Christ

The Sea of Separation

/ EllieJ

If you read the Gospels, you’ll likely notice that much of Jesus ministry takes place near or even on the sea. You can take it at face value or you can look deeper into what the sea represents. Of course that’s what I did.

According to a study by Mark Ballenger (applygodsword.com), bodies of water are often a barrier to blessings. God had to split the Red Sea to set the Israelites free from slavery. God had to stop the flow of the Jordan during flood stages so his people could enter the promise land. In other parts of the Bible, bodies of water are symbols for evil, death, and chaos…

Some might question then, why Jesus spent so much time near such a representation. I ask, why wouldn’t He? Didn’t Jesus come to defeat evil, death, and chaos? Ballenger goes on to write, if bodies of water symbolize death, evil, chaos, and all the other things which are not natural to God’s original creation, then for Jesus to walk on the stormy waters seems to symbolically reveal the reality that Jesus conquers death, evil, and brings the order creation groans for.

So why is this important? My most recent studies have been in the Gospel of Mark and it took me two months to study my way through the fourth chapter. It opens with Jesus teaching by the sea.

He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land.

Mark 4:1 (NASB 1995)

This is usually a fly over verse in that it describes Jesus, where He is, and what He’s doing, but doesn’t seem to reveal anything significant. On to the next flannelgraph.

But wait, there’s more. Jesus got into a boat on the sea while the crowd remained on land. There’s a separation happening here. And if we apply what the sea represents, this verse suddenly becomes much more significant. Jesus is in a boat over the representation of death, evil, and chaos. That very thing separates Him from the people on the shore. Jesus, the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah is separated from the crowds of people by death, evil, and chaos. This is the reason He came—to remove that separation. But it hadn’t happened yet.

Jump ahead to verse 35. Jesus now instructs His disciples to go to the other side. Notice that He didn’t give them a choice. They were already in the boat, and Jesus said, “Let’s go.”

A post from St. Stephen Presbyterian says it better than I can:

“Let us cross over to the other side,” Jesus says in our Gospel today. When Jesus says those simple words to his disciples, they probably about had a heart attack. Jesus had been preaching on the western bank of the Sea of Galilee, which meant, basically, that he was preaching to people like himself and his disciples—his fellow Galileans, mostly poor fishermen and their families, mostly Jewish, with a strong regional identity. And suddenly Jesus is saying, Let’s go to the other side, by which he means, let’s cross the Sea of Galilee, at its widest point, from west to east, and go to other side, which in modern times we’d call the Nation of Jordan, and which back in those days was a land filled with people completely different from Galileans. This was Gentile territory, an area called the Decapolis, or the Ten Cities, populated by Arabs and by people from every part of the Roman Empire, sophisticated types, people who were proud Romans. Even the Jews who lived on the other side were completely different from Galileans. Jews who lived in the Decapolis were comfortable with compromises most Jews wouldn’t have made. They were willing to live among and work among people that Jews considered unclean, maybe even engage in unclean practices like eating pork. There were key Roman units garrisoned there. These people didn’t like Galilean Jews and Galilean Jews didn’t like them; and here’s Jesus saying, let’s cross over to the other side and hang out with them! The other side isn’t just any other side, it’s the dark side, and it’s like Jesus saying to them, “Come to the dark side, Luke!”

St. Stephen Presbyterian

It was bad enough that Jesus didn’t give His disciples the option of whether or not they wanted to spend the evening on the sea travelling to a heathen land, but then a storm kicks up. What I find amusing here is that no less than four of the disciples were professional fishermen. They knew this sea better than most and had surely encountered storms before. Either their commission to fish for men had turned them into pansies or this was one heck of a storm.

Jesus was not bothered by the storm. The disciples had to wake Him up to tell Him they were all going to die.

Most preachers use this account to let us know that Jesus is in the boat with us! No matter what storm we encounter, He’s there ready to calm it! But what if that’s not what this is about at all?

Maybe the boat is simply a boat. Maybe the point is that Jesus is just trying to get us to the other side.

Because left to our own devices, we’d rather stay where we are. That’s human nature. But it also seems to be the nature of faith. We can’t seem to hear Jesus’ invitation — “Let us go across to the other side.” How easy it is to stay in our comfort zones; to default to our pet theologies; to remain in what is known, even though that which is known has become unbearable. We would rather ignore the desperate need for change than make the change happen. So we sit. And we wait. For what? The right time? For someone else to make the first move? Maybe this is why Jesus doesn’t give the disciples any time to think about the trip — “On that day … ” We would think about it forever. “Thinking about it” is always one of our best excuses.

Karoline Lewis

Have you kept in mind what the sea represents? Death, evil, chaos.

Do you know what the wind represents? In a positive light, the wind often represents the Holy Spirit, but in a negative light, wind is often used as a picture of futility… Wind also negatively signifies doubtfulness or uncertainty (jesusway4you.com).

Jesus wasn’t concerned about death, evil, or chaos, nor did He have any doubt or uncertainty. He wasn’t bothered by the storm at all. But the disciples, on the other hand, weren’t so confident. They accused Jesus of being uncaring while the storm threatened to overtake them, filling the boat with water.

Now what’s the real threat here? The water isn’t. Think about it. Water on its own does nothing without outside interference. It’s there. It sits. It has no power unless acted on by an outside force. The sea on its own is powerless. Death, evil, chaos are powerless.

But enter the wind. The wind is what causes the waves to rise up. That doubt and uncertainty makes the death, evil, and chaos seem like more than they really are.

Take a look at what Jesus does when He’s so abruptly awoken.

And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.

Mark 4:39 (NASB 1995)

It was the wind that caused the storm and Jesus rebuked that, but what we have recorded are His words to the sea. Jesus spoke to the chaos, not the doubt and uncertainty. At least not the representation of it.

He addressed the doubt in His disciples.

And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” 

Mark 4:40 (NASB 1995)

There are a lot of questions we can ask ourselves as we consider these passages in a new light:

  • Am I looking for more options when Jesus gives me a direct instruction?
  • Do I fear the death, evil, and chaos even though they are powerless?
  • Does my doubt feed the chaos around me?
  • Do I expect Jesus to rebuke every storm for me?
  • Can I overcome my doubt and uncertainty to avoid the storms?

If you think this is a lot, just wait until the boys land on the shore. If you think there’s peace after the storm, read on into Mark 5.

It happened in a garden

/ EllieJ

For centuries, Bible teachers have told stories and those stories have been repeated and expounded upon and retold and retold. But what if the retelling is completely false? How many people sit under regular Bible teaching and simply accept what they’re being taught without a second glance at the scripture the story is being told from?

In my journey through John, I have come across many stories that I were told in a certain way, only to learn that what I was told wasn’t the real story at all. This isn’t necessarily the fault of current teachers for they are only repeating what they were told and those who told it were doing the same. The thing is, by retelling the same stories over and over again, we might just be missing out on a miraculous truth. And that is what I have recently discovered for myself.

In John 20, we come across Mary Magdalene at the garden tomb. Mary is often depicted as a fallen women, unworthy of the calling of Christ. All we truly know is that she had been oppressed by seven spirits and Jesus set her free. After that, she became a follower—a disciple—of Christ.

Mary (along with several other women) came to Jesus’ burial place to anoint His body as an act of final love and devotion. She found the tomb open and empty and was greeted by two angels. When they proved to be of no help to her, she turned and was met by another man she did not recognise. We soon discover the man to be none other than Jesus Himself.

So why is this little portion of scripture so significant? Because Mary Magdalene wasn’t the only woman in a garden described in the Bible. And she isn’t the only one who has been painted with the wrong brush over the centuries.

Now the snake was the most cunning of all living beings Yaweh-God had made. He deviously asked the woman, “Did God really tell you, ‘You must not eat the fruit from any tree of the garden…?'”

But the woman interrupted, “—We may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, except the tree in the center of the garden. God told us, ‘Don’t eat its fruit, or even touch it, or you’ll die.'”

But the snake said to her, “You won’t certainly die. God knows that the moment you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the tree produced delicious fruit, delightful to look upon, and desirable to give one insight, she took its fruit and ate it. She gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he also ate it. Immediately, their eyes were opened, and they realized they were naked, vulnerable, and ashamed; so they sewed fig leaves together for coverings.

Genesis 3:1-7 (TPT)

Eve is quite often painted as the temptress, the one who gave into the serpent’s cunning and deceived Adam. According to this account, Adam was present for the whole exchange. Also note that their eyes weren’t opened until both had eaten of the fruit.

Pretty much since the beginning of time, men have used this account to prove that women are incapable of making decisions—those are better left to the men in their lives. We are told that it’s women who lead men astray—as though men are not responsible for their own thoughts and actions. It is often suggested that Eve is solely responsible for the fall of mankind. And this is how the church has proceeded in thought through the ages.

And then we come back to Mary Magdalene. Because of the brush Eve has been painted with, Mary must also be drawn as a fallen woman, a woman incapable of making her own decisions, a woman who is nothing more than a weak, weeping creature who can do nothing more than collapse at the empty tomb, her tears being so plentiful that she can’t even recognise Jesus standing before her.

But what if that isn’t the story being told at all? John says later in chapter 20 that all he wrote was so that we will fully believe that Jesus is the Anointed One, the Son of God. How can a story of a weak, weeping woman bring us to believe in Jesus the Anointed One?

All of the above is to bring us to this: if Eve was the first to bring about the fall of humanity, then Mary Magdalene was the first to receive the reconciliation of humanity.

After His resurrection, Jesus could have revealed Himself to anyone. John and Peter had already been to the empty tomb. They came and went and Jesus didn’t show. It was to Mary that Jesus revealed Himself.

Then she turned around to leave, and there was Jesus standing in front of her, but she didn’t realize that it was him!

He said to her, “Dear woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”

Mary answered, thinking he was only the gardener, “Sir, if you have taken his body somewhere else, tell me, and I will go and…”

“Mary,” Jesus interrupted her.

Turning to face him, she said, “Rabboni!” (Aramaic for “my teacher”)

John 20:14-16 (TPT)

Mary Magdalene was the very first person to begin a new relationship with Jesus. Again, He could have chosen anyone—John, the disciple whom He loved, Peter, James, even Thomas—but He chose a woman. He chose Mary Magdalene.

I believe this account is so important because it not only restores the place of humanity to a right relationship with Christ, but it restores the place of women who had and have been beaten down to a place of submission for millennia. Women were never meant to be subservient to men, but helpers who walked beside them. Jesus revealing His glorified self to Mary only solidifies this place.

There is still so much more to compare between these two portions of scripture and I strongly urge you, reader, to dig in for yourself. Don’t simply take the word of a teacher, but go to the Word of God Himself. Allow Him to be your teacher and allow Him to reveal His Truth to you and through you.

It is Finished

/ EllieJ

How many people like me have read through the account of Jesus’ final days and hours thinking that the pinnacle of it all was the empty tomb, the resurrection?

To my surprise, it wasn’t.

Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

john 19:30 (NASB)

The climax of the salvation story sits at the moment where Jesus uses His last breath to utter one last phrase. It is finished. Noah Webster said the word finished meant that something was polished to the highest degree of excellence. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance gives several definitions that at face value seem to be at odds with one another:

Kalah (Hb. 3615): to be complete, at an end, finished, accomplished, or spent

Kaleh (Hb 3616): a failing

Kalah (Hb 3617): completion, complete destruction, consumption, annihilation

Kallah (Hb 3618): daughter-in-law, bride

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance

To see each of these definitions together might cause some confusion until we start to put them in the context of the entire story of our redemption.

In a cursory reading, we can see the first definition (3615) without issue. Jesus said, “It is finished,” so it’s done. Whatever it is that He was hoping to accomplish was accomplished.

We can get stuck on that second one (3616). How does failing come into play while Jesus is on the cross? If you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He came to earth to make a way for humanity to return to a communion with the Father then of course we don’t want to consider the possibility of failure. But I don’t believe it was Jesus’ failure this term would allude to.

If the pinnacle of redemption took place as Jesus exhaled that last breath, then Satan had already failed. Though Jesus’ body would lay dead, there was nothing the devil could do after that moment that could turn the tide in his favour again. Ever. He failed. Wholly and utterly.

This leads us to our next term (3617) of annihilation. When it comes to the devil, darkness, sin, this is a great word to have in your repertoire.

ANNIHILATION: The act of reducing to nothing or non-existence; or the act of destroying the form or combination of parts under which a thing exists, so that the name can no longer be applied to it, as the annihilation of a corporation.

Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language

This is a good word. And it’s a good word to think about in reference to Jesus being finished. Satan has no power. Death and fear are only shadows. As Jon Foreman once wrote, the shadow proves the sunshine. Light exists. It’s a substance. It has cause and effect. Darkness is nothing. It can do nothing.

The last term (3618) might be the most important.

When he had sipped the sour wine, he said, “It is finished, my bride!” Then he bowed his head and surrendered his spirit to God.

John 19:30 (TPT)

The Passion Translation actually includes the bridal term in the scripture and it adds a completion to Jesus’ phrase that other translations miss out on. Jesus’ work was finished on the cross (not the resurrection). Satan failed. Sin and darkness and death were annihilated. All of this was so that the bride, the Church, could find a way back into communion with the Father.

Jesus’ death wasn’t as a runner breaking through the tape at the end of a marathon. His completion was once and for all. Nothing more was or is necessary. He doesn’t need to run another race.

The next time fear or darkness try to overtake you, remember Jesus’ words. It. Is. Finished. The fight isn’t ours. It was His. And He won. It’s not a continued battle. It’s over. Done. Complete.

It is finished.

Why I Left Church

/ EllieJ

You probably don’t know me. If you do, there’s a good chance you don’t know my whole story. I’m not shy about it, but neither have I been terribly public about it. But the truth is, my “story” is a part of who and what I am today and has been a major contributing factor to my current journey.

My journey is my own. I know of many people who are walking a similar path and many who will never set foot anywhere near it. I’m not saying that my way is the right way and your way is the wrong way. I simply want to give context so that maybe you will have a better understanding of where I’m coming from.

As of the writing of this post, it’s been a year and a half since I formally requested a release from the church I had been a part of for over seven years. In those seven years, there wasn’t an area of ministry I had not been involved in in some way or another. From janitorial and building improvement, to kid’s and youth ministry, men’s and women’s ministry, small groups, corporate prayer, graphics and media, worship, and even preaching, I had done it all. I did it for years without question. That was how I’d been raised. But then something changed.

I started to read my Bible—not so different from what all of us who profess to be Christians should be doing, but I wasn’t just reading it and putting it away, I was reading it looking for something to take with me as I went about my day.

The change started slowly. It was (and still is) exciting. I was seeing the Bible in a different way and making connections I’d never seen or heard of before. And while I was making connections on one hand, I was seeing a disconnect on the other hand. The Church of the Bible didn’t look much like the church I was so busy “doing.” I’d read about what Jesus was doing and how He was teaching His disciples, but failed to see how that had been translated in to what I was doing for the church.

Let me be clear, I am in no way knocking the local church. I believe there is a place for it, but I also believe that we all need to take a close look at our part in it and why we do what we do. Most of what I was doing for the church had little or no biblical foundation. Before you get all riled up, I strongly encourage you to look into this for yourself. Forget everything you think you know about what church should look like and go to the Gospels to see exactly what Jesus said He would build. If you’d never been exposed to church in your life and read the first five books of the New Testament and then walked into a church building, would it meet your expectations? Be honest.

The first week after leaving church was strange. I’d never intentionally skipped out on a Sunday service a day in my life. The next week was even more strange, as was the next. I eventually settled in to a new routine and actually found myself able to relax on weekends instead of spending Saturday preparing for Sunday and spending Sunday doing everything I’d prepared for on Saturday. There was no rest for me on the “day of rest.” Without “doing” church, I found rest. I felt like I could breathe again, never having realised I’d stopped doing that somewhere along the way.

Why do I put “doing” in quotes? I think there is a massive difference in going through the motions of church (activity in a local organised body)—the doing—and being the Church (the global body of Christ).

Before COVID hit, I’d attend a local denominational congregation every once in a while. After spending 20 years as a worship leader, I missed corporate worship. I also met on a weekly basis with several other people who found themselves on a similar path. We were all in need of fellowship and encouragement to help with the healing process.

Fast forward to today. I’m part of a local small group with no church affiliations and I’m also part of an online small group with a church affiliation. Both groups are family to me. If the lockdown ever ends, I have no plans to join another local congregation.

Most people would rather forget 2020. I don’t. 2020 was a year of immeasurable growth for me. I learned so much that I wouldn’t trade for anything. I’m learning to forget what I thought I knew and open my mind and heart to what the Bible actually teaches. Verse-by-verse, I’m exploring what it really means to be a part of the Church Jesus said He would build—and I don’t have to be a part of something men are trying to build to do that.

Being a part of the body of Christ is not the same thing as being a member of a local church. The two are not the same thing. I’ve known of people who were involved in a local church that never made a commitment for Christ and I know many strong believers who never darken the door of a church building.

I think this pandemic has offered churches (and their members) across the globe an incredible opportunity to redefine what it really means to be a believer. Many leaders are embracing this time and are re-evaluating and redirecting so that when they are allowed to open the doors again, nothing will be as it was. It’s my prayer that believers everywhere, in establishing a “new normal,” also take this time to re-establish themselves, not in a local church, but in Christ.

Protect the promise

/ EllieJ

If you’ve made a commitment to someone, how far will you go to see that it happens? If someone has made a commitment to you, how far will you go to see that it happens? And what about what God has promised to you? How far will you go to hold on to the promises that you have from the Lord? Only until it gets a little uncomfortable? Only until it’s inconvenient and doesn’t really fit into your plans?

What if we could see the end at the beginning? Would it change our response to God’s promises? It certainly made a difference in Judah. God had promised that David’s line would never end. David would have an heir on the throne forever. But as we read in 2 Chronicles, that line was in serious jeopardy. Upon the death of King Ahaziah, his mother took it upon herself to destroy every possible heir. But one got away. Just a child, but an heir nonetheless.

Jehoiada said to them, “The king’s son shall reign, as the Lord promised concerning the descendants of David. Now this is what you are to do: A third of you priests and Levites who are going on duty on the Sabbath are to keep watch at the doors, a third of you at the royal palace and a third at the Foundation Gate, and all the other men are to be in the courtyards of the temple of the Lord. No on is to enter the temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites on duty; they may enter because they are consecrated, but all the other men are to guard what the Lord has assigned to them. The Levites are to station themselves around the king, each man with weapons in his hand. Anyone who enters the temple must be put to death. Stay close to the king wherever he goes.

2 Chronicles 23:3b-7 (NIV)

That is an awful lot of fuss for a kid just barely out of kindergarten. Yet Jehoiada knew that this boy was heir to far more than just the nation of Judah. He was the heir of a promise that would extend throughout eternity and they would protect that promise with their lives.

We have a book full of promises from God. How far will you go to see those promises come to pass?

The thing is, just because a promise has been made, doesn’t mean that we aren’t required to do anything. It doesn’t mean that we just get to sit around and let it happen around us. Had Jehoiada decided to leave matters be—it’ll all work out in the end, won’t it?—Joash would have been killed along with the rest of his siblings. The last of David’s line gone. And then what? It’s not as though God couldn’t have come up with another plan for salvation. But that’s not what God does. He’s not a God of plan B. He doesn’t even have a plan B. It’s plan A. Period.

So how do we know that God will keep His promises?

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

2 Corinthians 1:20-22 (NIV)

If God has made a promise to us, we can be assured that He will keep it. But we also have a responsibility to protect that promise. We must arm ourselves as Jehoiada armed the priests and Levites to protect Joash. God has given us His Spirit so that we can stand firm in the face of our enemy and declare the Amen—let it be so—with confidence that if God has promised it, He will perform it.

Do you have a promise from God? Protect it. With your life.

Read: 2 Chronicles 23-25, John 16:16-33

If the world hates you

/ EllieJ

The world. Unredeemed society, estranged from God, held in the grip of sin and the evil one, blind to spiritual truth and hostile to those who have the life of God in them… Hostility is rooted in spiritual dissimilarity.

Everett F. Harrison, The Wycliffe Bible Commentary

More and more, it would seem, the world hates the Church. I don’t believe that it is so much because we carry a message of hate—our message is quite the opposite—but that they do not understand our message. It’s different than what they’ve been told to think. Talk to anyone who is militantly against faith in Christ. More often than not, they don’t even know why they carry so much anger or hatred nor do they know enough of the Bible to make any relevant argument against the faith.

As frustrating as this can be to Christians around the world, Jesus gave us fair warning.

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, That is why the world hates you.

John 15:18-19 (NIV)

People fear what they do not know and that fear can easily be turned into hatred. A child may claim that he hates all vegetables. As it is unlikely that he has tried every vegetable in existence, it can be assumed that their conclusion of dislike for all produce stems from either a bad experience with vegetables or a fear of the unknown. That which hasn’t been sampled can seem strange and different and uncomfortable.

The world’s ignorance is the true cause of its hatred to the disciples of Jesus. The clearer and fuller the discoveries of the grace and truth of Christ, the greater is our sin if we do not love him and believe in him.

Matthew Henry

The mention of Jesus, however, elicits a far stronger reaction than broccoli. Most people who claim to hate Jesus along with those who follow him really know nothing about him and what he really taught. Their opinions are often based on hearsay or that one bad experience. Because we don’t share common values or beliefs, we all become like vegetables—hated for no other reason than being a vegetable, or in our case, Christians.

There are those who believe that, if Christians would just act more like the rest of the world, it would be better. Wrong. It wouldn’t be better. Jesus called us out of the world. We shouldn’t look like the world. That’s like a mother mashing cauliflower and carrots into the potatoes to make her kid eat vegetables. Sure, the cauliflower is still cauliflower and the carrots are still carrots, but they’ve been blended in with the potatoes so much, you can no longer tell what’s what. The original substance, texture, shape, and flavour has all been lost.

How did Jesus respond to the haters? He loved them. It is our love for one another and our love for the world that sets us apart.

But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Luke 6:27-31 (NIV)

Read: 2 Chronicles 17-19, John 15

Spirit and truth

/ EllieJ

WORSHIP: To adore; to pay divine honors to; to reverence with supreme respect and veneration.

To honor with extravagant love and extreme submission; as a lover.

Jesus spoke of a time to worship. He also spoke of a way to worship—in spirit and in truth.

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.

John 4:23-24 (NIV)

As a worship leader, I have often been confronted with many questions about worship. I am sorry to admit that I often go through stages in my life where I am on autopilot. I go through the motions of worship without really thinking about it much. But lately, I’ve had many discussions about it, what it should look like, what it should sound like, and what songs it should include. But worship is far more than a few songs on Sunday morning. It is a lifestyle.

The Father is seeking true worshipers because He wants people to live in reality, not in falsehood. Everybody is a worshiper but because of sin many are blind and constantly put their trust in worthless objects.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary

I recently heard a worship leader speaking of those who claim that worship isn’t their “thing”. Newsflash, we are all worshipers. It is what we were created for. And if we are not worshiping God, we are most certainly worshiping something or someone else. I worship in my heart, some might say. Worship begins in the heart, but for it to be true worship, it can’t stay there. Worship is an outward expression. Period.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

Romans 12:1 (NIV)

Your spiritual act of worship is offering your bodies as living sacrifices. This spiritual act involves the body and mind, too.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:2 (NIV)

My worship of my heavenly Father cannot look like anything of this world—because it isn’t of this world. Charles Spurgeon put it this way:

O professor, too little separated from sinners, you know not what you lose by your conformity to the world. It cuts the tendons of your strength, and makes you creep where you ought to run. Then, for your own comfort’s sake, if you be a Christian, be a Christian, and be a marked and distinct one.

In other words, if you’re going to say you’re a Christian, you may as well act like it. And if you’re going to act like it, really act like it. By acting in any manner other than that which we are called to actually deprives us of the strength that has been promised to us as believers. We limp along through life when God would have us run.

…but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)

The more I learn about worship—true worship—the less I care about what anyone else says. My concern is my relationship with and my response to my Father, not what other people’s opinions may be. So if the music stops, my hands go up, and I go down on my knees, I can honestly say that I don’t care if that’s your “thing” or not. I would hope that honest and authentic worship would lead more people into the presence of God than a nice performance a nice song.

Read: 2 Kings 4-5, John 4:1-30

John and Paul

/ EllieJ

In 1967, John Lennon and Paul McCartney loudly declared that All You Need Is Love. And those words changed the world. They were a key part of a cultural revolution (they sang about that, too). They may not have gone about it the right way, but they weren’t entirely wrong.

Thousands of years before guitars got plugged in and a hairdo was referred to as a mop-top, Another John and another Paul spoke of a different kind of love that would change the world.

The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends to the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.

John 3:29-30 (NIV)

John, Jesus’ cousin, was known for baptising people. Some of his followers were a little upset when Jesus also began baptising. And there were more people in Jesus’ lineup on the shore than in John’s. Rather than joining the jealous conversation, John explained that now that Jesus had shown up and stepped up, his job was pretty much done. His entire purpose was to point people toward Jesus. And because people were going to Jesus, his purpose and his joy were made complete. His time was over. Jesus’ had begun.

If you have any encouragements from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

Philippians 2:1-2 (NIV)

Just as John was filled with joy at people following Jesus, Paul’s joy was made complete when the believers acted in one accord, displaying the attributes of Christ.

Lennon and McCartney may have landed on some very profound truths in their lyrics, but without ever knowing the true power behind those words, they are void of life. All of the focus was on the men behind the microphones.

The Baptist and The Apostle also landed on some very profound truths in their words. The difference here is that they both pointed the attention away from themselves and toward Jesus—the fulfillment of their proclamations.

The glory does not belong to us, but to Christ. All that we do should be a reflection of him and only serve to point others toward the cross. If all you need is love, love can be found in Christ at the foot of the cross. When you find Christ, your joy will also be complete.

Read: 2 Kings 1-3, John 3:22-36

True life

/ EllieJ

We’re all looking for something or someone. Everyone wants to find purpose or meaning in life. And most people go through their entire lives searching but never finding because they’ve been looking in all the wrong places.

The Sunday after Jesus died by way of crucifixion, the women who had been following him went to the tomb to anoint his body properly for burial. One would assume that the best place to look for someone who had died would be the tomb where their body had been placed, but when they arrived, there was no body to anoint. Just a couple of angels with a message.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

Luke 24:5b (NIV)

In the entire account of the empty tomb, this one question stood out to me. In all of our searching for meaning and purpose in life, most often, we look for it among the dead. In John 14:6, Jesus declared, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” If there is life to be found, there is only one place to find it, and it’s not in the world.

The world, as hard as it may try, cannot replace or replicate the life that is found in Christ. Anything that is found outside of Christ can only mimic true life.

Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they make take hold of the life that is truly life.

1 Timothy 6:18-19 (NIV)

Meaning and purpose cannot be found just anywhere. Paul wrote to Timothy to tell the people to do good, be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. That is where true life begins. It is not a selfish search for ourselves, but a selfless search for Christ.

And if there is any doubt at all:

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life.”

John 6:35a (NIV)

The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

John 6:63 (NIV)

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 8:12 (NIV)

You may be breathing. Your heart may be beating. But are you alive? Are you truly alive?

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

John 11:25-26 (NIV)

Life is too short to waste looking for it among the dead. Life, true life, can only be found at the foot of the cross of Jesus.

Read: 1 Kings 10-11, Luke 24:1-35

Losers

/ EllieJ

I think it would be fair to say that most of us do not relish being losers. We all want to win. At everything. But there are some cases in which losing will gain us far more than winning ever will.

But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. This will result in your being witnesses to them. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm you will gain life.

Luke 21:12-19 (NIV)

Anyone who tells you that life as a Christian will be sunshine and roses is a liar. The Bible makes no guarantees that, once we put our faith in Christ, our lives will be stretched out before us like a freshly paved highway on the prairie. It’s more like a narrow path through rock, jungle, desert, and ocean. In just a few statements Jesus told his followers that they will be betrayed by those closest to them, that they will be hated, and that they may even die. But don’t worry, not a hair of your head will perish!

Though we may be losers for Christ, we shall not, we cannot be losers by him, in the end.

Matthew Henry

To those new to the faith, it may seem that Jesus is asking a lot of us. Maybe too much. He’s asking for our lives. If we don’t fully understand the benefits that are afforded to us as believers, we may well be unwilling to do all that Christ asks of us.

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.

Philippians 3:7-8 (NIV)

For one who has only faith in themself, it is difficult to understand how a follower of Christ could be so willing to give up everything—become a loser—for someone who existed thousands of years ago. But even in the face of complete and utter loss in this life, we have gained far more than they can ever know unless they, too, come to an understanding of the grace by which we stand. We have already won because Jesus has already won. Christ has already defeated the one thing which the world cannot—death. And because we are in Christ, we have already won as well.

Losers in this life we may be, but we have already gained everything in the next.

Read: 2 Samuel 17-18, Luke 21:1-19