Skip to main content
"If you love your father or mother more than you love me, 
you are not worthy of being mine;
or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.
If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, 
you are not worthy of being mine.
If you cling to your life, you will lose it;
but if you give up your life for me, 
you will find it."
Matthew 10:37-39 NLT
This is not some kind of competition about love, but part of Jesus message to the 12 before he sends them out. Out without any resources, out into a hostile world where some people will reject them, persecute them, harm them.
Out as sheep among wolves.
Going out with a message announcing that the Kingdom is near, the Kingdom people have been waiting for, but announce it from this place of powerlessness and weakness. 
This is an incredibly difficult assignment, and if their family is front of mind, they'd give it up and go home. 
If the life they had before meeting Jesus was so important they'd give up the assignment and go back to that life. 
But if they put Jesus' call on their lives first, there is something else to be discovered. 
Something else to be found. 
Tim Keller used the phrase our "self-salvation" project. What have I been relying on, when I really need to lean into Jesus, to simply follow Him?
What am I putting my faith in?
Our calling may not be as radical as the 12, but the invitation is there, to put Jesus first, as there's more to discover...
#wordsofJesus
#redletterBible
#rememberyouarealreadybeloved

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,  for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see - such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. Colossians 1:15-16 NLT OK so this is an English translation of a letter Paul wrote to a church 2,000 years ago, but does it feel like Paul is wrestling with words and ideas to try and capture all of who Jesus is, of who God is, of how does it work that the walking around Jesus was also there before the beginning of the beginning of everything we can see and touch and know. Not only that but Jesus was somehow the agent of everything that has been made in the physical, social, and spiritual.  Jesus is at the centre of it all.  Walking around Jesus. Cooking fish for breakfast Jesus. Heart aching as he ...
Post a Comment
Read more
Friday! Proverbs! The Lord hates six things;  in fact, seven are detestable to him:  (1) arrogant eyes,  (2) a lying tongue,  (3) hands that shed innocent blood, ... Proverbs 6:16-17 CSB This list of things that Proverbs describes that our God stands against, are anti-God, must be things that God isn't.  It's easy to use Proverbs as a weapon, to accuse or label others, but Proverbs is about finding the way of wisdom, of life, it's about the heart, mine, yours, ours.  And it's full of metaphor. Arrogant eyes. Eyes aren't arrogant, they're just that part of my body that receives visual information aren't they? Arrogant eyes. My tongue doesn't tell lies by itself, I do that. Hands that shed innocent blood - I haven't taken anyone's life... The word here for "hands" is "yad" and it is used literally and figuratively- it means an open hand (not closed) and is about direction and use of power. Proverbs invites us to sit with these p...
Post a Comment
Read more
Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. [37] Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. [38] She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem. Luke 2:36-38 NLT We don't have anyone live at my church (maybe we should?).  But I wonder how Anna would describe her life? Would she say her life is defined by loss, sorrow? Or by service and dedication, a life that contains suffering and loss? What we do know is that she recognised something important was going on with Jesus - the Rescuer she had been waiting for was here. By our standards we might judge Anna's life as a bit of a waste - yet he...
Post a Comment
Read more