365 Reflections

Jesus said follow me. He calls us all into discipleship to become more like Him, our Master, Savior and Lord.  But many Christians avoid a whole segment of Jesus' character because they don't want to stick out, be "offensive" or disturb the status quo. Jesus made waves on regular occasion and no greater evidence of that than in John 2 (ironically after turning water to wine). John 2:14–15 (ESV)   In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. For as much as we do not hear about the "fun" Jesus, we also seldom hear about the violently angry Jesus. And rarely is this  the Jesus many of us seek to emulate. This is the Jesus that is unafraid to take on evil and corruption vocally and with physical demonstrati...

In Acts 24, Paul is in the midst of a drawn out trial brought against him by the Jews for desecrating the temple. They have no proof, their witness have fled, and Paul is in custody with limitedfreedom granted by Governor Felix in Caesarea. One occasion, Felix brought Paul out of jail to hear him speak. What would you say while sitting in custody to the governor when there's no proof of wrongdoing on your part? Reason for your freedom? Beg for your freedom? Plead your case? Bargain? Perhaps we would do that. But Paul doesn't. Acts 24:24–25 (ESV) After some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. 25 And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, “Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you.” Paul speaks about Jesus. He can't help it.  Remember Paul's words from  2 Corinthians 5:...

Taking away the fact that Jesus was crucified by the Divine perfect foreknowledge, plan and purpose of God, you have some lessons to learn form the arrest, trial, and crucifixion about human nature. Pilate is an interesting case study here.  With Jesus, the Son of God on one side and Barabbas the murdering insurrectionist against Rome (his Nation), Pilate releases Barabbas at the wishes of the crowd. Mark 15:15 (ESV) So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Who are you going to satisfy with your life?  The riled up crowd or God?  You seldom can do both.  In fact, most of God's people could not do both at the same time, namely, Jesus Himself.  It is no wonder He said the way was narrow and the gate was small and few find it.   Our world is okay with Jesus as one among many... But we believe He is the way the truth and the life. Your friends may be okay wi...

Want to follow Christ? Prepare for the worst at times. Especially when it comes to relationships. People who you love and trust and you thought lives and trusted you will align themselves with strange and difficult liaisons. Looking at what I believe is the saddest couple of verses in Mark: When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said. But the teachers of religious law who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. That’s where he gets the power to cast out demons.” Mark 3:21, 22 NLT Did you see that? Jesus' family had a closer opinion of Him to His enemies than anyone. His family believed He was insane, His enemies believed He was demon possessed. Wow. This though is what can happen when Christ comes first in your life. The mind of the flesh is indeed hostile to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. To be fair, His family did come around. His mother a pillar of the E...

I think there is a tendency for all of us to carry some sort of conditional belief in our hearts.  And I believe God is actively working at reducing those conditions one by one. When the brutally whipped, mocked and crucified Jesus they felt it necessary to deride him as well. The chief priest, scribes and elders came and said, Matthew 27:42 "He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him." Let God do this and then I will believe in Him. For one, God is God.  He is not subject to our estimations or opinions. Two, expecting God to live up to our desires makes Him servant not Master. Three, they are the ones who demanded He be there in the first place.  Obviously they cannot make up their minds. In what ways do we all tend to have conditions for God even after coming to faith? That some see Jesus as an escape from reality.  Then reality bites and disa...

Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him,  he gave orders to go over to the other side.  And a scribe came up and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."  And Jesus said to him,  "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."    Another of the disciples said to him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  And Jesus said to him,  "Follow me, and leave  the dead to bury their own dead." Matthew 8:18-22 What I love about this challenging passage is what happens to the disciples who follow Jesus. The disciples follow Jesus into the boat.  Actually, He ordered them to go to the other side of the lake. the boat encounters a storm so bad that trained experienced fisherman believe they are about to drown. The disciples must have thought, I knew it was hard to follow Jesus, but I didn't expect this hard!  Death?  And so soon? Yes, it'...