender everything I am and trying to become to your Lordship. Take me over, clean me up, set me on a course that will only and always bring glory to you and demonstrate your ownership of me to the world. I cannot do this on my own—obviously—so thank you for making this a reality by the same power that created me. In Jesus name, amen!”

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A Limitless Pursuit Of The Manifest Knowledge Of Jesus Christ

Being With Jesus:
John 21:25 (NLT)

Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.

The Apostle John ends his gospel account of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus with this remarkable commentary: “What I’ve written here about Jesus, well you don’t know the half of it! In fact, since I’ve been with him night and day for three and a half years, I’ve gotta tell you, this is just the tip of the iceberg!”

Wow! As you read through the four Gospels, it is hard to imagine that much more could be added to what Jesus did and said. I suppose the Holy Spirit limited the inspired thoughts and pens of these men in order to present to us only what our finite minds could absorb.

Even then, we have trouble getting our brains around Jesus, don’t we! I mean, how do you top the incarnation, the virgin birth, and the miracle at Bethlehem? Then there is his sinless life—what do you do after that? What more can be added to the Sermon on the Mount? Can anyone illustrate Christianity better than Jesus did with his parables? What about his miracles—how could you improve upon the feeding of the 5,000, walking on the Sea of Galilee, calming the raging storm, the deliverance of the Gadarene demoniac, the healing of the blind man, or the raising of Lazarus? Is there any “wow factor” left after the crucifixion—and the empty tomb?

Even though we would love to know more, mercifully, we have been given Jesus in bite-sized chunks. And just with that, we will spend a lifetime in wonder, awe and gratitude for the life, love, death and resurrection of this marvelous Savior and Lord. Even if all we ever had of Jesus was John 3:16, you and I would have enough to keep us undone with love for all eternity—and then some.

So what do you do for an encore with Jesus? Only one thing remains, which John alluded to back in John 14:3,

“When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.”

It is probably a good thing that we didn’t get any more details than that, because there is only so much the redeemed mind can absorb this side of heaven! But once we get to eternity—of my goodness! We will spending unending days in limitless pursuit of the manifest knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Son of God.

Lord, come and get us soon! We want more!

“Only Christ could have conceived Christ.” (Joseph Parker)

Getting To Know Jesus: S.D. Gordon wrote, “Jesus is God spelling Himself out in language that men can understand.” To as much as our finite minds can handle, the incomprehensible God has made himself comprehensible in Jesus. Get to know Jesus and you will get to know God. Spend some time meditating on John 3:16 today—I think you will appreciate God a whole lot more.

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Great Advice For Saving Wasted Energy

Being With Jesus:
John 21:22 (NLT)

Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.”

What is that to you? In other words, mind your own business! You worry about what you need to do, and I will take care of what I need to do. That’s the gist of what Jesus was saying to Peter.

Jesus had been drilling down to some issues that needed to be resolved in this rough fisherman-turned disciple. It was a difficult conversation that needed to happen before Peter could become the rock-solid apostle Jesus had in mind, and Peter did what so many of us do: When the spotlight got focused on him a little too brightly, he tried to deflect that light to some of John’s flaws.

Jesus kept the focus right where it needed to be: “Peter, quit worrying about what will happen to John and just focus on what I’ve called you to do. If I allow him stay alive until I return, that is none of your business. You’ve got enough to worry about just taking care of your own junk let alone John’s. Just take care of you and you’ll be fine!”

Not bad advice! Wouldn’t we save ourselves a whole lot of wasted energy by just minding our own spiritual business? I know that’s true for me. The time and emotional drain I spend worrying whether someone else is walking with Jesus the way I think they should takes away from the spiritual energy that could be focused on growing me up in Christ.

Now that is not to say that we should never express loving concern for another believer’s spiritual progress. Sometimes the people we care deeply about frankly need to step it up in their growth as a disciple of Jesus—and we need to call them out on that. However, since spiritual formation is an ongoing process that will not conclude until the day we die and reach heaven, you and I need to remember that we, too, need to step it up!

So the next time you have an urge to voice a “concern” about what another sister has said or how another brother is living or what another local shepherd is doing or the kind of theology a prominent Tele-evangelist is espousing, just remember what Jesus said to Peter: “What is that to you? Just worry about you and make sure you are following me!”

You see, those people you are worried about will have to answer to God for their lives one day, but so will you. And since it is highly unlikely that you will be able to change them one bit by all the energy you spend worrying about their spiritual condition anyway, try devoting that same energy to your own obedience. Besides, if you really want to see them change, the better focus of your efforts would be to pray for them. Spend at least as much time bringing them before the Father in prayer as you do thinking and talking about how upsetting they are to you.

Do that and change will happen all right—but it will be you that changes! So mind our own business today—it is not such a bad thing to do!

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” (Carl Gustav Jung)

 

Getting To Know Jesus: Think about the top five things you find irritating in the people you live, work or worship with. What does your irritation over those things reveal about you? Ask the Holy Spirit for discernment as you process this, and then surrender what is revealed about you to God.