252. He Won't Let Anyone Come Between You

Matthew 21:12

Have you ever been turned off about Jesus because of someone who mistreated you in Jesus’ name? Have you ever been pushed farther away from knowing the Lord because the most unkind and intolerant people you see in your life are Christians? Maybe you’ve even thought to yourself, “Jesus actually seems pretty great to me, but the people who claim to know Him make me want to run in the other direction.” Jesus said that His followers and students would be known by their love. The problem is that Christians are known for tons of other things besides their love. As a result, grace is distorted and the real Jesus is obscured. I don’t know that there is anything that makes Jesus more angry than someone giving people the wrong idea about Him. About a week before Jesus went to the cross, He rode into Jerusalem to applause and praises. He entered the temple and saw something that set Him off. Fast-handed businessmen were using God’s house as an opportunity to make a quick buck off of the outsiders and foreigners visiting Jerusalem. The outer court of the temple was supposed to be a place where foreigners could come and watch what it meant to know God. The whole thing was a pageantry that pointed to the grace of the cross, but it was being blurred by marketing and manipulation. Jesus lost it. He flipped tables and drove people out! He hates it when people distort grace. He hates it when God’s ‘followers’ use people for their own gain. He wants you to know Him and His endless love for you. He doesn’t want anything to come in between you being able to see Him clearly. 

251. He's Listening

John 11:46

Have you ever felt like your prayers were pointless? Have you ever gone to the Lord in your heart with your list of troubles and then thought to yourself, “Why am I doing this? Is this even real?” I know I’ve felt that way before. I’ve wondered to myself at times whether or not talking to the Lord is just something we do to make ourselves feel better. Let’s face it, sometimes when we pray, it feels as though absolutely nothing happens. It feels like our prayers go out of our mouths, float weakly up to the ceiling like a helium balloon that’s a few days old and then pop, unimpressively on a sound-proof barrier of solid iron. In other words, if we’re honest, sometimes it feels like God is a million miles away when we need Him most. Here’s the thing: Our emotions are not always very helpful and can sometimes be downright misleading. For instance, have you ever had a misunderstanding with a friend that made you feel depressed and alone, but then made perfect sense when you heard the whole story? One time Jesus’ friend Lazarus was sick. His sisters sent a letter (like a prayer) asking Jesus to come heal Him, but Jesus didn’t write back or do anything at all for two more days. Lazarus’ sisters probably thought Jesus didn’t care and that calling out to Him was pointless. Finally, Lazarus died. The sisters were heartbroken, but that wasn’t the end of the story. Jesus showed up and raised Lazarus from the dead. He didn’t do what the sisters wanted when they wanted Him to, but what He did was incredible. Jesus is listening, and His plans are going to rock your world in the end. 

250. He Changes What You Are

Matthew 16:18

Do you ever get frustrated with yourself and wonder, “When am I ever going to really grow?” Have you ever made up your mind to be different in one area of your life only to stumble again and again in that very same thing? For a lot of folks, I think the hard thing is wondering whether or not this is just who they are. They feel stuck, or even doomed, like they will always be this person. In Matthew 16, when Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter, He said, “On this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” That must have been such a cool moment for Peter, hearing Jesus predict the change that would happen in his life. At the same time, we know that Peter stumbled again. Jesus may have given him a name like “Rock,” but Peter didn’t become a strong, immovable foundation over night. In fact, on the night Jesus was betrayed, Satan sifted Peter like wheat. In other words, the gates of hell overcame him. So what is going on here? I’ve heard people try to explain this away by saying Jesus was calling Peter a pebble and referring to Himself as “The Rock” He would build on, but when you dig deep into the text, Jesus uses the exact same Greek word for Peter and His building material. Not only that, but in 1 Peter, he calls us all ‘living stones’ that the church is being built with. I think what we’re seeing here is a man in process. Rock takes time to form. Jesus got Peter there in the end and He’s changing you too. Nothing will stop Him from making you new.

249. He Starts You Over

2 Corinthians 5:17

This paragraph you’re about to read is a bit weird, but go with me on it. What if there were a world quite apart from this one where you got to be someone completely different? What if you could really start over? Think about that for just a second. Take some time and chew on it. Imagine yourself walking through a Doorway into a landscape where you simply belong. You can tell as soon as you walk through the Door that you fit in here and that this place was made for you. The air is different. As you put both feet into this new world, you can feel your tainted past sliding off of you like an old coat. You feel your old reputation washing off of your shoulders and draining away on the other side of the Door. The uneasy feeling you’ve always had of being you is replaced by a sense of comfort deep inside. You realize that the comfort and assurance isn’t going away. It’s steady, rock solid. It seems as though it’s heavier than the whole planet, even though it’s inside you. Then you understand that this feeling that’s not going away is how God sees you. It’s His unearned, unchanging affection for you and acceptance of you. Jesus has washed away who you were. He has lavished you with grace. God the Father has declared you His very own child and completely righteous - as perfectly righteous as Jesus Himself! The Holy Spirit is inside you telling you this is all eternally true! In John chapter 10, Jesus said He was the Door. It’s really true! There is a place where you can start all over again! Are you ready to be made new?