God Time for December 5-9
(start with five minutes of appreciation memories)
Monday December 5
John 14
Then Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will reveal Yourself to us, but not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If a man loves Me, he will keep My word.”
God is discovered by those who want to discover him. God says as much in Jeremiah 29
When you look for me with all your heart, you will find me.
God is a non-physical being. So, we could be excused for having a bit of wonder if he truly exists. But then he comes to earth as Jesus and all bets are off. He exists. At least if you trust the Jesus stuff. Here is where it gets interesting.
Every year around this time there will be articles written that question the existence of Jesus or was Jesus really who we think he is?
These articles will have the same old tired news that the Gospels were made up with no real evidence to support this.
Or they will make stuff up. Like the article I saw that said the Romans invented Jesus and made him into a real peaceful guy so his followers wouldn’t fight against the Romans..
Really? What do we make of these attempts at proving or disproving the existence of Jesus?
One thing, for sure, is Jesus knows this will happen. In fact, he is planning on this because to trust in him is not simply an intellectual exercise. He says as much to his disciple, Judas. Listen again.
Then Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will reveal Yourself to us, but not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If a man loves Me, he will keep My word.”
Notice Jesus doesn’t directly answer the question. Jesus knows that even when he is used by God to do some pretty amazing miracles that is not going to be enough for some people. Trusting in Jesus has much more to do with actually following his model and teaching with action. To love Jesus is to work for the good of others in the way he shows us and teaches in the pages of the Bible. To follow Jesus is living the life, not just talking about it. Christianity is a religion that is lived out, not just voting “yes” or “no” in a survey.
ME
What is the strangest thing you have heard someone say about Jesus?
Tuesday December 6
John 14
My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our home with him.
I don’t know exactly when it happened, but people today, even people I would say are Christians of good will, have a completely distorted view of the concept of love from the Bible. The biblical view of love is to work for good of someone within your range of influence. What is good? What God wants for them. Instead of this view of love, in our culture today love means something far different.
Love means approving of someone doing whatever they desire. How did that happen?
When we think of God loving us it is not about God letting us have whatever we desire. Are you kidding? Any earthly parent knows what a disaster that would be, let your kids have whatever they want, so why would our heavenly Father think that way?
No, Jesus says God loving us has to do with God making his home with us. If God is at home with us then obviously we are at home with God. And God is the head of the household.
God puts limits on us all the time. There are lines we are not to cross. Fences to keep us on the right path. We call these things, “God’s ways.”
You can’t be a racist, for instance. Everyone knows that one. Intentionally working against someone because of their race is wrong. But, we tend to forget this one. You can’t be bigoted toward people you consider racist. Remember the Jesus thing about loving your enemy? Most people, including many Christians forgot this one.
It is a really a simple formula. You don’t have God on your side blessing your life if your actions are not godly.
But, when you do obey God and follow his ways, something amazing happens. You share the same home with him.
This means you share his stuff. It’s like a family refrigerator. What’s yours is mine. In the refrigerator of “life with God” all that is God’s is ours. What makes this even more amazing is God will guide us if we open ourselves to him. God will actively put his thoughts in our minds because we are home with him. We can think like Jesus.
ME
What do you need out of God’s refrigerator today?
Wednesday December 7
John 14
He who does not love Me does not keep My words. The word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.
OK so the reality is there is a sharp contrast between the ways of the world and the ways of followers of Jesus. Again, we are not marking a survey by saying, “Yes,” to Jesus. We show our love for him by obeying his word. The life of a Christian following Jesus looks different. We do not compromise our faith walk to fit into the world. It is tempting for Christians to not seek the truth of Jesus as much as try to be relevant to what the world says is important. But here’s the thing.
The Los Angeles Times or The New York Times or Fox News or CNN or the university campuses throughout our nation do not set our agenda for life. Jesus does. If we were to follow the overall message of the media, university faculties, and the celebrity culture of our society today this would be madness.
Without following Jesus we are lost. To trust in Jesus and follow him is the most brilliant way of life there is. Getting caught up with the world’s ways leads us down a road to nowhere. Wisdom in not discovered in who can yell the loudest, who is the keeper of what passes for intellectually proper language, or who expresses the most outrage.
Christians are called to seek the truth at all possible cost, with courage and consideration. There is a cost to this. The world will lash out against us, but as we read later in the Gospel of John chapter 16, Jesus claims with confidence,
“I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.”
Given the choice between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of Jesus, I will hold on tight to Jesus.
ME
Why do Christians get caught up in the rhetoric of the media?
Thursday December 8
“I have spoken these things to you while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”
Here is the reason we ought to hold on tight to Jesus. We get an education from the creator of wisdom himself. The Holy Spirit. This is why any other way is darkness. If Jesus is who he says he is and if God the Father and the Holy Spirit really do join Jesus and make their home with us, then we receive the most amazing education possible.
In other words, without the Holy Spirit sent by Jesus active in our lives, we are uneducated.
What does the Holy Spirit do? According to Jesus, the Holy Spirit teaches us everything, including reinforcing the teaching of Jesus himself.
I take these words literally. If Jesus is the creator of mathematics, for instance, I invite him to be with me if I am studying Algebra. Now, I don’t mean you don’t have to study and just pray, “Jesus, give me all the answers on the test.” What it does mean is the most brilliant man who ever lived will be with you in your studies if you invite him in.
And the Holy Spirit will teach us everything about Jesus. Again, if we invite him in. Have you ever thought what it would be like to have been a disciple of Jesus 2000 years ago and learn from the Master Teacher himself? Well according to Jesus, we get to receive the same education. The Holy Spirit makes everything Jesus wants to pass down to us available now.
I will hold on tight to him.
ME
What do you need Jesus’ help for?
Friday December 9
John 14
Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
The result of knowing Jesus, loving him, and obeying him, is he lives with us. We then have access to this amazing truth. We get invited into his shalom. His peace. Where we know that eventually, everything is going to be fine in our lives. Where we rest in the love and power of Jesus and we truly have peace.
In other words, we get the same kind of peace he has. Here is what our lives can look like some day.
Jesus is crossing Lake Galilee with his disciples. Then this happens.
But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”
Now, the miracle of Jesus telling the storm to chill out or “chillax” is what we all focus on from this event in Jesus’ life. Rightfully so. This is the take away the disciples have.
‘Who is this guy? He tells the water and the wind to behave themselves. Relax…’
I get it. This is one of Jesus’ first miracles and it is a doozy.
But, what if we completely miss the miracle that comes before this? Here it is.
But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion.
His friends are terrified, but Jesus? He’s taking a nap. Are you kidding? I can have that kind of peace? Listen again.
But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion.
The subtitle some Bibles use for this story is, “Jesus Calms the Storm.” I am in favor of changing that to, “Jesus, Calm in the Storm.”
We might not be able to shout the waves down at Zuma Beach but we can nap through trouble and fear. Jesus expects us to be more like him and he knows he is the only way to this peace.
There is no peace the world offers us. Not in the sense of biblical shalom where we are in synch with God and each other. The way of the world is almost the opposite.
If you haven’t noticed lately, it is popular in the world today to grow hysterical about everything. Everything is a crisis. The whole world is going to be ruined. I understand that because of the massive amount information that we are bombarded with, people will overemphasize crises in order to be heard. People will use the most extreme measures in order to be heard.
It it a sign of our times that all of this is happening. But the lasting peace that Jesus offers us is not about trying to manipulate, bully, distort and use aggressive tactics in order to get our way. There is no peace there. If you have to manipulate, bully, threaten and all the rest, your cause is lost. It is not the truth. Because the truth, Jesus, didn’t use any of these tactics.
Do you want to know if your actions are of God or not? This is what the people who follow your cause look like.
Galatians 5
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
If I am not seeing this fruit coming out of you, then it is time for a time out.
It is by following the ways of Jesus that will have his shalom. In this life Jesus offers us calm in the storm.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
ME
What do you worry about? How might Jesus help?