Even If i Walk Alone

Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus

Freewill and the Wedding in Cana

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The story of Jesus turning water into wine is well known to Christians and non-Christians alike. It’s one of Jesus’ “greatest hits”, if you will. The story is found in the book of John, chapter 2, verses 1-11. It’s apparent that Jesus was achieving a bit of local celebrity already as evidenced by the inclusion of His disciples in the invitation.

Jesus showed reluctance to do anything at first, but out of deference and respect to His mother he agreed to help. I think we see incredible compassion from Jesus here. He had just told His mother that it was “not yet His time”, but he rearranged His plan to accommodate humanity. Whether out of respect for His mother or compassion for His friends in the wedding party, we don’t know. But this was the first recorded time that we catch a glimpse of this side of God’s character in Jesus. He altered His plan to allow for the freewill of humans. Obviously someone had made some poor decisions about the amount of wine at the wedding. Perhaps out of thrift or carelessness, the host had made decisions of his own freewill that led to the shortage of wine. Jesus showed the immeasurability of God by being able to alter the “plan of the moment” while leaving His overarching plan unaffected. We’re told at the end of the story that Jesus displayed His glory and the disciples believed in Him after witnessing this miracle. A question occurs to me: what was the greater miracle, the greater glory – turning water into wine or altering the plan of history without altering the result of the plan of history? Do you realize how extraordinary the power and wisdom of God is, that He allows us to have free reign in our lives and none of that impedes or affects his overarching plan for the world at large? It is truly mind blowing to try and comprehend this. The gift of freewill is a beautiful thing, topped only by the beauty of the grace He imparts to cover for us when we choose badly. How can we but worship such a God?

The First Disciples

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It’s interesting to look at the different reactions of Jesus’ first disciples when He called them to follow Him. The story can be found in John 1:35-51. I think we can all identify with at least one of the first disciples.

Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist. He was used to seeing some pretty crazy stuff, but at the same time he apparently “got” John’s message. As soon as John pointed to Jesus and stated that He was the lamb of God, Andrew took off without hesitation. John was a good man, but Jesus was the Son of God. Andrew knew whom He should follow. He believed immediately and never looked back. Right from the start, Andrew just wanted to be with Jesus, to spend time with Him. His first question of Jesus was, “Where are you staying”? As a result, Andrew ended up staying the whole day with Jesus. I can only imagine the conversations they must have had. I can only imagine what my first conversations with Christ will be like. I only know I will be enthralled at His words and overwhelmed that He would dare take the time to speak to one such as me.

After this first meeting, Andrew ran and retrieved his brother Peter so he too could meet Jesus. I wonder what Peter’s first thoughts were when Andrew told him he had found Jesus. The Jews had been waiting for the Messiah for a long time, so I’m guessing Peter had a few questions running through his head. “Why then? Why now? And how in the world did my brother happen to find Him?” To Peter’s great credit, he apparently showed similar enthusiasm to that of his brother. He immediately came to meet Jesus. How incredible must it have been for Jesus to immediately assign him a new name? Names have powerful meaning in the Jewish culture. I’m thinking a name that means “rock” has to be a good thing; it describes strength, stability, and unwavering purpose. If Peter had ever lacked for confidence, those days were quickly behind him.

Phillip was an interesting case because we are not sure what he was doing at the time Jesus called him. All we know is that Jesus was walking by and simply told Phillip to follow Him. We don’t know if Philip knew who Jesus was, after all He had yet to gain any popularity in the region. But Philip got up and followed. We don’t know whether he knew who Jesus was immediately or after talking to the other disciples, but Philip believed quickly and with all of his heart. After Jesus called him, Philip shortly thereafter ran and told his friend Nathaniel that he had found the Messiah.

Nathaniel’s reaction was quite different from that of Peter’s. Instead of believing right away and coming to find Jesus, he was skeptical and even responded with the socially judgmental comment of “Can anything good come from Nazareth”? If only he knew! Philip must have held some credibility in the mind of Nathaniel because despite his reservations, he went to meet Jesus. Jesus wasn’t offended by the honesty of Nathaniel. Jesus told Nathaniel of things that should have been impossible for Him to know, events that happened before Phillip had even gone to meet with Nathaniel. This miraculous knowledge immediately convinced Nathaniel that Jesus was the Son of God. Here was a guy that was quick to speak and quick to change his mind. My guess is his mouth probably got him in quite a bit of trouble over the years, a truly reactionary individual. I imagine him stumbling through an apology about the Nazareth comment and Jesus having a good laugh, patting him on the shoulder and reassuring him. Those must have been interesting days indeed.

So how do we react when Jesus calls to us? Do we immediately drop everything, no questions asked, to follow him? Will we do anything just for the opportunity to spend some time with Jesus? Will we believe on faith the witness of others or must we touch and see? Are we quick to speak and slow (so very slow) to understand? I want to be like Andrew, a man willing to do whatever it takes just to be in the presence of Jesus. With whom do you identify, and whom would you desire to be like? We who know Christ are all followers, just like the early disciples. Let us seek Him with the same wonder and faith.

Lessons From the Temptation of Christ

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I am endeavoring to chronologically work my way through the Gospels, reimagining each of the familiar stories through the use of imaginative prayer. If you are unfamiliar with imaginative prayer, I highly recommend reading Greg Boyd’s excellent “Seeing Is Believing: Experience Jesus through Imaginative Prayer” and check out his ‘Animate’ sermon series on the topic as well. Today I am considering the temptation of Christ found in Mark 1:12-13, Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13.

The fasting of Jesus in the wilderness for forty days is a testament to what a person can withstand when their entire focus is on God. It is hard for most of us to imagine going without food for a few hours, much less forty days! I think the key here is that Jesus was so enraptured with being in the presence of God that He truly needed nothing else. We are spiritual beings at our core, and the story would seem to point to the fact that proper spiritual nourishment trumps the physical. When Satan tempted Jesus to turn the stone into bread, Jesus replied that “Man does not live by bread alone”. His fast was on God’s schedule, and He wasn’t going to break it even though He easily could. Satan was obviously not trying to help Jesus, but rather sought to have Jesus take nourishment from the things of this world rather than from God; Satan tried to get Jesus to focus on the temporal, physical side of things rather than the spiritual and eternal. The lesson is that we should always be in diligent conversation with our Heavenly Father, while at the same time realizing our communion with God is infinitely more important than our physical comfort and pleasure. In refusing Satan’s attempts to get him to focus on His own physical needs, Jesus demonstrated a total reliance on the Father.

The second thing Satan tried to tempt Jesus with was power and a desire to have great wealth as the ruler of all of the earthly kingdoms – if only He would bow to Satan. Jesus responded by telling Satan to “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only”. No power or achievement in our life will ever be worth turning away from Christ. It is far better we be poor and powerless, yet serving God, than to have our fill of this world’s “success”. We need to remove any idols we have in our lives that would keep us from worshipping God alone. Idols can come in many forms: tangible possessions, social status or personal desires. Anything that we value more than God, even for the slightest moment, is an idol. In refusing to worship Satan in exchange for earthly power and wealth, Jesus demonstrated total devotion to the Father.

The final test of Jesus occurred when Satan tried to get Him to step off the highest point of the temple, to test whether Jesus really had faith in God to protect Him. Jesus replied, “Do not test the Lord your God”. We see a couple of principles in play here. First, God blessed us all with the ability to think through the various situations in our life. We need to constantly pray for wisdom, and also seek the counsel of trusted men and women. Acting with wisdom, we can trust that God will walk with us. We can’t simply act foolishly, without thought, and expect God to bail us out. Secondly, avoid sinning simply because you have faith that you will be forgiven. I believe this is also testing God. If we truly love Him, we will want to turn away from sin, not see how much we can get away with. By refusing to “prove” His faith to Satan, Jesus demonstrated a confident faith in the Father; He knew God would always walk with Him through the turbulent times to come.

Career Crisis for Christ?

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I’ve been pretty frustrated with my J.O.B. (it seems like such a dirty word that I feel the need for additional emphasis) for quite some time now. I have a great job that pays well, and hey, let’s face it, in this economy it’s wonderful to still be employed. But there is something vaguely immoral about giving the most productive ten hours of my day to a corporation that does absolutely nothing to further the message of Jesus Christ to our world. As Christians, we have one mission in life: to be the love of Christ to all those around us that they might come to know Him.

I have long heard the pat answers of “just serving God wherever you are” and “perhaps God put you in that J.O.B. for a specific purpose, to witness to those around you”. Well, okay, but isn’t that the exact purpose that God has given to the life of every Christian? No matter where we are we are to be demonstrating and reflecting the love of God to all those around us. It is a lifelong, continuous mission, one that is independent of where we live or where we work. It seems to me more likely that these pat answers come from our Western Christianity growing far too comfortable with the Western ideology for far too long. We now see a J.O.B. as our Christian responsibility, as a sign of how God is blessing us. This is an utterly foreign concept of what I read in the Bible. The followers of Christ worked as they needed to support themselves as they went about telling others about Christ and demonstrating His love. There was no concept of a comfortable career, a nice nest egg for retirement, no concentration on how nicely they could furnish their homes or if they were driving the latest eco-conscious chariot!

I do not mean to imply that Christians should shirk all responsibility and that all jobs are evil. I do intend to point out that most of us, self included, spend the vast majority of our time doing things that have little or no Kingdom value. Each of us was created with a unique combination of gifts and passions, but how many of us are fully utilizing those same gifts? How many of us are fully engaged in our passions? We have become a fat and lazy people, consumed with what society tells us we need to do and have. I for one am rethinking the whole deal; what impact might I have on the world for Christ if I was fully engaged in something I was passionate about, fully utilizing the gifts God has imparted to me and giving the most productive hours of each day to such an endeavor? How might my life be different? How might yours? More importantly, think of the Kingdom impact we would have on our neighborhoods and our world.

Father, I know the path you have placed before me. I thank you for the passions and gifts you have placed within me. May I set aside the things of this world and focus solely on Your kingdom and on loving those around me. Strengthen me for the road ahead. Thank You for Your love and for this life You have given me; may I use it all for Thee.

Are we giving our all?

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There’s nothing like meeting a new group of people to spark the flames of thought, and I have had the pleasure of meeting an amazingly interesting group of truth seekers over at the Bridge. A thank you to everyone over there for jumpstarting my fingers to start blogging again.

One of the interesting discussions over there concerned an individual having problems with truly feeling like they were “giving their all” to follow Christ. After reading through that discussion, I read a quote from A.W. Tozer today that dealt with our “Isaac” moments. These are our moments of testing. The time will come when it is only us and God… and the test before us. There will not be a handful of choices as to what to do. Rather, there will only be two choices – God or not God. It is in these “Isaac” moments we discover much about ourselves. We discover whether or not we are indeed willing to “give our all” to follow Him; we discover where our heart truly lies. As Christians, as true believers, our choice in the deepest reaches of our soul must be to choose God… always. We will fall and we will fail. Fortunately, the grace of God is never-ending and we will be forgiven. With that forgiveness though, do we ache with repentance? I believe someone who has chosen to follow Christ should absolutely be horrified at each failure. Personally, I get angry and fell like punching the nearest wall. I’m so distraught that I would choose anything over Jesus Christ, and it will often take quite some time to calm down (please hold the calls for counseling!). The point is God sees our hearts he knows our deepest intentions.

I believe as Christians must come to the point when we are indeed able to say we are desperately trying to “give our all” to follow Christ. It was for this we were created. It is what Christ commanded us to do. He told his followers that they would have to leave everything behind for Him. This isn’t a onetime event. As we come upon our Isaac moments each day, we must be willing to leave everything behind to follow Him. There is really no other choice for those who love Him. Can we honestly say that today we have given our all for Him? Have we chosen Him in our Isaac moments? If not, why not? It’s time to dust ourselves off and determine now to leave it all behind and choose Him in every aspect of our lives, every choice that comes our way. We must indeed be desperate for the One who loves us beyond measure. He asks nothing more and nothing less.

Father I am desperate for you; forgive me when that desperation fades and renew the urgency of surrender in my heart.