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For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10
You are being followed. Don’t be alarmed. It’s not as if you were being stalked by some dark threatening figure lurking in the shadows. He means no harm to you, in fact he follows you to protect you.
You are being followed. Relax. He’s not some ‘helicopter dad’ who hovers over you and watches your every step in order to protect you from every bump and bruise. In fact, he’s been known to keep his distance from time to time in order for you to test your freedom.
You are being followed. Celebrate! You are being followed by a King! You are being followed by the Creator of the universe. By the wisest and richest and most powerful being around.
He’s not following you to try to catch you at some evil deed. He’s not following you to gather evidence of your shortcomings so that he can bring you to trial and convict you. He’s not following you because he thinks you are going to show him anything new either. In fact, his decision to follow you has absolutely nothing to do with who you are, what you look like or what has happened in your past (good or bad).
He’s following you for one reason and one reason only. He loves you. Not only does he love you but he loves you enough to follow you wherever you go. When you take him to good places where he hears and sees good things, he loves you and celebrates with you. When you take him to places that are dark and threatening, he loves you and protects you.
He’ll never leave you. He’ll never let you out of his sight. Like a protective Father he’ll let you wander a bit, let you feel like you are in control and like you are on your own. But you will never be more than an arms reach away from his protective grasp.
His decision to seek you out and follow you is in no way affected by what other people think about you or say about you, or by anything you have done. The accusations of those who like rules, and those who flaunt freedom fall on his deaf ears. He doesn’t care what others think about you. He loves you. They won’t stop him from that!
To think that God, Creator God, the God of the universe loves you so much that he seeks you out. He follows you on the crowded streets. He watches over you when you go through the dark valleys of life. Always there. Always watching. Always loving. That’s your Heavenly Father. Your sin doesn’t surprise him. Your actions won’t bring revenge. When you stumble he is there to pick you up. He loves you and nothing will ever change that.
PRAYER: Father God, I’m in awe of the fact that you would love me so much that you would seek me out and follow me. I see myself as so weak, so unworthy of your love, so incapable of living the life I know you’d like me to live. I think of the things I’ve let you see and hear. I’m embarrassed by the places I’ve taken you. Thank you for being patient. Thank you for loving me and protecting me in every circumstance. In Jesus name, Amen.
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” John 18:36
When Jesus was on earth many people became disillusioned with him when he began to speak of his upcoming death. They misunderstood his mission. They were looking for someone to deliver them from the bondage that the Roman Government was putting on them
The people of Jesus’ time were tired of high taxes, tired of government rules and regulations and tired of being told how and where and when to worship. They wanted government off their backs. They wanted freedom. In Jesus they saw all that and more. Imagine having king that was not only righteous, but could heal as well! Life would be so much better.
But Jesus didn’t come to earth to provide the people with a guarantee of prosperity. He didn’t walk the dusty roads of Palestine to preach revolution from government. Jesus didn’t come to remove trials and tribulation from people’s lives, he came to show them how to live in the midst of them.
We really haven’t changed much from the days when Jesus was physically here. During those honest times we still expect, or at least wish, that he would wave some magic wand and make our world easier.
Who wouldn’t love to have a Savior that would provide all our wants? How marvelous would it be for him to remove the crabbiness from those around us. If we could pray against the guy who just cut us off and have a policeman promptly pull him over! If we could simply wish those extra pounds away, magically produce lower gas prices, or change our spouse/significant other into the caring person we once thought they were.
Life would be so much easier if Jesus were our Santa Clause instead of our Savior! Ok, maybe that was a bit of a stretch, but every day people lose faith because their prayers weren’t answered the way they hoped, or the strength they prayed for didn’t come.
Jesus didn’t come to bring his physical kingdom into existence. Someday that will come. Jesus came to bring a Spiritual kingdom into the hearts of those who choose to follow Him. We should not expect to feel at home in this world. Our home isn’t here on earth, it’s in heaven. Until we get there, we are aliens in a foreign land.
Since this world is not our home we can expect to be misunderstood, mistreated and even attacked for our faith. Since we are aliens if a foreign land our hope isn’t in the life we live here, but in the life we live when we get home.
PRAYER: Father God, sometimes I get so tired of being under attack for my beliefs. I’m misunderstood, I’m tempted to doubt and I’m encouraged by the world system to go against your word. I live in a world system of no values and no absolute truth. I ask that you would strengthen me through your Holy Spirit to remain true through the attacks and struggles. Help me to remember that my home is not here, but with you. In Jesus name, Amen.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Hebrews 4:15
Have you ever taken the time to sit and listen to any of the promotional television shows? Each show has a product or ‘system’ to sell that will make your life easier physically, relationally financially or career-wise. The problem with most of these shows is that they can’t possibly take into account your particular life circumstance, your past, your family situation, your feelings or your hurts.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a show on TV that gave you ten easy steps to having whatever you wanted or needed in life? The unfortunate reality is, it’s not going to happen. No one can possibly give you an easy answer to all the things that are troubling you. There is no quick-fix to the disappointments, the pain of abuse, the fear of the future or the shadows of your past, those ghosts in the closet that you have kept hidden for years.
Worse yet, no one fully understands how you feel. You may be lucky enough to have one or two friends that can understand somewhat the feelings you are going through. They may be able to cry with you, listen to you and support you, but nobody can climb inside your body to know exactly how you feel. No one, that is, except Jesus.
Jesus alone knows and understands exactly how you feel and understands your weakness. In fact, the Bible says he personally has experienced every temptation, every rejection, every struggle you have. The difference is that Jesus never gave in to those temptations, never let the rejection keep him captive, never allowed the attacks of other people to affect how he viewed himself.
Even though he knows how to overcome all those obstacles, he’s not going to hold that over you. You’ll never hear Jesus say, “Suck it up! I resisted. I overcame. You just need to be strong. You just need to reach deep within yourself and resolve to be better”. Jesus won’t criticize us because even though he was victorious over the struggles of life, he knows we are weak. He knows we fail.
Jesus is our great high-priest. A high-priest was the person that would go before God with our sins and seek God’s forgiveness on our behalf. When Jesus goes to the Father with our sin, he says something like, “I know he’s failed again. I know she’s having a hard time with forgiveness and that addiction, but I know how he/she feels. I was there. I know the struggle and the power life can have over them.”
There aren’t ten easy steps to perfection. But there is one easy step to forgiveness in Jesus Christ. There is one person in this world who understands every time you’ve failed. Every time you’ve given in to an addiction, a struggle, anger, hate or any of the other things that attack. Jesus understands. He longs to hold you in his arms of grace. He’s only a prayer away.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I don’t fully understand how you can understand me when I don’t understand myself most days. There are so many days when I wake up in the morning determined to conquer the obstacles in my path, only to fail miserably. Thank you for knowing how I feel. Thank you for accepting me anyway. Forgive me for my failings and empower me to get up and keep going. In your name I pray, Amen.
After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. John 13:5
So, imagine, just for a moment, that you are one of Jesus’ disciples. It’s been a long day walking along the hot and dusty road through the wilderness. You are hot and tired. Even the thoughts of the people Jesus healed in the last town aren’t lifting your spirits. All you can think of is laying down to eat and giving your hot sore feet a rest.
As you enter the room where the meal is to be served you breathe a sigh of relief. The room is ready. The clay walls have kept the room cool. A welcome relief from the blazing sun outside. You scan the room briefly. Table is ready. Bread is out. Fresh wine is already poured. Foot washing bowl is in the corner complete with towel and ….wait. Where is the foot-washing servant?
You shake your head. Judas and his penny-pinching. How hard would it have been to get a servant to wash your feet? The coolness of the room is replaced by the heat of anger rising inside you. It doesn’t take that much to plan.
You look around once more. Nope. No servant. Most of the others probably think your face is red from being outside. It isn’t. It’s red with anger as you make your way to your spot. Hopefully you’ll get a place near Jesus so that if an opportune time comes you can tell him what you think of the lack of a servant.
John reclines beside you. Great! Everyone knows that he has the smelliest feet of the group and now there’s no one to wash them. Can this day get any worse? Your thoughts are interrupted by the sloshing sound of water. A momentary sense of relief comes as you turn towards the sound. The momentary relief is replaced by shock as you look down and see Jesus at your feet. Towel wrapped around his waist, his hands gently washing the hot dust from your feet. It feels so incredibly good on one hand, and seems so incredibly wrong on the other. He’s the Rabbi! He has no place stooping so low as to wash our feet.
What was that he was saying? No servant is greater than his master? Of course not. A servant is a servant. Then it hits you. We are all servants. John with his stinking feet is no better or worse than you are. Judas with his penny-pinching, shady ways is on the same level as you too. And Peter, with his arrogant, speak-now-think-later ways? No worse than the attitude you are embracing in your heart.
It’s the same Jesus today as in the upper room. He is still willing to kneel down to your level. He’s still willing to touch you in the areas that are most in need of his touch, no matter how dirty, no matter how rotten those areas are.
His love is like soothing cool water on hot, painful feet. His touch softens the hardest calluses of your soul. Jesus thinks nothing of stooping to the lowest level to lift you up. Let him wash your feet today. Feel the soothing, healing relief of his love and forgiveness. Then reach out to those who need to feel that touch as well.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank you for the lesson of the feet washing. I confess that there are too many times I’ve thought myself to important or too busy to reach out to others who need to feel your touch. Refresh me with the soothing touch of your love and forgiveness. Empower me to share your love and forgiveness with those around me. In your name I pray, Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 