Jesus and the upper room discourse

 

John 13 through 17 are some of the most significant chapters in the Gospel of John. They are called the upper room discourse, where Jesus shares some of the most intimate moments with the disciples just before his arrest and crucifixion. Last words are important words, and these constitute his last words to the disciples before his death. 

I love how John 13 starts. "It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own, who were in the world, he loved them to the end." Here is Jesus staring death in the face, and despite His imminent suffering, He loves his own to the end. That is Jesus, and hopefully, we will love and serve to the end of our lives as well.

We read, "The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him."

No one had washed the feet of the disciples when they came into the upper room for supper. In fact, there was no one to do it. That was the job of lowly servants, and no one would humble themselves to wash one another's feet. Except for Jesus. The God of the Universe who had left heaven for Bethlehem, who had lived among us for a season. The one who would shortly give His life on our behalf. He was humble enough to do what no one else would do. He loved them to the end.

'When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

With these words, he calls us to a life of service toward one another. Can you imagine what relationships would look like among God's people if we had the same humble, sacrificial, and loving attitude toward one another? It would transform our relationships and bring a new level of humility and service to one another. He loved them to the end and tells us to do the same. If it was not beneath Jesus, it should not be beneath us.

And if you think that washing the disciples' feet was significant, remember that Jesus also washed the feet of Judas, who would shortly betray him. And he reclined at dinner with the same. What can we say to this except that Jesus loved them to the end?

What does it mean to wash one another's feet? It means that we look for ways that we can serve one another. It may mean that we share resources with one another. It may mean that we give up precious time to help someone and even those who we don't naturally gravitate to. It may not be convenient, but it is about loving one another well. It is not loving others when it is convenient but when it is needed. 

One of my favorite authors is Henri Nouwen. His writings on spiritual transformation are amazing and insightful. Where did he get his insights? In large part in ministering to special needs people who lived in spiritual communities for them around the world. His life was transformed as he ministered to and served people whom most of the world ignores and marginalizes. It was humbling, and a far distance from his speaking at Ivy League schools and rubbing shoulders with the important and learned. And it changed his life, and the insights he gained have transformed many other lives. But it started with humble service. He would say that he was the recipient of the blessings of that service and that those he served taught him the most profound spiritual lessons of his life. 

A bit later on this evening, in John 15, Jesus said this: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for I have made known to you everything that I learned from my Father. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name, the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.”

Notice how Jesus directly links our love for Him with our love for each other. And He connects the fruit we bear with our love for Him and one another. "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." Follow my example. Show the same love to one another as I have loved you, and by the way, I no longer call you servants but friends, and I have chosen you to bear fruit, so love each other.

The church and Christians, in general, need a reformation of love toward one another. It must arise out of humility and be grounded in the kind of love that Jesus demonstrated to his disciples and us. Jesus loved them to the end, and let us do the same.

Father, would you give me the humility to wash the feet of those around me in practical acts of service? Teach me to love as you love and to care as you care. And thank you that you call me your friend. Amen.

The question for today: How can I better love those around me?

What is your greatest aspiration in life?

 

What is your greatest aspiration in life? It is probably what you think about the most. It may be treasuring our family - something all of us should do. It may be whatever version of success we are shooting for. For some, it is the pursuit of meaning through all kinds of various avenues that span the healthy and sometimes the unhealthy. All of us are searching for something and that something becomes our aspiration. Our goal. It becomes our focus.

As we have seen repeatedly in this Lent Series, Jesus had a way of turning conventional wisdom on its head. And on this question of life aspiration He does it again. In fact, He says that if you love this life you will lose it but if you hate your life in this world they will keep it for eternal life. So much for our aspirations, but let's look more closely at a conversation Jesus had after he came into Jerusalem on the week before His crucifixion. It is found in John 12:20-28.

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”

What did Jesus' words have to do with the Greeks who came to the disciples and asked to see Jesus? These Greeks wanted to get close to Jesus. Many wanted to get close to Jesus. He was a popular guy, especially as He healed and taught in parables. Lots of people like to get close to Jesus. We want all the advantages that He brings. We want His blessing and often we don’t know what we are actually asking, just as these Greeks didn’t know what they were asking.

Let me tell you what it means to be close to me He says. In fact, the hour has come for me to be glorified. I tell you that “unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. He is here predicting His coming death. But He goes on to say that “Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” 

If your aspirations are anchored in this world and this life says Jesus you will lose your life. This world is lost and the aspirations that are focused on this life are not about life. It is a fallen world and its focuses are sinful rather than righteous. But if you love me and my kingdom and my values and my work as the goal of your life, then you will also experience eternal life. In fact, He is saying that just as I will die, you too must die to the values and focuses of this world. In fact, whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

If you want to be near me. If you really want to know me. Then you need to follow me and part of that following is dying to all the sinful ways of this world and becoming alive to the life that I give. This is called the cruciform life. A cruciform is something in the shape of a cross and following Jesus means that we embrace the cross in our own lives. The cross is a symbol of death and there is no life in Jesus without a death to self and a transfer of the leadership of our lives from ourselves to Him. With that transfer we learn to embrace His cruciform life, centered on the cross and the life that He gives to us. 

This is why those who follow Him look so different from those who don’t. They have embraced Him and in doing so have embraced our own death to self to be made alive in Him. The cruciform life.

Then Jesus makes this amazing statement. “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Knowing the cost of the cross where He took on Himself every sin you and I have ever committed” He is deeply troubled. But rather than run from His cruciform assignment he says, “Father, glorify your name.”

Jesus is declaring that His sole aspiration in life is to glorify the name of the Father. It was all about the Father. That was his aspiration even knowing what the cost would be. It was a kingdom aspiration not an aspiration of this world. It looked forward to eternity rather than being planted in this world. Whatever would glorify the father, He was in. This is the cruciform life. This is the vision and aspiration that Jesus calls us to. This is what it means to know Jesus and to love Him and this is when we experience life that is truly life.

So we come back to the original question. What is your aspiration in life? What drives you? What are you willing to give in order to join Jesus in a cruciform life? Remember the words of Jesus: “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.” But then these words. “My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

Father, I don’t like death to self but I want to follow you. Where you go, I want to go. Where you are I want to be. Help me to live the cruciform life. Glorify your name through me! Amen

Question for Today: Is my goal in life to live the cruciform life and glorify the name of the Father?

Becoming practitioners of grace

 

There seems to be a dichotomy between how Jesus practiced truth and treated people and how believers practice truth and treat people. I am always fascinated by the interactions that Jesus had with people whose lives were far from Him. That is until they met Him. Think of the Rich Young Ruler exchange or the conversation with Nicodemus, or the conversation with the woman at the well or the many people He healed. 

Here are some observations. First, Jesus was a magnet for people who needed grace. Second, Jesus had a way of sharing truth that was not offensive to those who heard it. Third, Jesus was infinitely gracious toward those He interacted with.

Now I contrast that with what I see in many Christian circles today where we lead with our truth and the Bible and judgements around the lifestyle choices and situations of those we come into contact with. Gandhi put his finger on the issue when he wrote “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Even though I don’t want to admit it, I believe Gandhi is right. I speak for myself, and many I know, and admit that we often don’t look like Jesus.

What are many Christians known for? We are known for all the things we are against. We fight culture wars and target sins we think are the most egregious (which usually means they are not our sins, which are many). We can be critical, judgemental, and even harsh in our words. And we cloak it all in Scripture, using the Bible as a hammer to prove our point. I find this really interesting because this is not how Jesus engaged those who didn’t know God. He didn’t use Scripture as a hammer. He entered into relationships and dialogue and did so in an amazingly grace filled way. He connected with people. He was for the people He connected with. Rather than condemn those who were in sinful lifestyles he had empathy and compassion for their situation and engaged with them. 

Jesus especially loved dinner parties where he mingled with whoever wanted to show up. In fact, the very people that we often won’t hang with because their lifestyle is sinful. And then we wonder why they don’t show up for church. I wonder if we have not been more conditioned by the church experience we grew up with than we have the Gospels and the example of Jesus. We have prioritized truth over grace and acceptance and relationships and love. 

There is a foundational verse in John 1:14. This verse ought to inform our understanding of how we approach those around us. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Where the text says that He made his dwelling among us, the literal translation is something like He came and pup-tented with us. He came and camped with us. This fascinates me because there is so much emphasis among some Christians of being very separate from the world. That was not Jesus’s style. He came to live among us. That is why He was able to identify with people. He was the most approachable individual who ever lived and I want to be that way. He was a magnet for people and I want to be that way. 

John further says that Jesus came full of Grace and Truth. So let's talk about the order of those two words. Grace comes before truth. That is because truth without grace is harsh and hard. Yet many believers try to lead with truth (this is what the Bible says) and in the process they push unbelievers away. And even fellow believers. Think of the many moralistic messages that are posted on social media. It may be truth, but it is often lacking in grace and usually not understood at all by unbelievers. In the process we lose the very people that many of us would like to reach.

The grace that Jesus exhibited was magnetic. It drew people to Him and He didn’t lead with social media (OK I know there was none in the day) but He led with relationships. This was in contrast to the teachers of the law who were usually in the business of condemnation rather than  grace, acceptance and love. The teachers of the law were known for all the things they were against, for calling out sin and judgmental attitudes. In contrast, Jesus was known for His love of people, compassion for their brokenness, and great tenderness in how He dealt with them. It was always grace and truth in that order.

As I read the Gospels I am more convinced than ever that we need a new movement of grace in our day that is for people and that is like Jesus. The more grace we possess, the more people will gravitate toward us and Jesus. The less grace we possess, the more we repel people and we become the barrier to them finding Jesus. 

At the heart of being a practitioner of grace is the practice of accepting others rather than judging others. It is easy to judge. Especially because it makes us feel better about ourselves. If I can judge others I can ignore my own ubiquitous shortcomings. Yet, the only reason we have a relationship with Jesus is because He accepted us with grace. He didn’t tell us all the things that were wrong in our life but invited us into relationship knowing that, over time, His Spirit would change us. He didn’t try to fix us but brought us into a relationship. Rather than judging, He loved and rather than condemning He showed mercy and compassion. I want to look like Jesus and I bet you do too. 

I have a vision of a people of God who are so gracious and loving and full of grace that we are magnets for both believers and unbelievers. I have a vision of a people who look and act with the grace and love of Jesus. In this Lenten season, as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, let's live that resurrection life out with His grace and love. 

Father. Save me from judgmentalism and harshness and give me a vision of a life so characterized by your grace that people are attracted to me and then to you. For you are the source of grace. Amen

Embracing His Grace

 

If there is one word that describes Jesus it is the word grace. John describes Jesus this way in John 1:14. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, Full of grace and truth.” He says further, “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” 

Jesus was a person of Grace who offers us grace and invites us to live in His grace. It is the greatest gift we could ever have. 

I had a favorite uncle. His name was Warren. The thing that was so wonderful about Warren is that when you were with him you always felt absolutely accepted and loved. There was no judgment. It was pure acceptance and love. It was very different from a lot of Christians I knew who were critics and legalists rather than lovers and acceptors. To be in Warren’s presence was to feel totally accepted. That is grace.

In the passage we read from John above, it says Jesus came full of grace and truth. Phil Yancey writes this in his book, Vanishing Grace, “The church has worked tirelessly on the truth part of that formula: witness the church councils, creeds, volumes of theology, and denominational splits over minor points of doctrine. I yearn for the church to compete just as hard in conveying what Paul calls the “incomparable riches” of God’s grace. Often it seems, we’re perceived more as guilt dispensers than as grace dispensers.” 

To be a grace dispenser we need to live in that amazing grace ourselves. Perhaps our problem is that we don’t understand grace. Paul writes this about how we come into relationship with God. “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved…and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can  boast.” (Ephesians 2:4-9).

How did we come to God? By grace. We did nothing except choose to believe. And even this was grace. We didn’t come into relationship with Him out of any goodness on our part. In fact, we were dead in transgressions but by His grace we were saved. In fact, there is nothing you can do to make God love you more and there is nothing you can do to make Him love you less. We exist as Christ followers in His grace from start to finish. We live in His grace.

We often think that we need to live up to some standard in order for God to accept and love us. That is not true. He loves us regardless with an amazing love. He calls us out of that place of love and grace to follow Him which means changes in our lives but it is not out of earning any love from God. You cannot earn His love. He offers it freely along with his forgiveness and salvation. Period. Full stop. 

This is what I experienced when I was in the presence of uncle Warren. He exuded love and acceptance and grace. He was like Jesus. Unlike a lot of other people I have encountered whose acceptance you needed to earn and whose critical spirit wounded you and you never felt good enough. Many churches are like that but that is not Jesus.

It is no secret that we Christians can be the most critical and unloving people, both with each other and with those who we perceive to be antagonistic toward God. When we are critical and unloving to fellow believers we miss the point of grace which is that it cannot be earned. If God accepts them I need to as well. In our critical spirit we kill the grace of Jesus, and in effect, require others to earn our love even though Jesus freely gave us His love. 

When we are unloving to those who don’t claim to be believers in the name of defending truth we miss the spirit of Jesus as well. Henri Nouwen, one of my favorite authors, prayed this about those who he could see as enemies or ungodly. “God, help me to see others not as my enemies or as ungodly but rather as thirsty people. And give me the courage and compassion to offer your Living Water, which alone quenches deep thirst.” 

In a New York Times Opinion Piece, Peter Wehner wrote this. “If you find yourself in the company of people whose hearts have been captured by grace, count yourself lucky. They love us despite our messy lives, stay connected to us through our struggles, always holding out the hope of redemption. When relationships are broken, my wife Cindy told me, it’s grace that causes people not to give up, to extend the invitation to reconnect, to work through misunderstandings with sensitivity and transparency.

You don’t sense hard edges, dogmatism or self-righteous judgment from gracious people. There’s a tenderness about them that opens doors that had previously been bolted shut. People who have been transformed by grace have a special place in their hearts for those living in the shadows of society. They’re easily moved by stories of suffering and step into the breach to heal. And grace properly understood always produces gratitude.”

That was my uncle Warren. That is Jesus. That is what we all long for and that is the gift of grace. As Philip Yancey says, we can be guilt dispensers or grace dispensers. I pray that God would make me much more of a grace dispenser as I understand how God loves and accepts me. 

Grace dispensers are like magnets to others because they exhibit the character of Jesus. Churches that are places of grace and acceptance are all too rare and so beautiful when found. So here are two questions for us today. Are we living in the grace of Jesus rather than trying to earn his love? And, are we like Jesus in dispensing his Grace to all those around us. Even those we consider ungodly and our enemies?

Living with fewer spiritual distractions

 

God put you on earth for a purpose. Think about that. You are not just a random human. God created you for a specific purpose. Paul says this in Ephesians 2:11: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” You are God’s handiwork. You were created in Christ Jesus to do good works and for an assignment that he prepared in advance for you to do. That is what Paul says.

Too often, however, we don’t live life on mission but simply allow those around us to define our mission for us. Here is something to consider. Everyone has a plan for your life. Your parents, your kids, your employer, your friends, and sometimes even your church. We have more opportunities to fill our calendars than we have time to do it. Our lives are full and busy, and what often gets lost in the process is time for those things God has called us to. We are too busy and distracted to live out our purpose.

How do we know what that purpose is? How do we know what those good works are that He prepared in advance for us to do? The answer to that question usually revolves around how He gifted us and how He has motivated us. For instance, one of my close friends is in His sixties. He is a successful investment advisor in Phoenix. For his whole life, he has mentored others. He mentors kids in the hood who don’t know their potential. He mentors men at church who are looking to grow. He just loves to mentor and develop others. It is what he does. It is what he is good at.

He also mentors non-profit boards. He sits on a number of boards and helps those ministries do what they do better. Wherever he finds himself, he is in a role of developing others. These are the good works God prepared for him, and this is what God gifted him to do. I have known him for at least two decades, and his commitments have not changed.

What makes Roger unique, however, is that he understands the kind of ministry God has for him, and he intentionally makes time to do what God gifted him to do. This means that there are other things that he needs to say no to. In fact, no is one of the most powerful words in any language, and rather than being a negative word, it can be very positive. When I graciously say no, I am doing so because what has been requested, good as it is, would take me away from something more important. No, it leaves me an opportunity for yes. Otherwise, we are too distracted with all kinds of good things and miss the most important things. 

In the Gospels, even Jesus said no to his disciples. After a particularly fruitful couple of days when there was a great deal of healing and teaching, the disciples found him one morning and said, “Hey, this revival thing is working well. We need to keep it going.” OK, that is the Addington rendition of the text. But it’s pretty much what they said. Jesus, though knowing His Father’s priorities for His life and ministry, said no. I need to preach to others who have not yet heard. He said no in order to say yes.

Remember that the most precious commodity any of us have is not money. It is time. Money can come and go. You can lose it and get it back. Time just goes! You can never get it back. Every time we agree to do something, we are writing a check. A time check. And if we are not careful, we can write too many time checks and, in the process, lose the ability to do those things that God created us for. We allow good things to get in the way of the best things.

I know that God has called me to write. It is why I am writing these devotionals and actually write five a week even when we are not in Lent. That means that I must leave time for the writing. I am up early this morning doing that very thing. 

It would be a real bummer to get to heaven and realize that God had gifted and equipped us with some really powerful stuff but that we missed it because we were too distracted and just didn’t pay attention. The truth is that each of us has a very powerful role to play in His divine drama in this world. We have the opportunity to be players on His divine stage for a period of years called life, joining Him in what He is up to in our world. That is an amazing thing. In His kingdom, there are no little people, and there are no little assignments.

Walt pulls people together to get stuff done. Steve preaches in a way that captivates our hearts. Eric has the ideas and vision to chart a course. David organizes the church board. Saray makes sure the details are taken care of. Charmon captures the hearts of kids - and the rest of us because we are still kids. Bob uses his voice in these devotionals to communicate well. Loren lifts her voice to lead us in worship. Carrington creates worship experiences. Steve creates opportunities to mentor at-risk kids. Think of the beauty of that multiplied by many others, each of us, as we play our role for Jesus. It is an amazing symphony of ministry that we do on behalf of Jesus as we join him in His divine plan for this city at this time. That is powerful, beautiful, and effective.

Think through your life today and ask yourself the question, “Where is my place in His divine drama?” Then, consider whether you are giving it the time you should be. After all, you are unique, and you were created for a unique purpose. Don’t allow distractions to keep you from the mission He created you for.

Father. Thank you for how you have gifted me and for the passions you have planted in my heart. Would you keep me from distractions so I can best fulfill the work you put me on this earth for? Amen.

The Question for Today: Am I living out my God-given purpose, or am I too distracted?

Third Culture Christians

 

I am what is considered a “Third Culture Kid.” As a missionary kid, I grew up in a country that was not mine and then came back to a country that was not mine. I questioned, where do I fit? How do I go home? Where is home? It is said that third culture kids are most at home in airports. Maybe that is why I have flown over three million miles in my lifetime. The other thing about third culture kids is that they tend to look at their own culture from the outside since they grew up on the outside. There is a sense in which they never feel like they fit in. They exist between two cultures. So, if you think I'm strange, you have a good reason!  

You may not have thought about it, but you are a third culture person. In fact, you have two passports. The first passport is from the country in which you were born. The culture in which you live. The second passport is from heaven, the country you now owe your highest allegiance to, and where you are going. This means that you live in a dynamic tension between your birth culture and the family of God into which you have been adopted.

This is why 1st and 2nd Peter call us aliens and strangers in this world. For instance, in 1 Peter 2:11-12, Peter writes, "Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

Peter is reminding us that many of the values and practices of the culture around us are different from the values and practices of our Kingdom, Jesus' culture. That is why I say that we live in a dynamic tension between our home culture and our newly adopted culture in Jesus. 

In adopting us, we are now citizens of God's Kingdom while still living in our home culture. Here is how Peter describes it in 1 Peter 2:9-10. "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." 

So what are the implications of having two passports as Christians? The first is that we need to recognize that the values and practices of our home culture and our kingdom culture are not identical. They are vastly different. This is why those who genuinely seek to follow God stand out. They are different. 

For instance:

They are humble when others are proud

They forgive when others hold grudges

They treat their enemies well when others treat them as enemies

They are people of grace where others make you earn their love

They stand up for the helpless where others take advantage of them

They are people of truth, whereas others use truth selectively

They care about justice, where others care mainly about themselves

Here is the point. When the values of our home culture are different from the values of our kingdom culture, we must always default to the kingdom culture. That is what it means to follow Jesus. We live in a dynamic tension between two kingdoms but must always default to God's Kingdom.

A second implication is that we will not always fit in. When I came from Hong Kong to finish high school as a teenager, I didn't fit in. I had come from a school with 21 different nationalities represented. Now, everyone was from the east side of St. Paul. I had traveled the world and lived in a world-class city. My classmates' definition of travel was going to Wisconsin deer hunting. I was used to candid dialogue and now found myself kicked out of my social studies class for challenging the teacher. 

I didn't always fit in. And, neither do believers who live in a pagan society. Again Peter, in 1 Peter 4 says, "For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do - living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you." We won't always fit in, but that is OK. As Peter said, "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

The life of Jesus was a life lived against the grain. Against the cultural trends that kept people in bondage. It was a life of freedom, which our Kingdom passport gives us. We are free to live like Jesus and no longer bound to our old way of life. We will be different as we live out our Kingdom values that are counter to many of the values of our world. 

Embrace your third culture status as people who have two passports and belong to two kingdoms. Just be sure that when you must choose between the two's value systems, you select the Kingdom values even if it makes you stand out. You are, after all, a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God's special possession. 

Dealing with distractions in our spiritual lives

 

Jesus was a master storyteller. His stories, or parables, were intriguing, sometimes shocking, but always very personal in their application. They speak directly to our lives. One story that describes each of us in some way is the Parable of the Sower found in Luke 8:4-15. Pay close attention to this parable because you are there.

While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seeds fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still, other seeds fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.” When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, “‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’

“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering, produce a crop.

Since we know Jesus and want to follow Him, I will focus on two kinds of soil that apply to us. The first is the seed sown among the thorns. These are people who hear, but life’s worries, riches, and pleasures choke them as they go on their way, so they do not mature.

All of us fall into this trap at times in our lives. Perhaps we live most of our life here, or maybe it is a particular season/s of our life. We want Jesus, and we want to grow. Still, we are distracted, majorly distracted by the worries and anxieties of life, by the pursuit of wealth and stuff, and by our desire to experience the good life (our pleasures). Here is the individual who is so busy in their work, busy with life, and so consumed by activities that God gets marginalized, and space for God becomes scarce. Too often, we run on fumes in our busyness and what gets lost is space for God in our lives.

There is a cost to this kind of lifestyle. Jesus says that the result is that people living in this zone don’t mature. Instead, life’s worries, riches, and pleasures choke their spiritual growth. 

In all honesty, one of my greatest fears in life is that I don’t mature as a Christ-follower. I fear not getting to a place of spiritual maturity and continued growth throughout my life. One of the most strategic things we can do is be honest about how much space we are giving God in our lives, how much growth is actually occurring, and how intentional we are about becoming more like Jesus. Whatever picture we paint for the outside world, we know in our heart of hearts how serious we are about maturing in Him.

Jesus contrasts the seed that falls among the thorns with the seed that falls on good soil. “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” 

Here is where we want to be. Notice how Jesus describes those who are good soil. They have noble and good hearts. Why are they described this way? Because they hear the word, they retain it and apply it, and the result is a crop of righteousness in their lives. 

So what is the critical difference between those whose spiritual growth is choked out and those who are good soil? Three simple things. First, those with good soil are not distracted, and they have space and time for God. The word of God intentionally nourishes their lives. They learn that word, retain that word, seek to understand it, and then apply it in their lives. None of this happens without intentional effort. It is an arrangement of our lives so that God is not lost and we have space for Him. We make space for Him. We intentionally find time for Him and His word, and we apply that word equally deliberately to our lives. That is good soil, and it bears a generous crop of spiritual maturity and righteousness in our lives.

Which of these two kinds of soil describes you today? If you are not entirely in the good soil description, do you want to be? If the answer is yes, what changes do you need to make to your life so that God is more central, so you have more space for Him, and what can you do to better understand and apply His word to your life?

Father, I pray that you would help me live with Good soil that hears your word, understands your counsel, and applies it to my life. I want to experience the harvest of righteousness. Help me experience more of you, Jesus, and fewer distractions. Amen.

The question for today: How do I need to rearrange my life to give more space and time for God and His Word so that I live in good soil rather than among the thorns?