Discipleship

Giving Our All For Him

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

‘And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ‘ Mark 8:34 ESV

If I am learning anything during this Covid-19 crisis it is that service is far more important than position. The young person bringing my groceries out to my car ensures that we have food in the house. The insurance lady working from home takes my call and helps me to order medical supplies. In fact without the people who take away our garbage, mow our lawn and repair our water softeners our own lives would soon become intolerable. Strangely enough because of online worship sessions, we are also learning things about our pastor such as what his living room furniture and golden retriever look like and that he can lead worship with his own guitar. We have also come to a greater appreciation for the many phone calls from our family and have lingered just a little longer each time we get to see our grand kids’ faces on a video call. We are seeing clearly something we have known all along and that is that our lives are not defined by how important people think we are but by how we are loved and how we love in return by simple acts of service.

photo of people holding each other s hands

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Maybe that’s what Jesus meant when He asked us to follow Him. First He called us to serve at a specific place and to certain people. Then He commands us to put those people ahead of ourselves through the ministry that God has called us to do. Finally; He tells us to give our lives just as He gave; no matter the cost and holding nothing because we are giving our all for Him.

Honestly Following Jesus

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And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to Him, “Rabbi let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.   Mark 10:51 ESV

Some of us might feel we need some kind of special mysterious experience to understand God. But Jesus always made things very simple for people. Out of all the thousands of people in the crowd that day it is amazing that only this one blind man named Bartimaeus could see clearly. When he heard that Jesus was coming his way, he believed that God was really interested in his problem. Then Bartimaeus began to shout as loud as he could asking Jesus to have mercy on him. The people around him told him to quiet down. They didn’t believe that Jesus would be interested in helping somebody like Bartimaeus.

But the good news for Bartimaeus and for us is that Jesus is interested in everyone. He had not walked up the street where Bartimaeus was sitting by accident. Just like Bartimaeus all you and I have to do is believe he cares and ask for His help no matter what anyone else say. Then just like Bartimaeus we will discover that God is passing by today because He loves us and sent Jesus for anyone ready to be honest and who are willing to follow Him!

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This Little Salt of Mine

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You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. Matthew 5:14 ESV

Being the salt of the earth gets a lot less attention than being the light of the world. After all when was the last time you heard anyone singing, “This little salt of mine!”? When people think about the salt of the earth they vaguely picture plain and ordinary folks. On the other hand, when my mother used to say that sailors were using “salty language”; she meant something quite different. Then what exactly is there about salt that Jesus is urging us to understand?

It may help to remember that salt comes up from mines deep in the earth. Its uniqueness is that it is totally different from the soil around it. In the same way, when we became Christians God dug us up by His grace and brought to the surface for a special purpose. His grace has transformed us and so He asks us to let that grace flow through us to transform our own little part of the world. Every day He gives us the opportunity to demonstrate the difference that grace has made in our lives; not to try to fit in and become like everyone else. When Jesus prayed that we would be in the world, but not of it He was asking that His grace would flavor everything and everyone around us. We are on earth for such a short time, so why don’t we start singing, “This little salt of mine; I’m going to shake it out!”

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