Life According to Jesus

Faith is not " believing in spite of evidence," nor "believing what you know isn't true," as some have cynically suggested.  Rather it is an open-eyed adventurous affirmation that in and through things is a Good Will, and that Good Will is God.  Therefore faith relates itself to that Good Will by betting its life on it.  (E. Stanley Jones, Is the Kingdom of God Realism?)

WORRISOME STORIES ABOUT LIFE

Two false stories about life cause a great deal of worry.  The first is that life is about sowing and reaping.  Planning and results.  Doing and getting.  Although we do know that life has definite cause/effect chains, this is not what life is about; it is not the whole story.  "Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy."  (Ps. 126)  There is an incongruency about life.  We do not always get what we deserve.  We thank God for it.

Another false story is that life can be "stored away in barns."  Somehow we can save up for later.  We work so we can retire.  We save so we can spend.  We do good so that good will be done to us.  Although we are encouraged to "store up our treasures in heaven," the reason is not so we can get to them later, but because where our treasures are, that's where our heart is.  "I said to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing."  (Ps. 16:2)  Life must be lived and cannot be kept for later.  Many things are best left behind anyway.

THE BIRDS' STORY

The birds live the true story of life by instinct.  "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them."  (Mt. 6:26)  Life is about being fed.  The birds are not fed if they remain still, but they do not worry.  They do not live the "sowing/reaping" story nor the "storing away in barns" story.  They live the story of being fed.  What the birds do naturally, we must do by faith and choice.

Life is more important than eating and drinking.  It is more important than sowing and reaping and storing away in barns.  Life is about hungering, but not for food.  Life is about thirsting, but not for drink.  "I am the bread of life." (Jn, 6:35)  "The water I give to him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."  (Jn. 4:14)  Life is about hungering and thirsting for Christ and being satisfied by him.  Not just by what he said or what he did, but by him.  It is about our daily bread.  It is about the heavenly manna that spoils if it is not eaten that day.  (Ex. 6:13-23; Jn. 6:32-33)

The systems of human life set up against Christ promote sowing and storing up.  Both stories are about a world of scarcity.  In such a world the first thing we think in the morning is how we didn't get enough sleep and the last thing is how we didn't get enough done.  Shame is the whip that keeps us going.  (Brene Brown, The Power of Vulnerability)  Conversely, life according to Jesus is set up on trust (faith).  We trust that there is enough time to finish what God has given us.  We trust that he will give us the resources to do so as we ask him.  Massive systems of propaganda speak against such trust.  Part of us rebels at the thought of such trust.  But it is before us, as plain at the birds in the air.

The One Who Could

The one who could gather large crowds
  with his teaching and healing
  also leaves them behind.
The one who could explain everything to his disciples
  when they were alone
  also lets them alone as he slept in the middle of their storm.
The one who could speak only in parables to the crowds
  so they might not hear, but only understand,
  also quiets howling winds with his words.
The one who could speak only in parables to the crowds
  so they might not see, but only perceive,
  also stills the furious waves with his words.
The one who could say "He who has ears, let him hear!"
  also makes the winds and waves obey him.
The one who could command our trust and love
  also allows us to ask, "Who is this?"
The one who could hear us say, "Don't you care if we drown?"
  also says, "Do you still lack my faith?"

(Meditation on Mark 4:35-41, Jesus Calms the Storm)

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Small Steps in Discipleship to Christ: Trust, the Response to God's Love

Trust Jesus.  Hospitality is my job in discipleship.  As I grow to understand God's devotion to me, hospitality is a natural outcome.  Story upon story reflect this understanding of what it means to "receive Christ."  From Jesus' story the owner of the vineyard who sends his son, hoping they will receive him to Jesus' teaching that "he who receives me receives the one who sent me,"  Jesus explains a humble God, who knocks at our doors, hoping that we will let him into our lives.  Such hospitality to God is what motivates and invigorates my love for other people as well.  "Anyone who gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."  (Matthew 10:42)

This is why God "gave his only begotten Son."  His love is one that hopes to be received.  His Word made flesh came to us to be invited in.  His Spirit was sent from this glorified man to scour the earth for those who would welcome God sincerely from their hearts.  The reception of Christ relies mostly on what I think of the God who sent him.  His devoted love is what lays the foundation for my welcoming Christ into my life.  Jesus' living and teaching demonstrate how God really is.  His Spirit takes that teaching and life and immerses me in it, making it "real" to me.

"Whosoever believes" in Jesus as a Teacher trusts what he says, learning it, and practicing it.  Anyone who has taken a class knows the difference between trusting a teacher and pleasing a teacher.  I can work to please a teacher and not trust him.  By trusting a teacher, I also will please him.  Jesus is like this.  He doesn't want me merely to try to please him by doing what he says.  He wants me to trust him and what he says.  The pleasing and doing will follow the trust.

 "Whosoever believes" in Jesus as a Friend confides in him and listens for his comfort and answers.  I must learn to trust that Jesus is on my side.  He said that he did not come to condemn, but to save.  His work has got him the reputation of being a "friend of sinners."  Sinners can trust Jesus to talk with them, be with them, and hear them when they call.  The gospel is an open door for sinners, whether recovering of not.

 "Whosoever believes" in Jesus as his Savior admits his hopelessness without him and embraces his hope with him.  Trusting a savior begins with seeing my lost and broken situation.  One thing will not change through all eternity: Jesus saves.  This marvel only deepens as I grow.  I see that his salvation is not the mere removal of guilt, but the removal of sin from my life with a promise of perfection.  I deepen in my trust of a savior as I grow in my awareness of his love for me in spite of me.

 I receive Jesus as Lord when I set my mind and heart on things above and beyond this age and leave it behind.  Jesus is Lord.  His name is above every name, meaning his nature and character define all reality as I know it.  He created everything.  He sustains everything.  He will bring everything to its conclusion.  In Christ all wisdom begins and ends.  Everything I see is temporary and passing away.  A new age is coming with Jesus as the Ruler and Lord.  I must live in this age holding things lightly and clinging to the things that are above and beyond it, "where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father."  (Colossians 3:1)

 None of these are mutually exclusive, but all work together.  The separation is arbitrary since I am welcoming and trusting a person, Jesus, and not just something about him, in my life.  All of these pictures show how great God's gift of Christ is to me and how satisfying and full my relationship with him can be.

Do you find yourself pleasing Jesus with trusting him?  Do you ever find yourself professing what you don't really believe?  God wants you to trust him.  What would it take for you to trust him?

God's Guidance Through Trust

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. (Ps. 23:3)

Part of the provision of God as my shepherd is his continual guidance. Perhaps this is the main thrust of Jesus' promise, "I will be with you, even to the very end of the age." (Mt. 28) God's guidance is part of the declaration, "I shall not be in want." (Ps.23:1) I will never want for guidance.

Often I do feel a lack of guidance, however. I feel left alone to figure it all out. Is this God leaving me? There may be times in which he wants me to make a choice with a number of things being "his will," just like I may be pleased if my kids decide to play inside or play outside. I am delighted with both.

More often I have a sense that my problem is not with God hiding, but from my own impatience. "Just tell me what to do!" I want to know the easiest way to get through life and I want to use God's omniscience to pave the way. When I do not receive the kind of guidance I want or think I need, then I ask again or look elsewhere, assuming that God has indeed abandoned me to my own devices.

God's agenda is different. He wants me to become like Jesus. He wants to have an intimate relationship with me. He wants me in the family of the heavens, with the Trinity and all the hosts that live with him. Quick and easy answers do not always fit into his purposes. Love, peace, joy, patience, and strength are not developed in my life through just being told what to do for a pain-free existence.

Although I may be overlooking his guidance, he is near and guiding me. The path he takes me on is not the path of doing it right all the time, but the path of becoming the right sort of person. God wants my heart to change and grow in love, not just for me to do the right things. The path of righteousness is, as Abraham and all other believers have found, a path of trust, of faith. Without trusting God as a caring shepherd for myself, the wandering sheep, I will never find true righteousness developing in my life. Instead I will just want to be "right."

All this is done because God is who he is. It's for his name's sake. He will not abandon me because of what he is like. He will guide me because that is what God does. He will take me on paths of true right-ness because that is what he is like. He is truth. He is right. He chooses to do it through loving trust and relationship rather than through coercion or mere command.

Lord, I find myself trying to do what is right, trying to find my way, without drawing close to you. I want answers without trust. I know because I do not wait expectantly. When I become desperate, let me learn how to wait quietly for you to find me, my Shepherd. Amen.