²⁸  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)   -(Jesus)

We live in a world of ever-increasing speed, technology, overload of information, newsfeeds of disaster, fear, and anxiety, and most people would love to get off that merry-go-round!  But we don’t think we can; so we count the days until our next vacation or “getaway”, and then post pictures on Facebook from our vacation at the beach or mountains or lake or exotic island so that other people can feel envious and then hurriedly plan their next getaway from the “rat race” of everyday life! And the cycle never ends…

I’m just finishing reading a book that has really challenged me and stirred my soul in this area. The book is called “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry”, by a young pastor in Portland named John Mark Comer. The primary focus of the book is on this statement above from Jesus. I’m going to restate that passage above, one line at a time, and I invite you to slowly read each line separately, meditating on that line for a moment, and then ask yourself “Can I identify with this?”, and “Do I really want the life Jesus is offering here?”

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,

And I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon me and learn from me,

For I am gentle and humble in heart,

And you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Pastor and author Eugen Peterson, who wrote “The Message”, a contemporary paraphrase of the Bible, translates this passage like this:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me— watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO TAKE THE “YOKE” OF JESUS?

In farming, 2 oxen would be yoked together to pull a cart or plow. That would ease the burden on each, and it forced them to walk at the same pace and balance the load and have more energy to go farther. So if you are yoked to Jesus, he will not only share your life burdens, but he will actually carry much more of them than you can, because he is much stronger! Plus, he will slow your pace down to his rhythm and make your life much more restful and peaceful.

 But there is a more significant idea of yoke here that we often miss! Jesus was considered a Rabbi, or teacher, and in his day the term yoke was considered the Rabbi’s way of teaching the Torah, the Bible they had then. Not only that, it was his set of teachings on “how to be human” and deal with all the weight and issues of life. Jesus’s disciples, or apprentices, were not only to learn his teachings, but even more importantly, learn his lifestyle as well! Following Jesus can be can be reduced to 3 major goals:

1) Be with Jesus.

2) Become like Jesus in your lifestyle.

3) Do what he would do if he were you!

⁶  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. – John 14:6 (ESV)

Notice Jesus is offering us 3 vital things we need, and they all only come through him!

He offers us an abundant LIFE, which begins when we trust our lives to him, and that new life will last forever!

He offers us the TRUTH, which is the Bible, and especially his teachings of what that new life will look like.

But he also offers us the WAY, which is not only the way to connect to his Father, but the way of life Jesus lived, the lifestyle that we are to take on as his followers!

The early Christians were called ”The Way” by others because of the strange, counter-cultural lifestyle they adopted from Jesus. The western church in our culture has lost the understanding of what that lifestyle is and how Jesus invites us to live each day. We don’t live any differently than the rest of our busy, confused, exhausted, anxious non-believing friends!

I hope to begin a series of blogs now that focus on the PRACTICES OF JESUS that allowed him to live a life that was never hurried, but always focused on exactly what was most important, the mission of wonderful, abundant life the Father sent him here to give us! These “practices” of how Jesus lived every day have historically been called “Spiritual Disciplines”, which in our culture sounds like no fun at all, and something we certainly don’t have time to do! So, let’s just fool ourselves and call them the “cool lifestyle practices of Jesus” that can lead to rest, joy, peace, fearlessness, and a way of living that will make us fulfilled, purposeful, and the envy of our hurried and frazzled friends!

I will confess that even as a pastor, I have not been very good at learning and practicing this actual lifestyle of Jesus! My wife was a busy school teacher as well, and with school, church, kids’ activities, and friends and family, I fear our pace of life would be often categorized as part of the “rat race”. Looking back now, I regret wasting too many moments of life on useless and trivial pursuits, when I could have had many more quality moments with my wife, kids, friends, and God himself! And what is life, if not but a series of precious moments that God gifts to us every 24 hours?

Well, I would like to do better at living the lifestyle of Jesus for the remainder of my life, and I hope you desire that as well! I will try to share what I learn as I grow in these practices of life that Jesus showed us, and I encourage you to try that as well.  (If you want to buy John Mark Comer’s book, I would encourage you to do that and get a better idea of what I’m talking about.)  Here are a few simple suggestions that you may try, to start:

– Try reading one of the gospels slowly (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John), but don’t read it so much for just the teachings of Jesus, as vital as they are. Try reading it as a “biography” of Jesus, and pay attention to HOW he lived every day. How did he focus his time? How did he deal with interruptions? What was the pace of his life? Who did he choose to talk with, and who didn’t he? What was important to him, and what wasn’t? How did he avoid distractions of his culture?

– Try to take a short period of time (start with 10 minutes?), and get away by yourself, away from all noise and people. Breathe deeply and slowly, and focus your mind on the quietness and imagine that you are in God’s presence (because you always are!). He may bring something to your mind, or not, but relax and be grateful that God loves you and wants to spend time with you!

– Ask yourself what REALLY matters most to you in life, and how are you spending your time and resources to focus on those areas? How many activities of our day are just distractions, and costing us precious moments that can never be regained?

Jesus came to offer us a new way of life, a restored humanity, that can begin now and carry on into eternity into the new Earth and Heaven combined in his Kingdom! Most of us are settling for just a tiny fraction of what Jesus came to bring us, and many will miss out on this eternal life completely, lost in the pursuit of this world’s deceptions. Jesus warned us of that:

²⁵  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. ²⁶  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? – Matthew 16:25-26 (ESV)

I’ve lived a wonderful life, and a favorite expression in our family is true for me, “I have been richly blessed”. But, I’ve also missed out on many moments that God had for me, because I was too distracted with the cares and worries of this world to fully grasp the better life he offered, if I would only listen!

I want to finish better, and I hope you do as well! I want to live the rest of my life as close to the lifestyle of Jesus as I can. I can’t do it by myself, but God gives us his Holy Spirit to empower us and help us abide in Jesus.

Won’t you join me? Why settle for only what the world offers, when we can have so much more in Jesus?

I will pray for you on this journey, and pray for me as well! I close with a marvelous prayer from Paul that we can all pray for each other:

¹⁶  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸  may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ²⁰  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.  -Ephesians 3:16-21 (NIV)

¹¹  For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. -Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

As I write this, the world has been captured by the courage and bravery of the Ukrainian people! Led by President Zelenskyy, a common man and not a typical politician, they have seen his courage and willingness to sacrifice his own life for his country and their freedom. He has inspired mothers, old men, and even grandmas to take up weapons and be willing to fight to the death for their freedom. Social media and cable TV has allowed the world to see their amazing stories of sacrifice and courage! But, we also see the horror and ravages of war as never before as innocent people are slaughtered by a ruthless, evil, cold-hearted dictator whose only concern is to rebuild an evil Russian empire and leave a warped legacy for himself. Even his own people don’t want the war he has forced upon the world!

So, what should we Christians be doing? Should we pray for God to supernaturally rescue the Ukrainians? Should we help them fight?  Why will God allow innocent people to suffer?

 In order to answer those questions, I think we need to first understand God’s eternal perspective on our lives and our world.

Jeremiah 29:11 (above) is one of the most popular and quoted verses in the Bible! I have been on Christian Mingle, a Christian dating site, for over 9 months now, and this is probably the favorite verse on that sight! And why not?…  When you have lost a loving spouse too early (in your eyes), or seen a marriage disintegrate that you had hoped would last a lifetime, who wouldn’t want God to give us hope and a great future?

The problems is… this verse is wildly misused and taken out of context!

 Here’s the background: for generations, the people of Judah and Jerusalem have refused to worship God seriously and trust him for their lives, and God is disgusted with them and uses the evil nation of Babylon to take them away as captives to serve them in Babylon! In Chapter 29 of Jeremiah, they are already being taken captive to Babylon, and God tells them that if they obey him for 70 YEARS in captivity, THEN he will bring them back!

NOW, we get to what Jeremiah says in verses 10-11:

¹⁰  This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. ¹¹  For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  -Jeremiah 29:10-11 (NIV)

Wait, what? In 70 YEARS God will bring them back to Judah? That basically means the present generation will all die in exile, never to go home again. This means the adults going into exile will NOT have the hope and future they wanted!  That promise is only for the children & grandchildren!

That’s not the hope and future they wanted! Was God lying to them, or unable to really help and deliver them? Maybe you’ve wanted God to answer specific prayers about your future, only to find him seemingly not answering those prayers at all, or answering in a way that seems disappointing to you and doesn’t make any sense!

To try to understand how God views our world, think of it all on 2 tiers:

GOD’S 2-TIERED PERSPECTIVE:

2 REALMS OF LIFE, AND 2 BATTLEFIELDS!

2 REALMS:

Realm 1: This is the physical world we all live in as human beings. The Bible says that because of the curse of sin (and we ALL sin), this world is under the control of evil (Satan), at least for now. God hates sin and it’s consequences, including the horror in Ukraine! OUR sinfulness has totally contaminated this world, and is why we have war, hatred, murder, crime, hunger, physical death, and every awful thing we wish weren’t here and can’t get rid of by ourselves.

Understand, the world was not created this way! God created us to live WITH HIM in this world, without sin. He also gave us free will and the ability to choose to trust and follow his ways or not. From the first decision to doubt and rebel against God by Adam and Eve, we have ALL suffered and been infected by sin, and there’s no human way to overcome that. Since that first rebellion when we told God we don’t need him and can do life ourselves, we have continually lived in darkness and confusion and have not been able to stop the ravages of sin. For example, if nations were to come together and do EVERYTHING they could to stop Putin today (and they should!), history proves that sooner or later another evil ruler will come along and do the same horrible, inhumane thing to another group of people. That is the history of our world!

IT GRIEVES GOD THAT WE HAVE REBELLED AGAINST HIM AND DON’T TRUST OR LISTEN TO HIM, AND HAVE SUFFERED THE HORRIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN BECAUSE OF THAT!

But, he loves us so much, in spite of that, that he was willing to rescue us by sacrificing his own life when he came down to earth as Jesus, his Son. Jesus died in our place to forgive us and give us power to overcome sin in our lives and have a 2^nd chance at a restored relationship and a new world with him. That is described as…

Realm 2: The Kingdom of God! This new realm was created by Jesus when he came to earth 2000 years ago. This is a new way of life that begins now, and we enter this realm by putting our faith and trust in Jesus to forgive us and empower us to overcome sin, and live a new life as his followers. Any follower of Jesus now lives with one foot in both realms. It is only partial for us now, but will be fully released when Jesus returns. When Jesus returns a second time (and it’s always getting closer), he will come to rule the earth. He will remove all evil and sin from the world, and create a new earth and heaven combined, and we who choose to follow him will live forever in this amazing new existence, plus we will get new bodies that will never get sick or die! (Can’t wait for that!)

2 BATTLEFIELDS:

Battlefield 1: Because we all live on sinful planet earth presently, we still fight sin and all it’s effects: injustice, racism, hatred, poverty, abuse, wars, starvation, disease, death, etc. But because we believers also live in Realm 2, and know we have a completely restored future awaiting us, God gives us courage and strength to face evil unafraid! When I was a pastor and people wanted to confess their faith and join the church, I began by asking them 2 questions:

“On behalf of the whole church, I ask you:

Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin?

Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?

These are tough questions, and apply to BOTH realms of life!

In this present, sinful world, God expects us to fight evil in many ways. Because of social media and cable news, we see the valor of the Ukrainian people as well as the horror, evil, and senseless destruction of war. Those people fight bravely because they KNOW war, oppression, and slavery is not right, and there has to be something better than this that we all want and deserve! Deep in our hearts, every normal human being knows this is evil and wrong and that we should always fight evil and protect the innocent, weak, and oppressed in our world.

But, we rarely do. Politicians and leaders throughout history always are concerned for their own interests first, and offer to appease evil, which almost never works at all. Satan and his evil followers (Hitler, Putin, etc.) won’t stop their evil until someone stops them, or they allow God to change their heart (which sometimes happens!).

Battlefield 2: This is a spiritual battle, in the spiritual realm, in which Satan seeks to destroy us forever, but God loves us and offers to forgive us, redeem us, and restore us. This is a battle for our souls, the essence of who we really are. We can’t SEE this realm, so most people scoff at this idea. But in God’s perspective, this is the ULTIMATE BATTLEFIELD! Our choices here determine out eternal destiny!

We may lose temporary earthly battles in Realm 1. But God has already defeated Satan and his power through Jesus’ death and resurrection, and God will give us power to win every battle in the spiritual realm!

When my wife Claudia fought her 18 month battle with cancer (both a physical and spiritual battle), God gave her a verse that brought her hope and encouragement:

¹⁵   This is what the LORD says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.  -2 Chronicles 20:15b (NIV)

Some may say “Well, she lost the battle to cancer, so God lost the battle too”.  Yes, it was awful to watch cancer destroy her body, day by day; but I also observed something else that was truly amazing! Because God dwelt within her, she actually grew stronger and more at peace in her spirit. She encouraged others by sharing her journey, she prayed for others, and she modeled for her family and friends how to face death with courage, peace, and hope. She knew God had plans to give her a wonderful “hope and future”! See won the spiritual battle, and now she’s free from sin and disease, and having an amazing time in Jesus’ presence, forever!

There is more than this sinful, broken world and what we can only see now. God has amazing plans for our future, but we have to trust Jesus for what can’t see now, and trust our lives to him completely! That’s the very definition of faith! Jesus told us that:

²⁵  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
²⁶  What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? – Matthew 16:25-26 (NIV)

This world, and our hearts, are being shaken with dread and fear over the world events today. But we Christians, who live in the Kingdom realm also, should know that the events of the present are not the final story, and therefore we should NOT live in fear!

So, Christians, how should we live at the same time in both realms?

1) In this fallen human realm, resist and fight evil and oppression in any way you can!

– The worst that can happen is they will kill you! I know, that’s pretty scary! But remember, we’re all going to die anyway. Someone recently reminded me “none of us are going to get out of here alive!” Even though our bodies will die, our souls will live forever with Jesus when we trust him with our lives (plus, we get that cool, new body he promises!).

So, our lives should be focused on fearlessly helping and loving the hurting and lost, and as we do that, sharing the hope and future that can become theirs by trusting in Jesus!

We really have nothing to lose, and everything to gain, by fearlessly loving others and helping them out of sin and darkness into God’s light and God’s Kingdom!

2) Since we live in the Kingdom realm also, act and live like Jesus did!

When Jesus began teaching about his new order of humanity, his Kingdom, people didn’t get it!

The Kingdom is counter-cultural and doesn’t make any sense to fallen humans.

His followers thought he would fight and defeat the evil Roman Empire and set up a new Hebrew nation, but Jesus had a better plan! Jesus knew SIN cannot be defeated by better laws and even armies fighting on righteous principles. So he started his eternal Kingdom, a new order of restored and redeemed creation and humanity!

SIN CAN ULTIMATELY ONLY BE DEFEATED BY A CHANGE IN OUR HEARTS, WHERE GOD CHANGES US FROM THE INSIDE-OUT AND CLEANSES OUR HEART AND TAKES AWAY THE POWER AND APPEAL OF SIN!

Not only does God change our hearts completely, but he promises us to live in us as his Holy Spirit dwells within us to teach us and empower us to live new, Kingdom lives!

We will still struggle some as this transformation takes place over the rest of our lives, but God will help us to become more and more like Jesus!

So, just how does that look to live like Jesus as Kingdom men and women?

Jesus taught a lot about that, but it all starts with God changing our thoughts, motives, and perspective to see the world like Jesus does.

Paul says in Galatians chapter 5 that we must “walk in the Spirit”, meaning a daily life led by God that resembles the character of Jesus. The fruit, or “proof” of that is that we will grow in qualities such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Add to that such things as humility, caring about other’s interests more than   yourself, and constantly praying for others, and you begin to look more and more like Jesus to the world!

Our change in character and thoughts will lead to actions that are counter-cultural and will leave others shaking their heads! Read Jesus’ teachings in the “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew chapters 5-7. There’s a wealth of teaching there, such as :  love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; do not resist an evil person, and if someone slaps on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also; if you forgive other people when they sin against you,  your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, you Father will not forgive your sins… and much, much more!

SO, as a fellow human in this world, always be willing to fearlessly resist evil and oppression, and always seek justice and righteousness as much as possible! Love those hardest to love, and put other’s interests before your own.

But as a Kingdom man or woman, seek to think and act as Jesus did, as God continues to give you a new heart and a new identity as a son or daughter of God!

God wants people to see the change in us and ask “What happened to you? You’re not the person you used to be!”

And when they see the change in us, they will ask “How can I get what you have now?” and then we can lead them to Jesus and the never-ending, amazing hope and future that he offers his followers!

May  God’s Kingdom come to earth each day in new ways, and may we all be used by God to bring others into his Kingdom daily, looking forward to the new hope and future he offers us!

The best is yet to come!

³⁴  Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵  One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶  “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” ³⁷  Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸  This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  -Matthew 22:34-40 (NIV)

In the passage above, notice that an “expert” in the Law, a Pharisee, questioned Jesus in hopes of tripping him up and taking him down. Jesus had just corrected a Sadducee, another “expert” in religion, and embarrassed him in front of a lot of people. Even back in Jesus’ time, the “experts” in religion, politics, economics, etc. were more interested in their own positions of power, control, and arrogant elitism than in truth and actually caring for the people God had entrusted to their care. And Jesus embarrassed and angered them more by publically stating that GOD’S greatest command to them was to love God above everything else, and to love other people as you love yourself! That was a direct threat to their power, control, and ideological agenda, so they plotted ways to get him out of the way and kill him! And they succeeded (at least for 3 days).

TODAY, as in every generation, we are being encouraged, and almost forced, to become divided and not trust or even like anyone who differs with our particular viewpoint or agenda. It affects EVERY area of our culture, including politics, education, news, medicine, science, and yes, even our church life. WHY? Well, we all have an opinion on that, and those opinions may just lead to more anger and distrust. I could give you my opinion (which of course is the REAL truth, lol!), but instead, I will encourage you to consider for a minute what God says about all this!

1) Division, hatred, mistrust, and denigrating others is not God’s agenda for us! It is Satan’s agenda!

Every person is made in the image of God, and loved by God! God wants to forgive us, redeem us, and give us the power to overcome sin in our lives and live forever with him in a new world that is without sin and it’s deadly effects. Satan, on the other hand, seeks to only hurt us, confuse us, and turn us away from God’s love and hope for a better life and future! In John 10, Jesus describes himself as the “Good Shepherd” who wants to protect us and give us abundant life, but Satan and those under his control are like thieves that come only to steal, kill, and destroy. Peter warns us to be on guard to this:

⁸  Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.  -1 Peter 5:8-9 (NIV)

2) If our battle is against Satan and not each other, then we need to resist blaming each other and the “other side” and playing into Satan’s hands by destroying each other!

Paul warns us of this in Ephesians 6:

¹⁰  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹²  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. – Ephesians 6:10-12 (NIV)
By not recognizing the larger spiritual battle we are all a part of, we instead fight each other and defend “our side” of politics, news, education, science, and even medicine, seeking to tear down and destroy the perceived enemy, the “other side”. Instead, God calls us to work toward reconciling and working together as imperfect, sinful people. When we do that, we can come up with better and faster solutions to our problems, if we will only trust him and let him lead us there!

3) Because we are all sinful, living in spiritual darkness, and don’t know anything close to what God knows, we are called to ultimately trust in God ONLY, not in human experts in any field!

⁹  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. -Isaiah 55:9 (NIV)

God knows everything, including our future! No human being, no expert, comes close to that. Therefore, I do NOT fully trust any expert in any field, be they politician, news pundit, professor, scientist, doctor, pastor, or anyone else.  And neither should you! And if we do, we are putting a responsibility upon them that they can never live up to, and that’s not fair to them and only sets them up for failure and criticism. The Bible, and history in general, are full of examples of “experts” in every realm of life who often end up being very wrong, even though they may have been idolized and worshiped by some in their time.

For example, I’m going to wade into a mine field here and look at the COVID crisis these last 2 years!

How can we Christians agree on some things and disagree on others, and yet seek to bring people together for God’s best intentions toward healing and wholeness?

Let’s look at what we can agree on (maybe?):

– God has blessed humanity with the desire to discover better medicines and treatments to prevent or slow down disease over the years, and now we have better medical care available today than at any time in history! We can all appreciate the doctors, nurses, and all in the medical field who have been under tremendous pressure these past 2 years, and pray for them and thank them for their tireless efforts!

– As Christians with a biblical view of life and history, we understand that we are ALL destined to die physically at some point, and no human being can stop that. (As a matter of fact, God already knows the exact day and second that will happen!) Therefore, we recognize that, ultimately, no vaccine, medication, treatment, surgery, etc. is going to keep us from dying.

– We can recognize that the medical field tries to do the best that they can, and we can appreciate their effort, even though they are flawed, just like us! For example, when my wife Claudia died of cancer, those who cared for her were wonderful and compassionate! However, they were not always right. They mis-diagnosed the type of cancer she had for the first 6 months, and after an amazing surgery by 2 great surgeons, they said they had a great treatment they thought would hold the cancer at bay and give her 5-10 years more. Three months, later, it turns out they were wrong again, and she then faced a 6 months to live scenario, and made it 8 months before dying. Were we disappointed? Of course! But we didn’t blame them. They did the best they could with what they knew, and because of some of the treatment, Claudia probably lived a year longer than if they had done nothing, and we cherished that year together!

– We can all pray for and support those who suffered from COVID, and especially those who lost a family member. It’s painful and heart-rending to lose someone you love!

What might we disagree on, and yet be gracious, tolerant, and merciful to each other about?

The Vaccine itself!

– Most will agree the vaccine was produced amazingly fast, and is helpful for the vast majority of people. Although not as good as we may have originally hoped for, it does reduce symptoms if you get it and reduce the possibility of hospitalization, and that is wonderful. However, it does not prevent you from getting COVID or spreading it, so that is disappointing to many.

– The Vaccine Mandates: Should everyone get it, or be forced to? Well, we disagree, don’t we?

 I have gotten the vaccine and booster, not because I fully trusted it was safe, but because I’m an old guy now and recognize I’m more vulnerable! We all have to make a risk/benefit assessment for ourselves in every area of life. But, I also have many friends who have chosen not to be vaccinated for many reasons, and I fully respect them and their decision. Some have other medical issues, some just don’t trust it, and several have had COVID and believe they now have natural immunity that is as good or better than the vaccine itself. And, like any medicine or treatment, a few have adverse reactions. I know personally of 2 cases where 20+ year olds had a very negative reaction to the vaccine and may suffer consequences that will affect their health for the rest of their lives.

4) As Christians, God calls us to be reconcilers in a world of division, hatred, and an agenda of destruction that follows Satan’s plan and not what not God desires!

¹³  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. ¹⁴  For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵  by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶  and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷  He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸  For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. – Ephesians 2:13-18 (NIV)

Every generation will always have divisions, and be tempted to be pulled into waring camps and ideologies. That is the consequence of human sinfulness. But God calls his church to overcome those differences and be reconcilers to our culture. When we bring others together, through God’s power and guidance, they can have access to God’s forgiveness, power over sin, and new life that will last forever! God can break down any wall of hostility!

So, what really matters the most today?

What “side” are you on? Do you think you’re right, and “they” are wrong? In all of these divisions and “major issues” we are told are crucial today, and that the future of society supposedly hangs on, are they really as important as the screaming pundits and experts claim they are?

As Christians, we will all have opinions and should share our thoughts in respectful and encouraging ways, always offering God’s peace and hope in the midst of fear and uncertainty.

But what does God really think of all this stuff we get so upset about? Is it as crucial to him as it seems to be to our culture?

I think that when we all die and stand before Jesus  to account for our life, I DO NOT  think he’s going to ask us questions such as :

– Where you a Republican or Democrat, conservative or progressive?

– What side of the vaccine mandate debate were you on?

– Did you go the right church with true and biblical doctrine?

– Did you spend all your time, energy, and money on political causes and movements that would advance your “team” and “agenda”?

– Did you make sure you won the argument for “your team”?

No, I think Jesus will ask something like this:

-Do you know who I am?

– Did you believe that I’m the Son of God and did you accept my offer of forgiveness, salvation from the curse of sin, and power to live a brand new life, free from the chains of sin?

And if you did accept that offer, did you do what I asked you to do?

Did you live in a way that others saw that you loved God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? And did you love others as I do, offering them my love, healing, forgiveness, and hope for the future?

God always calls us to be humble and thankful, following the example of Jesus. I close with Paul’s thoughts on this in Philippians 2:

¹  If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ²  then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. ³  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ⁴  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: ⁶  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, ⁷  but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! – Philippians 2:1-8 (NIV)

The beginning of a new year is always a time for folks to think of ways to improve their lives, and the most popular, and sometimes most difficult, desire is to shed pounds off our bodies! Especially after the holidays, most of have a few extra pounds we want to shed! Some folks go on successful healthy eating and exercise programs and are able to shed large amount of weight! I have some women in my extended family that have found a system that works for them, and they have lost a lot of weight over the last year and feel much better and more energetic!

Our bodies are an amazing, complex, and intricate creation by God, and if we take proper care of them, we will feel good, enjoy life to its fullest, and best live out God’s purpose for us. But we all fail to do this at different levels, and if we don’t eat and exercise properly, we are more susceptible to sickness and disease. Whether it’s COVID or any other disease, it’s always those who are physically weaker with compromised immunity and other system failures, that are more likely to get very sick and die.

If you are a Christian and have surrendered your life to Jesus, do you realize your body is no longer your own? In I Corinthians 6: 19-20, it says:

¹⁹  Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰  you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.  -1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV)

So, as Christians, we are told to take care of our bodies because God himself now dwells inside of us through his Holy Spirit! He wants us to honor him by taking good care this marvelous gift of a body! And, for believers, the idea of “my body, my choice” is not true, because it’s HIS body to be use for HIS purposes. So, let’s take care of what God has given to us!

BUT, MOST PEOPLE KNOW WE ARE MUCH MORE THAN JUST A PHYSICAL BODY!

The Bible says our total existence can be described as a “living soul”! Jesus reminds how crucial the soul is in Matthew 16:

²⁵  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. ²⁶  What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?  -Matthew 16:25-26 (NIV)

So, what in the world is a soul, anyway?

Many people have tried to explain this, and no one probably has a perfect description of this. I like the explanation of Dallas Willard, the late Christian philosopher/deep spiritual thinker. He defined the soul as “the capacity to integrate all the parts into a single, whole life”. He describes the soul as like the “operating system” that coordinates and “runs” all the parts of who we are. He then imagines 4 concentric circles to explain our “parts”. The center, core circle is described as our human Spirit, and also as our Heart and Will. The next circle is our Mind, which includes our thoughts & feelings. Our next outer circle is our physical Body, with the final circle being our Soul, which puts all our parts together in perfect harmony to be who God created us to be!

The problem, of course, is that because of sin in our lives, our “parts” are messed up and out of sync with what God created us to be!  For example, our culture is obsessed with buff men and curvy women who look great on the outside, but can be totally messed up, immature, mean, and foolishly lost on the inside. Just think of many of our Hollywood stars, athletes, and even politicians and TV pundits! Our souls are “lost” and dis-integrated from God. Jesus came to save our lost souls, and re-integrate them and restore us to the complete, amazing people we were created to be!

HOW DOES THIS PROCESS HAPPEN? HOW DOES JESUS HELP US TO “SHED” THE WEIGHT OF ALL THE SINFUL JUNK THAT “SCREWS US UP” ON THE INSIDE AND MAKES US MISERABLE?

1) This is NOT a self-help, do it yourself plan you can find in bookstores or on the Internet! According to God, our chief designer, only HE can truly change us from the inside out! You cannot overcome sin and fully change your heart on your own effort!

2) The good news is, Jesus died to take away the power of sin in our lives, and if we will put our trust in him, he has promised to permanently put his own Holy Spirit in you and change your from the inside out! The same power that raised Jesus’ body from death can now dwell in you and empower you to begin to think, feel, and act the way designed you to be!

Think of those concentric circles of our soul again. God will send his Spirit to dwell in your core, which is your human spirit, heart, and will. He will transform your spirit and change your heart and will. From there he will move out to transform you mind, your thoughts and feelings. And when you begin to think and feel differently, your body will respond in a totally new way by the words and actions that come from your inner core! Then, your soul, your whole being, will be transformed into someone completely new, and the world will take notice! Paul describes it this way in II Corinthians 5:17-  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come! The old has gone, the new is here!”

So, what does this look like when God changes us from the inside out? What are those miserable, destructive desires, thoughts, and feelings that God will change in us, and wants us to “shed”? And, what will he give us in place of them to transform us? After all, this is not just a “weight reduction plan” where we shed the bad stuff; he also promises to fill us with his good stuff that allows us to live as we were intended!

Paul describes the whole process amazingly well in Galatians 5. Note this not only describes the rot of our own souls, but perfectly describes the destructive thoughts and behavior we see in society today and in each generation under the curse of sinfulness! Paul calls this amazing transformation “Walking by the Spirit”!

¹³  You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. ¹⁴  The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵  If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

¹⁶  So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. ¹⁷  For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. ¹⁸  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. ¹⁹  The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰  idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 ²²  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,²³  gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. ²⁵  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶  Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. -Galatians 5:13-26 (NIV)

I wish you “Happy Shedding” in 2022!

Seek to take care of your body, and shed some unnecessary pounds if that’s needed, and exercise regularly!

But more importantly, ask Jesus to forgive your sin, and then send his Holy Spirit to permanently dwell in your heart, empower your spirit, and begin to change you into a new creation, from the inside out!

May you be a different and more wonderful person by the end of the year!