Two weeks ago I read the story written below and I can’t get it out of my mind. Though I’ve read it many times before, this time it keeps “haunting” me…in the best possible way. Take a moment to read it and then let me tell you what I love about it.

Luke 6:6-11, “On another Sabbath Jesus went to the meeting place and taught. There was a man there with a crippled right hand. The religion scholars and Pharisees had their eye on Jesus to see if He would heal the man, hoping to catch Him in a Sabbath infraction. He knew what they were up to and spoke to the man with the crippled hand: “Get up and stand here before us.” He did.

Then Jesus addressed them, “Let me ask you something: What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Doing good or doing evil? Helping people or leaving them helpless?”

He looked around, looked each one in the eye. He said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” He held it out—it was as good as new! They were beside themselves with anger, and started plotting how they might get even with him.”

I love that Jesus is not afraid. He is NOT AFRAID. Not of man, or circumstances, or people’s opinions, or potential loss of reputation. He does what God leads Him to do, no matter what. And God’s heart is always for the good of the people; for bringing the full healing and wholeness of God into their lives.

At the time Jesus healed this man’s hand He knew that the majority of the audience He was in front of were just waiting to “catch” Him breaking the Sabbath law by doing work. He knew what they were thinking and that all eyes were on Him….waiting.

In order to protect His own life and reputation, Jesus could have chosen not to heal this man. Or He could have chosen to heal him in private. But knowing what the Pharisees were up to, Jesus called the man up in front of everyone. In front of everyone! Jesus knew what the Pharisees were thinking and He looked them right in the eyes and confronted them. Publicly! Then He healed the man’s hand right in front of them.

Jesus didn’t shrink back. He was bold as a lion and yet compassionate and loving toward the man who needed healing.

“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).

What is God challenging you to do that will ruffle the feathers of people who cling to tradition more than they cling to God? Simply living a life like Jesus will do that. Be encouraged today that when you receive opposition for doing what Jesus would do, you are not alone. Jesus lived a perfect life and yet the religious leaders, who loved their position rather than God, did everything they could to kill Him. We, too, will receive opposition for following in the footsteps of Jesus. But let’s do it anyway as we take heart in His example of boldness and love.

 

 

“You’ll remember, friends, that when I first came to you to let you in on God’s master stroke, I didn’t try to impress you with polished speeches, and the latest philosophy. I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who He is; then Jesus and what He did–Jesus crucified.

I was unsure of how to go about this, and felt totally inadequate–I was scared to death, if you want the truth of it–and so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else. But the message came through anyway. God’s Spirit and God’s power did it; which made it clear that your life of faith is a response to God’s power, not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me or anyone else.”
1 Corinthians 2: 1-5, The Message

Last week I mentioned that if Paul were in our church today, many Christians might want to be in his inner circle simply because of his status. As I read what he writes in these verses I am initially struck by three things: the simple, straightforward approach of Paul’s message; the fear/inadequacy Paul felt in this situation; and changed lives through God’s power…not our own.

I like that Paul deliberately keeps his message simple by sharing about who Jesus is and what He did for us. He notes in later verses that he has much more wisdom to share for those who are mature, but couldn’t we all benefit from regularly re-centering our hearts and minds on who Jesus is and the sacrifice He made for us?That truly is the good news. Plain and simple.

Like we saw last week, God partners with us to minister to others, but it is His power that causes changed hearts and changed lives. Paul says he deliberately kept his message simple and in return God receives the glory for His demonstration of power. When there is no eloquence coming from the preacher, there is no confusion over why someone decides to follow Jesus…it is simply by God’s power.

It’s interesting that Paul says he felt totally inadequate, even scared, when first approaching this ministry opportunity. I regularly feel completely inadequate when I am about to minister to someone so I ask God to minister through me. I think that’s ultimately the right attitude to have. It strikes me that if we are adequate or feel adequate in and of ourselves to minister, then for what do we need Christ’s power? I never want to be ministering out of my own power, because that is no power at all and it won’t deliver what the person needs. I want Christ’s power to flow through me because He is the source of every good thing.

Be encouraged that in order to be used by God, you don’t need to be an eloquent person who has it all together (because none of us do). You simply need to be a willing vessel. God will bring the awesome.

Lectio Divina is Latin for “divine reading” and represents a traditional Catholic practice of prayer and scriptural reading intended to promote communion with God and to increase within you the knowledge of God’s word. It is a way of praying with scripture that calls one to study, ponder, listen to, pray (and even sing and rejoice in) God’s word, within the soul.

I am reading through the New Testament book of 1 Corinthians and regularly throughout this journey will be sharing some short thoughts of what God highlights to me through His Holy Spirit and this Lectio Divina practice. Will you join me?

First Thoughts…

“God didn’t send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the message of what He has done, collecting a following for Him. And He didn’t send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful action at the center–Christ on the cross–be trivialized into mere words.” (1 Corinthians 1:17, The Message)

“I don’t know how to put this….but I’m kind of a big deal.” Just like our friend in Anchor Man, we like to be accomplished people and be around accomplished people, don’t we? We want others to be impressed with us and what we do for God. Even within “Christiandom” we often like to exalt people into seemingly rock star status…those who are up “in front” and who have gifts that seem to stand out more than others. Worship leaders, teachers, prophets, etc. We want to be like those people and we want to be a part of their group. We want to shine with those gifts ourselves, sometimes not because we actually have a compassionate heart like Christ and want to serve Him but because we want attention and accolades for what we “do” for Jesus. The gifts He gives are because He is good, not because we are.

I love that Paul, a man who we often think of as the most “famous” apostle, teacher and writer of scripture–a man we would want to exalt and rub elbows with if he was here in our church in modern times–promptly (and often) takes the focus off of himself and puts it where it belongs–on Jesus.

It’s not the power of our words in and of themselves that matter; rather the power of Christ moving through them. Christ’s power is what makes things happen. He saves, He heals, He redeems, He sets free. He often uses us to partner with Him in these things but let’s always remember that we’re not the big deal.

Jesus is.

We’re just blessed to know Him, to be His friend, and to be His partner in this spiritual journey.

“Take your everyday, ordinary life–your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking-around life–and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12: 1-2, The Message

The first part of these verses reminds me that my life is an offering to God and if I get in the daily mindset of surrendering my day and my life to Him, I will be more mindful of His presence being with me, and I am better able to handle all the things that come my way.

It’s also a reminder that I was made for God (He wasn’t made for me), to bring Him glory, and He desires to make Himself known through me in every small and “ordinary” action as expressions of worship throughout my day; simple things like being gracious to those I meet, offering to pray for a hurting friend, taking a moment to help a stranger in need, making dinner for my husband, which is an act of service. All of these actions, and more, offered up to God and walked out with a right attitude, bring Him glory.

I encourage you each morning to begin offering your day–“your ordinary  life”– up to God and see how He is present in it and transforms it into something even better than you expected. Try your best to be present in each moment and to look for Him there.

About a year and a half ago when I was starting a new job I was talking with a couple from church who had been praying that God would open a new door for me. As we were talking one of them said, “this image of a hummingbird just came to mind–you know how they move around and don’t stay in one place super long? I think God has been and is going to be moving you around to different places for different purposes.”

Naturally, in true God “fashion”, from that day on I have seen an inordinate number of hummingbirds in all kinds of places: the real kind, that frequently fly by where I work and live, even stopping a foot from my face to stare at me for a moment and fly away; tattoos; necklaces; art; t-shirts; etc. Whenever I see a hummingbird now I smile think of God and His good plans for me. 

I have a mostly desk job and it is not uncommon for me to get up several times a day to walk outside and do a couple of laps around my building; just to get moving and get some fresh air. This afternoon as I was walking around on the bottom floor of the building under an overhang that has several emergency fire sprinklers, a hummingbird started flying overhead just ahead of me. It was flying from sprinkler to sprinkler trying to get something to drink from each sprinkler. It made me smile and also feel sorry for the bird. Was it getting a drop of water here and there or was it simply mistaking the sprinklers for a flower or feeder with nectar that could satisfy?

I started thinking about how I’ve been trying to get satisfied in a lot of ways lately that just leave me empty because they aren’t God. I’m thirsty spiritually and if I’m trying to suck a drop out of a dry sprinkler as opposed to God, who has the “true nectar” in abundance, the living water that will never run dry, then I am going to be very thirsty and unsatisfied for a long time. In John 4:13 Jesus says to the Samaritan woman at the well:

 “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

I also thought about this verse from Jeremiah 2:13:

“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” (NIV)

“My people have committed a compound sin: they’ve walked out on me, the fountain
Of fresh flowing waters, and then dug cisterns— cisterns that leak, cisterns that are no better than sieves.” (The Message)

I know that if I don’t spend enough time intentionally drinking in the living water of God–His presence and His word–I will go dry in a hurry. And with that comes frustration, emotional meltdowns, discouragement, and more. It’s a life or death situation really, spiritually speaking. If I want to be full of spiritual life, I need to fill myself with God. If I try to fill myself with anything else–good as some of those things may be in and of themselves–I will always be thirsty because only God’s living water can truly satisfy. And if I try to manufacture something on my own apart from God, the “cistern” I built will always be leaking.

What do you try to fill yourself with apart from God’s living water? I pray you will be encouraged to fill yourself with Jesus this week…and not run dry.