Category Archives: Christian Life

INTERRUPTIONS

Christian Life, ,

INTERRUPTIONS

“Then, because there were so many people coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’

“So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place…. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So, he began to teach them many things.” Mark 6:31-34 (NIV).

How did Jesus handle interruptions? Certainly not the way we might have done. Our first thought would have been for ourselves. We might have been irritated by all these people and would have wanted to escape to carry out our original plan. All we would have wanted to do was to get away from the crowd to rest and have time out with Jesus.

Not Jesus! He tried to get away from the crowds, but they beat Him to it. Why didn’t He simply go somewhere else – somewhere they didn’t anticipate? He didn’t try to dodge them. Instead, He welcomed them with a heart of compassion. They had no meaning and no direction in their lives and no-one to lead them. Jesus’ heart was for them, not for Himself. He put their needs above His own.

Is this what He meant when He said that a disciple is someone who denies himself? Self-denial is not just going without to adhere to some sort of rule. I think it means that we choose to put the needs of others above our own, and here is a good example of self-denial from the Master Himself.

I wonder what the disciples felt about this interruption. They were probably looking forward to a day alone with Jesus, relaxing out in the open and enjoying being away from the crowd. They must have felt frustrated, irritated, and even fed-up with Jesus. Why did He have to be so accommodating?

What was the difference between Jesus and His disciples? Their first thought was for themselves and their own needs. They were tired. They needed rest. They wanted to be alone. Jesus was also tired, but He saw people who needed another kind of rest much more that He needed a day off. These people were struggling under the heavy yoke of legalism, and it wasn’t working. They didn’t need more religion. They needed a shepherd to protect and take care of them. That is exactly what He came to do – and He was not about to miss an opportunity like this.

If we are true to our calling to be followers of Jesus, here is an example of real self-denial. Jesus did not just pretend to be nice to the crowd. He had plans for the day, but He changed direction without giving Himself another thought because the people were more important to Him than His own plans or comfort. Their needs were greater than His own.

And He calls us to follow Him.

DIRECTIONS FOR A NEW DAY

Christian Life, ,

DIRECTIONS FOR A NEW DAY

Every day is a new opportunity! Yesterday has gone forever, tomorrow is not yet here. How can I live today that will add meaning to my life and the lives of others?

Jesus gave us a lifegoal which should apply to us every day. He said, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33 (NIV). So, what should be our focus in our everyday lives, taking into consideration that we are not alike?

In a nutshell, God is more interested in our character than in our circumstances. Jesus said that we behave like pagans when we run after ‘things’ instead of seeking His kingdom. When we give our attention to taking care of our needs, and those of our families, we miss what God wants, our trust in Him as our Father, and the freedom to learn about the things that really matter.

Life is not about surviving in a tough world. That is God’s responsibility because we are His sons and daughters. Life is about learning to be His mature children so that we can be part of His ‘business’ on earth – His kingdom. It’s not only about this life – it’s also about preparing to play our part in the life to come.

This life is short. God has built into us huge potential; both the possibility and the opportunity to become like His Son, Jesus, in the same sort of world that shaped Him into who He was. This may not seem important to us in an environment where God is ignored, despised, or forgotten but, to us who believe in His Son and have been rescued from hell, it ought to be big.

It was big for Jesus. He always viewed situations from the perspective of God’s rule and He always took the long look – seeing this life as a very short preparation for the life to come. He saw worry as a foolish response to our needs because worry exposes our actual attitude to our heavenly Father. Worry cancels out faith and puts fear in the driving seat.

So, what should our response be to the pressing needs we face every day? Jesus said, ‘Set your sights on looking for every opportunity to do the right thing.’ That means imitating the way Jesus loved and served people, trusted, and obeyed the Father and always put the needs of others before His own. When we do that, we show our absolute confidence in God’s promise to take care of us and, best of all, we get to know Jesus and become like Him.

In this way, we will be well on the way to fulfilling God’s dream for us, a family of responsible sons and daughters who are just like His Son, Jesus, and whom He can trust to run His world under His authority in the life to come.

FOUR SOILS

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FOUR SOILS

“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering his seed, some fell along the path… Some fell on rocky soil…other seed fell among thorns…still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew, and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.” Mark 4:3-8 (NIV).

Although this is a long passage, this parable and its interpretation need to be read and understood together as one. This is a well-known story, but we can easily miss its meaning and importance. In the Hebrew way of thinking, stories were read for identification. Who am I in the story? According to Jesus, the Word of God is the seed. The soil is the attitude with which the seed is received.

Hard ground implies that beliefs and attitudes are so fixed that new ideas have no place in the mind of that person. He refuses to believe that he may be wrong and needs to change what he thinks and believes. He is not open to truth and continues to live by the lies he believes. The Word of God has no impact on his thinking, and he just keeps living the old way with his unsolved hang-ups and issues.

Shallow soil represents hearts that willingly receive the Word which begins to grow. However, the tender young roots soon meet with the resistance of a hard layer under the shallow topsoil. There is an expectation based on a belief system that this new life does not meet – and the heart begins to resist the tests that are part of the character-building God is busy with. The new life eventually withers and dies.

The third soil already has stuff growing in it. The new plants of Christian character germinate among the weeds but, since there is no room for both, and since troubles and trinkets have a powerful hold, the delicate plants of character lose their foothold and die.

The fourth ground is fertile and free of other things. The heart is open and willing to receive the truth and patiently applies it, learning to submit to discipline and receive the grace that transforms the life through a mind that is being renewed day after day. The fruit of the Spirit is being formed in the life; the character of Jesus slowly becomes real and there is eventually a full harvest of righteousness that imitates God’s character.

When we read stories like this, it makes us realise that becoming a believer in Jesus is not easy. The gospel message meets with all kinds of resistance, from what we believe already, what we expect God to be like and to do for us, our troubles and problems and even what family and friends may think of us.

To be a genuine and faithful follower of Jesus, we must deal with all these things and decide whether following Jesus is what we really want to do, because turning back from following Him is a serious decision to make.

EVERYTHING CHANGES!

Christian Life, ,

EVERYTHING CHANGES!

“Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call Him. A crowd was sitting around Him, and they told Him, ‘Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.’

‘Who are my mother and brothers? He asked.

“Then He looked at those seated in a circle around Him and said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.’” Mark 3:31-34 (NIV).

It’s difficult to pick up the mood of Jesus’ human family in this short record. Why were they here, as a family, to see Jesus? Were they on some kind of rescue mission, seeing that they had all come together? Did they think He needed protection from Himself because His popularity was getting out of hand? 

Once again Jesus emerges as the sanest of all the people in this scene. His agenda was long term. His life as a human being on earth was only a passing phase in the scheme of things, and He knew it. His mission was to restore and rebuild His Father’s family – those who would reconnect with God by faith through His death on the cross. He would have to endure this early popularity in His ministry because there would come a time when people would either become offended by Him because of the cost of following Him, or they would go on seeing and believing who He really was and believe in Him regardless of the cost, because they understood His long-term mission to reunite them with the Father.

Hence Jesus did not set as much store on the relationship He had with His natural family as He did on His passion to win back God’s forever family. It may have initially seemed like rejection but, in the long term, every one of His natural family members had the same invitation and the same opportunity to become even more intimate members of His faith family.

There is a relationship that is more important than even the closest of family ties. Our human relationships will cease when we die but our relationship with God as our Father will never come to an end. Some people are afraid to give their lives to Jesus because it would cost them their place in the family. Some even face death if they turn away from their family religion. But in the ned it is a choice between being safe now or being safe for eternity in God’s family.

Paul declared that, when we are “in Christ”, everything changes. The old scheme of things is replaced by the new. Old family ties are replaced by new ones; our old nature with its bent towards independence, is replaced by a restored connection with God as our Father and its accompanying sense of identity and security because we now belong to a universal family forever under the benevolent control of our eternal Father.

BE WITH HIM – SEND THEM OUT

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BE WITH HIM – SEND THEM OUT

“Jesus sent up on a mountainside and called to Him those He wanted, and they came to Him. He appointed twelve – designating them apostles – that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach.” Mark 3:13,14

Although these few verses read as an everyday event in Jesus’ life, they were one of the most significant moments in His public ministry. According to Luke, He spent the night in prayer before He chose the men to whom He would entrust His friendship, His love and the entire future of His mission on earth. If there were any bad apples in this box, His mission would be in jeopardy.

What about Judas Iscariot? What about Peter, James, and John whose characters He knew so well that He gave them nicknames? What hope did He have of moulding this bunch of ordinary men into disciples – learners and imitators of Himself? How was He going to persuade them that His yoke – gentleness and humility, love compassion and mercy – was more powerful than the yoke of the other rabbis in Israel whom the Pharisees followed slavishly?

Mark mentions His strategy in a single sentence. “The plan was that they would be with Him, and He would send them out to proclaim the Word and give them authority to banish demons.”  Mark 3:14,15 (The Message). Simple, yet effective. The key was “that they would be with Him”. They would accompany Him day and night. They would listen, watch, follow, copy until His thoughts became their thoughts and His ways became their ways – it was no easy task as their behaviour, words and questions revealed just how ignorant and ordinary they were.

Jesus often became frustrated with them because of their faithlessness and their slowness to learn. But with great patience and infinite love He gave them opportunity after opportunity to practise what they saw Him doing. He had faith in them even though, at that time, they didn’t seem to merit it. He knew that His Spirit in them would energize all they learned and practised so that they would become powerful imitators of their Rabbi. His call was a simple one. “Follow me,” but held in it a world of possibilities.

We don’t know much about most of the disciples but Peter, James, and John, who were closest to Him, always had a lot to say, especially Peter. Peter was the big mouth who kept opening it to put his foot in! James and john were the aggressive ones whom Jesus called “the sons of thunder”. What would it take to change these men?

The secret was in the first part of Jesus’ strategy, “that they might be with Him”. Spending time with Jesus gave them first-hand experience of who He was. This was very important for them, and it is just as important for us. If we don’t spend time with Jesus, we will never get to know Him and His ways. Without knowing Him intimately, we cannot faithfully represent Him to the world.