Part 3 The Narrow Door of Relationship

S - Luke 2:1,3-4,21,25-28a (NLT): "At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. … All returned to their own towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David's ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. … Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel even before he was conceived. … Now there was a man named Simeon who lived in Jerusalem. He was a righteous man and very devout. He was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he eagerly expected the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord's Messiah. That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there.

O - Governmental decrees, angelic visits and chats, Spirit led, Scripture instructions and input from others all converge in the Christmas story. This is not unique to Jesus and his earthly parents. These elements, in varying combinations, are how the Lord shepherds all who are his own and how we participate with him in his will on earth (like it happens in heaven). Mary, Joseph and the child Jesus are at the Temple because of God's written voice (the Scriptures). Simeon is there because of God's speaking voice (the leading of the Spirit). Though they find themselves at the Temple in differing roles and by differing inspirations, they converge at the right time, in the right place with the right desire for heaven's purpose and plan to take its next stride forward. Knowingly and unknowingly, all people are at the disposal of God Almighty for the fulfilling of his will. All people are warmly invited and intensely desired to do more than this. We are all called to knowingly accept his offer of adoption into his family as dearly loved children and to live and work with him on earth like they do in heaven. When we do, we find that the Shepherd is not only good, he is very good at what he does and really is working everything for good. Good tidings of Christmas and a happy new life!

A - Caesar's motives are suspect on a good day and God's will is not. Instructions from the Scriptures, angels and others can be challenging and even unpleasantly difficult … and this is how my life will be shepherded because such are the means the Good Shepherd uses to reveal, confirm and accomplish his will in me/us and through me/us. I get to choose to be available and willing. He chooses all the rest: when, how, whom, why, where and for what purpose. This particular apparatus is one which insures that relationship remains THE real and abiding dynamic of all exchanges between God and us. Available and willing are the foundation for every love relationship. Should I be surprised or disappointed that these alone are my assignment? Should I spend the bulk of my energies and prayers trying to inspire the Lord in his assignment or asking him to assist me in mine? More than discovering a purpose the Kingdom of Heaven wants me to discover a person. Jesus reveals God exactly; and as the first disciples discovered he already has in mind what he is going to do. Willing and available I get to love him back and work with him in what he is doing.

P - Lord who is love, light, life and more than good all the time,

Thank you for my assignment which is so very doable today while it is called today even when I'm unclear, unsure and unhappy about how things are looking, going and happening. I want to lean on you rather than on my own understanding. I want to work with you, live in you and knowingly engage your will on earth like they do in heaven. Thank you for revealing yourself so exactly in Jesus and for giving yourself to the whole world. Please let me know you, love you back with all my heart, mind, soul and strength and love my neighbor as myself. Lord, I welcome new wineskins, mulberry trees in the ocean and that which is too wonderful for me. Please, let me make you glad and be a reason someone else believes.

Available and willing,

Steve

Part 2 The Narrow Door: Volume or Validation?

S - Luke 13:22-30 (NIV): "Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26 “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ 28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. 29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”"

O - Trying to enter and not able? Whatever happened to who so ever will may come? Knocking, pleading and shutout? Others in and "your yourselves thrown out"? And of course the first last and the last first. This final statement is the easiest after the others because at least last means in and in is very good. So, exactly how narrow is the narrow door? Is Jesus speaking "code" for a yes answer to the question regarding volume? At the end of the age the issue is not volume but validation. Sheep or goat? In or out? Known or unknown? Once again it is striking that freely by grace does not mean without choice or effort (Make every effort to enter through the narrow door …). Jesus is talking to those who seem to know Scripture and have some desire toward God, Messiah and the like. They have familiarity with Jesus (ate and drank with you) and with his message (you taught in our streets) and yet are at risk. What should we/I make of this? Pharisees (those who think they're in) ultimately keep (use) the words of Scripture but lose the meaning. And perhaps the narrow door is at least in part narrow because in the loss of meaning; the meaning is redefined to accommodate their own perspective, desires and outcomes. The words of Scripture aren't meaningless but they are redefined. Words mean something and they mean something in context … it is narrow but true. All can come but they must come to the understanding the same way. It is narrow but it opens up to a very broad, beautiful and abundant place. The effort is to keep the words and their meaning; to live out the meaning rather than redefining it; to recognize that we enter only on his terms and never on our own.

A - The application is simple but not easy. Make every effort to enter the narrow door. There will be millions and billions in the kingdom of Jesus … volume will not be the issue. The issue will remain validation … and this begins and is maintained at the very narrow door.

P - Lord who is the Door,

You know how I am made and the way I take. You know the perpetual and sad state of affairs I am currently required to endure with little reprieve or respite. I am unclear on much and while how I got here was certainly not all pretty, spiritually uplifting and great, I do believe it was you. Lord, assigned but for what purpose? I know that today the narrow door remains my only hope and therefore my only and greatest need. So, I will lean toward, into and hopefully through this door unto life. In this seemly unending season, I am fully prepared to be last … I just want to be with you and therefore I want to be there. You say I have a place to take there, I believe … Lord help my unbelief. I yield to your awesome brilliance, your limitless power and your extreme goodness. I will work hard today because I work with you not for anyone or anything else. I ask that you enable me to understand (formulate) the steps you prefer that your will is done on earth. Lord, withhold all that you want just please do not withhold yourself from me … I offer my very little self, in totality, to you.

Steve

Part 1: The Narrow Door of Belief

S - Luke 8:41-43, 48-50 (NIV): "41 Then a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house 42 because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying. As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. 43 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. 44 She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. … 48 Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” 49 While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.” 50 Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”"

O - More than time elapses between Jairus' request and the healing/resurrection of his daughter. Circumstances unforeseen, delays which Jairus cannot control also elapse and bring a devastating change in status and an overwhelming opportunity to despair-- his daughter has moved from among the dying to among the dead. 'It’s all well and good that the woman is healed but at the expenses of my daughter’s life?' would be an unavoidable question. The crowd adds to the pain with their unsolicited and unavoidable conclusion: 'Don't bother [trouble not] the teacher anymore.' The idiom in the Greek is very descriptive: to skin, flay; to rend, mangle, to vex, trouble, annoy. What started for Jairus as something clearly beyond his capacities has just taken a quantum leap forward to light-years beyond that. It was already out of his control and it is now extremely, hopelessly out of his control. Jesus' instruction does not ask nor require Jairus to explain or reconcile the convergence of all these issues. Don't be afraid of facts, opinions, circumstances, impossibilities, track records, resources and the like. Do not be afraid PERIOD… just (merely) believe! In every day and in every way this is the primary assignment, response and requirement all followers of Jesus have.

A - Before I attempt to learn a lesson, find an explanation, draw a bead on the future or gain perspective for the current situation, I am called to merely, only, exclusively and relentlessly believe. This real, pleasing God faith is open-hearted, unrestrained by history, unintimidated by magnitude and fully vested in a Person not just an outcome. It is pure, life-reviving, light enhancing, joyous and unpretentiously confident in the One being asked. This is the narrow of door of faith which opens to nothing being impossible.

P - Teacher who is the Lord,

Thank you for your interest in the man Jairus and in his impossible situation. Thank you for your interest in the woman and her debilitating condition. Thank you for never being at a loss for anything and that answering one prayer is never a reason for another request being denied. Another's blessing will never be a reason for any lack I may have. In my person, position and all that revolves around me and in the dynamics which engage me I want to (and real life requires me to) believe. Lord, I believe help my unbelief. Lord, I am often at a loss to understand what and why but I can keep my focus on who … and you have everything in focus and in control. So, I will refuse the fear and I will embrace the only thing which counts: faith expressing itself through love. For all the times I have failed to love you back I am sorry. Today, while it is called today I turn into you, to faith and to specifically, personally and consistently loving you back. I will believe PERIOD.

Steve