Monday, August 30, 2010

15. He Told A Gal Like Her

John 4:26


I think many of the people who don’t care anything about Jesus are that way because deep down they think He doesn’t care anything about them. 1 John 4:19 says, “We love because He first loved us.” But some folks have a misconception that is a sort of dark, sad inverse of that idea which says, “He wouldn’t want me, so I don’t really care about Him either.” They think that because their lifestyle or past or reputation seems unacceptable to the Christians they’ve always known, that Jesus wouldn’t give them the time of day. I love Jesus because He not only cares about, but pursues the broken, guilty, weary and misspent outsiders. Did you know that the very first person Jesus revealed His true identity to was a woman? This was a big deal because women were totally disenfranchised and undervalued in their society, but Jesus valued her. Not only that, but she was also a foreigner and a five time divorcee who was living with her boyfriend. You probably wouldn’t find her teaching Vacation Bible School, but when this sad, hurting woman said she was waiting on the Messiah, Jesus looked at her and said, “I who speak to you am He.”

Monday, August 23, 2010

14 He Said We Didn't Have To Earn It

John 6:29


I remember seeing a bumper sticker on a guitar case once that said, “Jesus is coming, look busy!” That sticker made me sad, because at the bottom of that light-hearted joke is a very deep misunderstanding of everything Jesus was about. Most people think that in order to please God or go to heaven, we have to ‘be good enough.’ The assumption is that we have to go to church, give our money, read our Bible, say our prayers, keep the ten commandments and toss in some miscellaneous good deeds in order to meet the standards that God has laid out for us. The problem with that line of thinking is that none of us are good enough to meet God’s standard! We all fell short of that standard. That’s why Jesus came. He came to meet the standard for us and then give His life in our place to pay for all of our wrong, offering us a relationship with God and a place in heaven for free! Without having to earn it, all we have to do is want it. I love Jesus because when folks asked Him what work God required of them, He said, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.”

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

13. He Even Forgives In The Present Tense

Mark 10:21


It’s sometimes hard to believe, but it’s an amazing thing to know that if we have trusted in Him, Jesus forgives us for the wrong stuff we’ve done in the past; and although it's harder to understand, I can even stretch myself to see how He has already forgiven us for the stuff we haven’t even done yet because He’s God and He’s outside of time. He exists in an eternal present and already sees all ends and so His forgiveness finds me in what was my yesterday and what will be my tomorrow. But what about the moment when my sin is actually happening? I mean, I have to be done with it and feel really bad about it to get forgiveness, right? No, it’s way better than that! In Mark 10, Jesus was talking to a rich young man who was in the process of self-righteousness and actively walking away from Jesus. And yet, Mark tells us Jesus “looked at him and loved him.” I love Jesus because His love is reaching out to me, caring about me, and forgiving me, even when I am in the middle of walking away from Him.

Friday, August 13, 2010

12. He Wasn't One of Those Judgmental Religious People

Luke 19:7


If you lined up 1,000 people who don’t go to church and asked them why they don’t go, I bet 80% of them would say it’s because they don’t want to be judged by religious people. The worst part of it is that tons of those 800 folks know what they’re talking about from experience. They’ve been called out, excluded or even openly hated by some Christian because of some thing in their lives. The thing is, Jesus didn’t treat people that way. And look, it’s not as though He didn’t take sin seriously, because He did. He went to the cross for it! He allowed Himself to be tortured and murdered to pay the penalty of sin, but He loved sinners. In fact, they were His friends. He hung out with them... socially. Zacchaeus was an institutional thief and a national traitor. He was as low a person as you could find, but in Luke 19 Jesus loved him and reached out to Him when everyone else hated him. Folks mumbled and grumbled about it, but Jesus knew that love changes people, not hate. I love Jesus because He loves sinners; which is a good thing, because I am one.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

11. He Asksed Questions

Luke 18:41


One of the most surprising things about reading the Gospels is the number of times Jesus asks someone a question. I mean, Jesus is God... He knows everything. He knew what His enemies were thinking just by reading their minds. He knew where to find fish when the pros couldn’t get a bite. He knew all the broken love stories of a woman He had never met. He knew that the Romans were going to sack and burn Jerusalem to the ground four decades before it happened, and on and on. So, why is He asking questions? He even asked questions when everyone knew the answer, like in Luke 18 when a blind guy is brought to His feet, Jesus says, “What do you want me to do for you?” Hello! He’s blind! He doesn’t want investment counseling, he wants to see! Obviously Jesus knew the answer, but He asked the question anyway because He wanted this guy to say what he needed out loud. I love Jesus because even though He knows everything I need already, He knows how important and how good it is it is for me to tell Him out loud exactly what I want from Him.