Belonging

S - "Jesus knew he had come from God and would go back to God. He also knew that the Father had given all things into his hands. So during the meal Jesus got up, removed his outer garment, and wrapped a towel around his waist. He put some water into a large bowl. Then he began washing his followers’ feet and drying them with the towel he was wearing. But then he came to Simon Peter, who asked, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You don’t really know what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “You will never wash my feet!” Peter replied. “If I don’t wash you,” Jesus told him, “you don’t really belong to me.”" John 13 TS

O - Jesus is doing more here than teaching, though teaching he is.  This activity is more than an example, but wow what an example.  Jesus is engaging his followers with the terms of belonging.  His terms engage earth at its weakest and worst, not just its strongest and best.  The facts are irrefutable.  All humans end up with dirt which needs to be washed … refusing the washing or pretending there's no longer such a need torpedoes the truth of our condition and the dynamics of real relationship. No pretend here. Heaven is fully prepared for earth and earthlings at their worst.   

A - Jesus came (and still comes) to clarify the person and purposes of God.  We are wanted and loved at our worst not just our best; and at every point in between. Fully and continuously expressed in the person of Jesus, God's relentless love and defiant mercy abound.  Rooted in himself and the reality of love, we're invited to follow in a real relationship; one where no pretend or cover up is allowed.  Our acceptance is based solely on unconditional love. It's the deepest form of belonging one can know.  I am very grateful to be loved and to belong. All that's required is the cooperation of real relationship - my willingness to respond.  Yes, Jesus … I need you to wash my dirty feet.

P - Dear Jesus,

Thank you that in the full recognition of your own person and place, you didn't give a lecture but love. You didn't call humans to better performance but to the reality of relationship.  Thank you for wanting us at our worst … amazing!  I am available to you with all my dirt, not just all my best.  I do love you back.

Steve

Heaven's Invitation to Earth

S - "I won’t leave you like orphans. I will come back to you. In a little while the people of this world won’t be able to see me, but you will see me. And because I live, you will live. Then you will know I am in my Father, and you in me and I in you. If you love me, you will do what I have said, and my Father will love you. I will also love you and show you what I am like." John 14 TS

O - The original language here is quite precise.  Those who are following Jesus will NOT be left to live life on earth as orphans (those who must rely only on themselves for everything related to existence on earth). Also, the followers actually do what Jesus has instructed and here he has repeatedly identified his instruction:  Love each other as I have loved you.  Finally, he will "show you what I am like."  The showing is not an intellectual composite drawn from passages of scriptures or stories or teachings others have told. It is a personal and literal relational dynamic.  Jesus himself will disclose himself to those who are following. This is how the followers know what he is like.   

A - The problem for us humans is that we've been taught to say we're the children of God but to live like functional orphans.  We've been taught to obey … but love is rarely the point of the obedience earth is asking for.  Finally, the knowing which is presented by earth is not experiential and personal from Jesus.  It is a composite given by clergy, academicians and historians.  Jesus invites us to himself, not to historic and scriptural glimpses inspiring us to "make up in our heads" what he must be like.  We get to know him, not just know about him.  I am so very grateful to be experiencing his self-disclosure.  The result is refusing to live life as a functional orphan and to do the one thing he has asked:  to love others the way I'm being loved by him. 

P - Lord who still comes to us,

Thank you for wanting us to know you and not just know about you.  Thank you for inviting us all as children to live day by day in you and with you.  You are still amazing to this very day and I am saying yes to you and everything you already have in mind.  Love to all is always the first on your list.

Loving you back,

Steve

Following Whom?

S - "Whenever you stand up to speak with God, you must forgive what others have done to you. Then your Father in heaven will forgive your sins." Mark 11 [TS]

O - This is one of the nine times the scriptural record quotes Jesus identifying the only way one can know that their sins are forgiven. The confidence and affirmation heaven offers to all people is not primarily theological but relational. The religious are quick to offer theological, historical and formulaic dynamics in gaining assurance for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus is so emphatic on this relational reality that immediately after teaching us how to pray he says "If you forgive others for the wrongs they do to you, your Father in heaven will forgive you. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your wrongs." Matthew 6

A - "Jesus told the people who had confidence in him, “If you keep abiding in what I have said, you truly are my followers” (John 8)." It’s amazing how few people who say they’re following Jesus know his answer to this important consideration (and many others as well). Since he himself is heaven’s message to the world (7.7 billion and counting) his insight and instruction is paramount. If someone is following Jesus shouldn’t his answers be their answers? If someone is teaching others how to be Jesus’ follower shouldn’t they be teaching what Jesus taught? The record on this is really clear. If my answers are different than the answers of Jesus I should have the integrity to stop saying I’m following him or that I am his disciple. I accept his invitation given to all people: "Follow me." His answers are/will be my answers. His thinking will be/become mine. 

P - Lord who is the beginning and the end,

Thank you for sending Jesus to clarify your person and your purposes. Thank for the invitation to adoption, to following, to knowing you and not just knowing about you. I accept your message in Jesus. 

Glad to be included and following,

Steve

Reliable Living

S - "You, Lord, are my shepherd. I have all that I need. You let me rest in fields of green grass. You lead me to streams of peaceful water, and you refresh my life. You are true to your name, and you lead me along the right paths." Psalm 23

O - The shepherd is always in the lead — never the sheep. The sheep rely completely on the shepherd for everything. He is the source for all needs and desires. These words of Psalm 23 are more than an idyllic description. They are both a confession and a commitment for living life one day, one circumstance at a time. 

A - In the world of sheep and shepherds the roles are permanent. Sheep never lead and never rely on themselves. Never! My problem is trying to "help" the shepherd with my living, resting and thinking. Over the years it’s become increasingly apparent to me that he never requires my help and frankly really doesn’t want it. He wants my cooperation in following and relying on him. The result isn’t a life without any storms or wolves. It is a life refreshed, rested and at ease. 

P - Lord,

You are, and will be, my shepherd — THANK YOU! You lead and I’ll follow. Since you are fiercely loyal to me I will be fiercely loyal to you and demonstrate my loyalty by relying on you for everything. Thank you for loving us first, most and for refusing to change your mind (even when we give you reasons to). I love you back.

Baaaa,

Steve

Surprise! Please Don’t Miss the Point

S - "Everyone was completely surprised and kept saying to each other, “What is this? It must be some new kind of powerful teaching! Even the evil spirits obey him.” News about Jesus quickly spread all over Galilee." Mark 1 TS

O - Jesus pretty much surprised everyone all the time. The problem wasn’t in folks missing the surprise. It was, and is, in missing the point. The point is not about a unique teaching but a unique person. He is the point. In fact, Jesus is heaven’s only point. The record is clear, people don’t miss the surprise but are clearly at risk to miss the point. 

A - None were surprised more often by Jesus than those closest to him. For them it never stopped. Surprised by what he’d do and by what he wouldn’t do. Who he’d keep company with and who he wouldn’t. Surprised by storms and by visitors; by his use of miraculous power and by his refusal to use it. This remains the experience of all who respond to his invitation to follow. Earth (secular and religious) wants a policy, a standard, a principle, a plan or a formula. Heaven is offering a person and he’s the only constant in it all. He’s not only the only point; he’s the only point worth not missing. 

P - God who thankfully doesn’t think like me,

I am so very grateful for the simple and clear point you offer to all people — Jesus of Nazareth. Your understanding and power have no limit. Yet, there is only one point you need to make and want to make. I admit that the surprise of the strikingly beautiful and the stridently difficult have found me many times and Jesus remains the intimate, constant and confident resolution; and the revelation of it all. Thank you for loving us relentlessly in this wonderful person and way.

Love you back,

Steve

What’s Your Living Arrangement?

S - "And this is his [God’s] command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us." 1 John 3:23-24 NIV

O - The religions of earth have numerous and tedious commands/instructions which they claim are required by God. They claim that Divine acceptance and approval is dependent upon one’s performance of such. The Kingdom of heaven (here and hereafter) is very different. It requires a simple and straightforward response. It is not performance based. Its major focus is not informational but relational. Believing in the name of Jesus is not informational agreement about an identity but intentional reliance on and confidence in his person. This is coupled to the activity of loving others and completes the “list” of requirements; which is actually a description of relational living. The result is living in him and he living in us. The confirmation of this living arrangement is the presence of his spirit, not the performance of religious activities.

A - Jesus comes to invite all people to follow him and in the following to have eternal life (irrepressible and vibrant) here and hereafter. He himself is this life. His invitation is to a specific living arrangement. He lives in us and we live in him. He is heaven’s message to the world (7.7 billion people) and heaven’s only point. He not very concerned about informational accuracy but rather relational authenticity: Rely on me and love all others. He is always simple but not always easy. All of this is possible notthrough theological precepts but personal presence … his spirit in us and we in him. LIFE! 

P - God over all and God of me,

I accept and embrace the only arrangement of real life here and hereafter. Am gratefully relying on and putting my confidence in your gift - Jesus! Thank you for wanting to live in me/us and for wanting us/me to live in you. Yes to Jesus. Yes to loving all others. Yes to your spirit.

Loving you back,

Steve

Shame on Shame

shame

/SHām/ 

noun

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1.    a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior.

S - "O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame …  Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame; for I take refuge in you …  I wait for you.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭25:2-4, 20-21‬ ‭ESV‬‬ 

O - Life and the Scriptures confirm that our way of thinking and doing things and the Lord’s way of thinking and doing things are very different. His ways are his own and he asks us to follow; confidently relying on his person and presence. The earliest and closest followers of Jesus discovered that this difference in thinking and living covered everything from daily bread to demons, from money to enemies. The result was an ongoing oscillation between terror and amazement. It required the courage to wait; to not take the lead; to risk and to face the very real possibility of shame. The words of David recorded above reflect this very real dynamic. 

A - Shame, and the dread of it, is a powerful force trying to shape our thinking and living. It wants to determine my actions and responsibilities. It presents itself as the way to avoid the very shame it threatens. It wants me to trust myself and take the lead. Heaven is hoping I won’t. It wants me learn the ways/paths of the Lord.  It wants me to know by experience that the one who trusts in the Lord will never be put to shame. Jesus describes it this way: "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." I’ll accept and pursue the change of thinking and living Jesus inspires and requires. 

P - Lord in heaven and on earth,

I admit that all these years later the fear of shame can still find me with its intimidating threats. Even so, you’ve never let a trial, circumstance or enemy produce the shame predicted. Not only so, you have revealed yourself, your ways and limitless capacities to work everything for good. I welcome you to shape and determine my actions and responsibilities.

Amazed,

Steve