Tag Archives: Jesus

Follow Jesus: Covered in dust

“After coming down with them, He stood on a level place with a large crowd of His disciples and a great number of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon. They came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those tormented by unclean spirits were made well. The whole crowd was trying to touch Him, because power was coming out from Him and healing them all.”

Luke 6:17-19

There is a distinction made in this set of verses that we might easily miss.

A large crowd of His disciples.

A great number of people.

Jesus was a rabbi (teacher / master). A rabbi’s talmidim (disciples) followed him everywhere, learning everything they could from him, and serving him. They hung on his every word, and it is said that they followed so closely, they would become covered in the dust of their rabbi’s feet. They imitated him in everything, and then, when ready, they became a rabbi and had their own disciples. Jesus had a large crowd of disciples – some who would walk away when He said hard things. Those who remained were scattered at His crucifixion, and were perhaps all present in the upper room at Pentecost. But I wonder if only twelve of them had His dust on them.

And then, there was the great number of people who came to hear Him speak, and receive healing and deliverance from Him. They came to get something they desperately needed, from a man who had power coming out of Him, and who can blame them? But the same crowds who gathered to get what He had to give, are the same one who later called for His crucifixion.

A great number of people will walk away from Jesus when they realize He doesn’t just give them something they were looking for, but He requires something of them.

You may think the question all of this poses is, which are you – are you in the large crowd of His disciples, or the great number of people? That is not my question, but you are free to search your heart for an answer anyway.

The real question that this creates for me is this: Am I still learning from Jesus? Is He still the one teaching me to walk in His ways, to trust Him above all others, including myself, to believe for things others have stopped believing for? Do I follow Him, or do I follow the crowd who follows Him?

I believe that many, if not most, of those in the large crowd of disciples were saved. I also believe its possible that many who were in the great number of people were also saved. I think some people follow from a distance, and some follow closer.

I just want to be covered in His dust, day in and day out.

Follow Jesus: See & Tell

The Gospel of John.

John the Baptist: I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God. (1:34)

Andrew: The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. (1:41)

Philip: Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. (1:45)

Samaritan woman: “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” (4:29)

Man at the Pool: The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well. (5:15)

Those living in darkness were seeing a great light, and their response was to tell others, and bring others to that light.

Sometimes we complicate things, you know? We make Christianity about us and ours. Our church. Our doctrine. Our style of music. Our programs. Our ministry. Our ideas and preferences and need to do things our way.

I think some of us just need to tell someone about Jesus.

Do we still believe that there is power in the gospel? That the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God? (1 Corinthians 1:18) 

Do I believe it? Do I believe that the gospel that comes forth as I share my testimony has the power of God on it? Or have I, we, become far more comfortable inviting people to church, or to an outreach event, than we are inviting them to know Jesus through our own story?

Bringing someone to church isn’t bringing them to Jesus. I will stand by that statement, as offensive as it may sound. Inviting people to come to church isn’t wrong, or a bad thing. But it isn’t the model we have been given in the scriptures. The picture we have is that people encountered the Messiah, and then went to tell someone what they had seen, often bringing them back to Jesus. And when Jesus left the earth, we see the disciples going out and doing the “greater things than these” that Jesus spoke of in John 14:12-14. And all those people who believed in the Jesus they were being told about, became the Church. Today, those who believe in the Jesus we’ve seen and tell them about, become the Church.

People were seeing and telling long before Jesus told them to go make disciples of all nations. But we’ve made that great commission our flagship scripture for so long that “missions” is now where people are told about Jesus. Why tell my neighbor about the life changing encounter I had with Jesus, when I can invite them to an outreach event at church instead. Something safe. Unintrusive. Non-threatening. I wonder. If we truly believed our theology of heaven and hell, would we care about being unintrusive? I wonder if it’s time for the Church to get intrusive. Become threatening to the schemes of the devil. Walk in the power of the Holy Spirit to be His witness as we go, everywhere we go.

We have seen. We have seen Him in our lives. So let’s be followers of Jesus and tell someone. Let’s invite them to Jesus before we invite them to church.

Genesis 44—What Has Given Way?

It had been roughly 20 years since Joseph’s brothers had thrown him into a pit, sold him into slavery, and then led their father to believe he was dead. They knew Joseph was the favored son and they knew the grief it would bring to Jacob. But young hearts that are filled with jealousy and rivalry are impetuous, and unable – or unwilling – to consider the fallout that is sure to come from their self-centered actions. Twenty years before this testing moment in chapter 44, these brothers did not care enough for their own father to spare him from what they knew would break his heart. They threw their brother into a pit and then sat down to eat lunch, no doubt in earshot of his fear. And then they went home, hurt their father with the news, and offered him comfort from the blow of grief they themselves had caused. {Genesis 3}

But time passed. Youth and rivalry gave way to famine, and now things matter differently.

“So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father, and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy’s life, sees that the boy isn’t there, he will die. Your servants will bring the gray head of our father down to the grave in sorrow.” Genesis 44:30-31

There is a giving way that accompanies the passing of our years. I’ve seen it. Felt it. You have too. We all have. Seasons of famine as God patiently waits for things to matter differently. For our selfishness to give way to compassion, and pride to give way to humility.

For Joseph’s brothers, this giving way of their jealousy and selfishness came with regret and fear. I’ve felt that kind of giving way as well, the kind that makes you wish for a do-over in the worst way.

And maybe that’s the topic today. I never really know until we’re knee deep in and suddenly, it shows itself in the way a father’s heart mattered differently to once selfish sons, as the years wash away petty pride, leaving behind the regret and fear that sometimes only a famine can bring.

What has given way in you, I wonder?

Have the years taken one thing and left another in its place? Something to ponder. But there is a better giving way that is far more worthy of our thoughts.

Has anxiety given way to peace? Fear to courage? Pride to humility? Self-reliance to trust in God? What is it, Beloved, in you that has given way to Jesus? Little by little, a moving back to make room, conceding the right to occupy. It is good sometimes, I think, to remember and give thanks for how much darkness has given way to Light.

For those of us who are in Christ, we can say this much for sure – death has given way to life.

May everything else that is in us give way to everything in Him.

Genesis 43—Suspicious Grace

Now the men were frightened when they were taken to his house. They thought, “We were brought here because of the silver that was put back into our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys.” Genesis 43:18

Joseph had already been good to his brothers the first time they came to Egypt seeking relief from the famine. Of course, they didn’t know he was their brother just yet, but they did know that for some reason, they were receiving extraordinary treatment, and it made them uneasy.

Remember how the brothers responded to Joseph’s harsh words on their first trip to Egypt?

They said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.” Genesis 42:21

Guilt can make us assume that anything negative we are going through is a punishment, and cause us to suspect anything good that comes to us. That’s how I lived for many years, even after I was saved — assuming God was mad at me for all of the bad things I had done. And when something good did happen, I nervously waited for some mysterious “other shoe” to drop. Today, I can’t say that I fully comprehend the forgiveness that God has given to me, but I have learned to trust it.

Joseph’s brothers were unaware of how his heart was moved by the sight of his youngest brother, Benjamin, his brother from the same mother (I couldn’t wait to use that line). They has no idea the longing in Joseph’s heart to have his family restored. And because they don’t know his heart, they made assumptions that stirred up their own fears and suspicions. But perhaps it wasn’t just Joseph’s heart they didn’t know…

He replied, “Peace to you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you.” Genesis 43:23

The kindness that Joseph showed his brothers in returning their money to them, was actually attributed to God, yet they remained fearful that something bad was happening to them because of what they had done to Joseph.

Sometimes, I think we struggle to see past ourselves enough to really see God. And when we do catch a good look at His grace, we see it through the filter of us, so it looks distorted. Suspicious. Like something we know good and well we don’t deserve.

If we want to see grace as it really is, we have to stop making it about us. He is full of grace. He is generous and He is kind, and His heart longs for restoration, not punishment.

He didn’t become that way for us. It was His image long before He made us in it.

Truth: Day 22—My Trials Will Be Good for Me

“ Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” 

James 1:2-4

I Will Have Trials. They Will Be Good for Me.

Sometimes the truth is hard to hear and what I need to hear the most.

Because like a child who only wants sweets for dinner, I want a life free from pain, free from discomfort, free from hard.

But sugar and a soft life do nothing to make me strong.

They will weaken me. Give me no stamina. Make me unable to stand. To fight. To stay the course.

Hard has come to my life, and will come again. My faith has been put through fire, and it will be again. But He never kept this from me, like a secret, a hidden thing meant to take me by surprise.

He is not out to catch me off guard. No tricks up His holy sleeve.

He has given me truth so that I can walk in truth.

I will have trials. I will not go through them alone. They will be be good for me.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

Isaiah 43:2

Truth: Day 21—The Blessing is Worth It

“ Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” 

Matthew 5:11-12

The Blessing Is Worth It

Just today, it hit me. I am in little danger of the blessing this passage promises.

I’m pretty non-confrontational. Quiet about my strongly held convictions, in certain circles. The circles that could make me unwelcome. Insult me. Speak ill of me.

But lately I’ve taken notice of the glaring avoidance in my life.

I avoid uncomfortable, for me or anyone else.

I avoid taking the unpopular stance, unless I’m around other people who are also taking the same stance, so that we’re all standing in our little stance circle, nodding at one another as though we are setting the world on fire right where we stand.

I don’t believe Jesus was recommending that we go out of our way to pick a fight. If we are following Him close enough, the fight will pick us. The choice we have is to avoid the fight, or to wade in with our shield of faith raised and our sword at the ready, knowing it will likely cost us.

John the Baptist is a good example. He spoke his message of repentance without apology. Said harsh truth to the religious leaders. Called out a king’s sin.

For that, he lost his life. But John inherited the blessing of “great is your reward in heaven” and I’m willing to bet he wouldn’t trade it for all the comfortable places on the planet.

I want to speak truth so that I will live truth.

There is a blessing for those willing to live a life of faith that draws insults and persecution.

It is worth every risk.

Truth: Day 20—I Am Called To God

 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20

Honestly? I’m not a “go” kind of person. I’m a stayer. I like the familiar, the comfortable. I like not risking humiliation. Weird, I know.

I like to believe that others are going, so my going isn’t all that necessary.

I would prefer that God would send people to me. People who are ready, who don’t need to be convinced of anything. Hungry people with soft hearts.

I don’t want hard ground, hard hearts, or a hard time. And please, no hard questions.

I just want it to be easy, and if it can’t be easy then I want to convince myself that evangelism isn’t my gifting, or my calling, and that there are plenty of people going, and I can “go” by praying for them, or giving them money.

But I am prone to entertaining lies, so I have to speak truth so that I will walk in truth.

I am called to go. To make disciples. To tell the story of God in my life. To tell His good news. To trust the Holy Spirit to do the saving. To desire that none should perish, just like my Father. To take what He has entrusted me with, and give it away. At work. In my neighborhood. At the park. In the grocery store. In line at the DMV. In my city. Wherever I am.

I am called to go.

The only valid question surrounding that command is, will I obey?