Filed under: simple things | Tags: addicted, craving, dangerous, kingdom, pursue, seek
I have been musing over discipleship. what does that look like? what does it feel like? how does it start? what all goes into it? i mean, christians flippantly use that word time and time again without understanding its deep implications. at least that is what i observe from the gospels and how discipleship looked like there. not just in the gospels, but also in all of the bible. this has lead me to some unrest and a thirst to learn what it means to follow Jesus, to be where He is (John 12), to feel what he feels, and to think how God thinks. to imitate our Master, for that is what discipleship is.
i found a good starting point for understanding discipleship. it can be seen in the Shema. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength…” (Mark 12:29-30).
that is alot of alls. all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. sounds like that should be one’s whole life. but when this is unpacked, you can see a holistic picture of discipleship, at least from a Hebraic stand point. (more…)
Filed under: simple things | Tags: craving, dangerous, experiment, kingdom, pursue, seek
Jesus once said, “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.” that sounds rather simple, but we also know that it sounds difficult. i often feel this tension with what Jesus says. it’s easy. i get it. but i struggle doing it.
but here in this verse, it’s simple. whoever serves Jesus MUST follow him. this speaks of urgency. speaks of movement. speaks of direction, of vocation, of action, of discipleship, of worship (what?), it speaks of love. how can we serve if we don’t follow? where Jesus is, we should be. i can’t read this and think that following Jesus is what we think it is. i hear often that phrase, following Jesus, but i wonder if we know or understand what that is. it is often equated as an Christian ethical behavior. where if I follow Jesus, i no longer act a (more…)
I am amazed at level of genius that it takes to be a good author. The creativity, the imagination, the time it takes to write, the wisdom of authors. Think about it, they have to think of names, places, obstacles, scenery, different characters with different backgrounds and then have them all mesh together at the perfect time to create the perfect scene to create the perfect tension that gives the story it’s own character.
When I think of the Lord of the Rings series by JR Tolkein, I become amazed at the level of creativity it has. The names of characters is astonishing. The names of land and places and buildings is mind-boggling. I always wondered how the heck did they come up with those names. Was it a bad game of scrabble where they made up words??? But the thing that gets me the most, is how they see the end being and how they write to achieve that end. Also, with that, an author is soverign over his story. He/she alone has complete authority over the story, because he/she is the one who puts the pen to the paper to create. No one else can dictate that. No one can influence what they write.
interesting…God is also described as an author. In fact, He is described as the author of life (Acts 3:15), the author of salvation (Heb. 2:10), and the author and perfector of our faith (Heb. 12:2).
(more…)
Filed under: disequilibrium | Tags: craving, dangerous, experiment, holy spirit
In acts 8:26-40 (http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesearchresults.php?passage1=Acts+8%3A26-40&passage2=&passage3=&passage4=&passage5=&version1=47&version2=0&version3=0&version4=0&version5=0&Submit.x=35&Submit.y=4) we see a story of a regular man, who got a prompting from God to go. But to go where? To do what? In the previous part of the story, Philip was part of a mass revival in Samaria, but now God wants him to get up and leave that, to travel some obscure desert road for some unknown reason. He had to face a decision, to leave what was happening in Samaria, to disciple the new followers of ‘the way’, or to listen to this prompting and obey.
I must wonder about this road a bit. I wonder what Philip thought about it. It was a desert road, like in Robert Frost’s words, a road less traveled. Did he contemplate his safety? Did he sit and pray to double check that this was God’s will for His life? We don’t see any of that. What we get is that he got up and went, without knowing the final destination or the reason for going. All he knew, was go! He went. (more…)
This morning I read in mark when you tell the young rich man to sell all he has to the poor. I feel like that has been referenced so much, and used so often that it loses its meaning. Here a man comes to You, asking for salvation. And You ask what he wants to hear. “You know the commandments, a-z. Have you kept them?” “Of course I have”. Then You look with love and say, “sell everything you own.” This is the Kingdom of God. This kingdom does not look like what we have seen before. It is something completely different. You tell the young ruler, “you want to be a part of my kingdom? Forget everything the World has taught you. Start over. And throw yourself completely unto Me.” And I have the guts to view the young ruler with judgment. We are all a ruler, we come to Jesus with our accomplishments and expect him to validate us and to tell us,” well done good and faithful servant.” But that’s not what He says. He says with a face full of love, “You do not understand.” The advice that I hear in this story is, “abandon yourself completely to Me. Give up everything you are holding on to, let go and trust in Me.”
Lord, these are tough words that you say. Help me to live this Father, help me to live in the light of this and not forget this. Your kingdom is so big, You are so big. Teach me how to live a life that enters into this kingdom.
i want to take a temperature of what hinders us from living dangerously for God. please take the time to vote. be honest. also, if you have another reason or factor, please leave it as a comment. thanks ahead of tme!
