Lay Down Your Weakness: the fuller version

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Carl Simmons

So, let’s get back to our weakness. Most of us are well aware of how we fail to measure up to our own standards, let alone God’s. But again, Jesus knows this, too. And again, His concern is not with our failures but with our willingness to follow. He will attend to the things He’s called us to. We simply need to show up, and then follow.

Sounds simple enough. The problem is, we don’t do it. We don’t think Jesus will do what He’s promised. Why should He? Look at us.

It’s easy for many of us to look ourselves and think we’re useless to God. We’re still struggling with all the sins and temptations we addressed back in Weeks 1 and 2, for crying out loud; what business do we have even thinking about being useful to God?

But remember Friday’s passage from 1 Corinthians: God chose the foolish to shame the wise… the weak to shame the strong… the low and despised, even things that aren’t, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no-one could boast in His presence. God chose you, in your weakness—you could almost say because of your weakness. And He wants to use your weakness, and His transformation of it, to display His glory.

However, more often that not, we fly between our pride that we can do everything on our own and our failure that leads us to think we can’t do anything. We’re weak, we’re tempted, we’re overwhelmed and we don’t know what to do about it.

But the Bible is clear that our ongoing weakness and temptation can actually be a pretty good teacher. Here are just a few of the potential lessons our weaknesses can teach us, if we’ll let them:

  • We’re not as strong as we think we are.
  • We always need God to carry us through, or at least accompany us as He pushes us along.
  • If we’re humble enough to let Him, God will carry us through, because…
  • God is far stronger than we give Him credit for.

As I’ve been writing this book, I’ve really come to appreciate Peter more. As brilliant as that “man out of time” Paul was… as loving and engrossed with Jesus as John was… as assertive as James was… for that matter, even as wonderfully morosely skeptical as my boy Thomas was… I think I’m beginning to understand why Jesus chose Simon to become Peter, “the rock on whom I will build my church.” It’s because he was the most human of the disciples. And humanity was what Jesus came to redeem.

For all the evidence you need of this, look at Peter’s “story arc.” We’ve already hit on a huge paradigm shift at the end of Week 1, what we could call “The Tale of Two Fishing Trips”—his transformation from someone who encountered the Son of God and could only see his sin to someone who encountered the risen Jesus and swam after Him as hard as he could. In between are incredible highs and lows, including the near-simultaneous events of Peter first grasping that Jesus was the Messiah, being informed that he would be the rock upon whom Jesus whom build His church, then being rebuked “Get behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:13-23). You almost imagine Peter kicking the pebbles in front of him and protesting, “Gee, all I was trying to do was protect you, Jesus.”

Peter didn’t yet understand that he was totally incapable of protecting Jesus. And he certainly didn’t grasp it either when he tried to protect Jesus again during His arrest in the garden. Jesus once more rebukes him: “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” (John 18:11). Peter didn’t yet realize that his strength, like Jesus’, came from obeying his Father’s will.

Even after Jesus came back from the dead, Peter was subject to relapses of fear and bravado, as is evident when in Galatians 2:11-21, Paul has to rebuke him for skulking away from the Gentiles whom Jesus had already declared clean to Peter (Acts 10:9-47).

But eventually, Peter learns to stop forcing it, and trust that God will do what He intends to do when He intends to do it. We see the evidence of that in his final letter: “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:8-9).

We are lifetime projects. The sooner we realize it, the better. So let’s lay down our weakness, lay down our own tools that don’t work anyway, and allow Jesus to be the one who builds us up.

 

Lay It Down Today

So, what are your weaknesses, and what is God trying to teach you through them? After all, God allowed them in your life. And God wastes nothing.

Spend time meditating on your “weak spots,” and what God’s trying to teach you through them. Your response might look like one of the bullet points above, or it might be something else. But bottom line: How can God’s strength be manifested through (or despite) your weakness? Ask God to begin to manifest His strength in the midst of your weakness, and to help you to see and rely on His work in your life.

Also (more on this tomorrow), begin thinking about whom you can share about your weakness with—a Christian friend or mentor who can be trusted with this information.

Note: Meditating doesn’t mean “indulging.” In fact, if your mind begins drifting toward things it shouldn’t, stop meditating right then and start praying, because you already know what God needs to transform, and how badly.

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Lay Down Your Boundaries

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Carl Simmons

We now turn from the things we desire to do, to the things we don’t desire to do—and thus, from the question “Lord, why won’t You help me do this?” to “Lord, why (and how) do You expect me to do that?”

Often without even realizing, we place limitations on what God wants to do in our lives, who we’ll reach out to, when we’ll make ourselves available, where we’re willing to go for His sake. And once God’s done laughing at our plans, He gently—or sometimes quite abruptly—pushes us past the boundaries we’ve tried to impose upon His infinite plans for us.

It’s OK to realize how insufficient we are, or for that matter how truly little we love the people around us. God already knows it. But it’s not OK to resist God’s will because of our insufficiency, as if He won’t provide everything we need to perform His will.

And it’s definitely not OK to regard others as unworthy of our time and effort—to in effect say to God, “I refuse to waste my time, energy, and attention on those people.”…

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:26-31, ESV).

We’ll dig further into this idea in our next entry, but for now, remember this: It’s not only that you’re called to minister to those spiritually, physically, financially, intellectually, or morally weaker than you—you are among those weaklings whom Christ has called to accomplish His wise, righteous, sanctifying, and redeeming purposes. You’re not better, only different. And when Christ’s purposes come to fruition, we’ll know that we could only been the Lord, and thus boast only in Him.

We cannot separate our life in Christ from the life we have already been placed in by Christ. Only when we begin living an integrated life—where we invite our sacred lives fully into our secular ones, without saying to God, “This far, and no further”—will we begin to be, then see, the change around us.

Another quote from Watchman Nee (this time from Changed Into His Likeness) gives us a simple but wonderfully practical illustration of both our preset boundaries and Christ’s power to blow effortlessly past them:

We know just how much we can stand, but alas, we have not discovered how much Christ can stand…. If two children cry, the mother can stand it, but if more than two cry together, under she goes. Yet it is not really a matter of whether two children cry, or three. It is all a question of whether I am getting the victory or Christ. If it is I, then I can stand two only. If Christ, it won’t matter if twenty cry at once! To be carried through by Christ is to be left wondering afterwards how it happened!

To lay down your boundaries is to lay down your control—and to discover that no matter where God leads you next, He still has the control. As you lay down your boundaries, prepare to be surprised by God, and to be brought into places where only His glory can be produced.

Lay It Down Today

Find a doorway, and stand behind one side of it. As you look out into the next room, think about at least one boundary you’ve set, where you’ve essentially said to God, “This far, and no further.” As you look out into the next room, think about all the people and things you’ve put on the other side of your boundary. Who’s in that room? What might God want you to do there? Why do you keep yourself on this side?

Take at least a couple minutes to stand in your doorway and think about this—maybe even to mourn about what God has wanted to accomplish through you but you’ve resisted until now. Then pray. Repent of your resistance to God’s will for your life, and in the lives of those on the other side. Ask God to break your heart so that you see those people and situations the way He does, and to give you the courage to step past your boundaries and into His purposes for you. As you finish praying, step through your doorway, as a symbol of what you’ll now do with the life God now sets before you.

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Remembering Our True Example

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Carl Simmons

To be fair, I went into this expecting something more like a far more orthodox The Last Temptation of Christ—i.e., something that really focused on Christ’s humanness rather than His divinity. And the introductory material—especially the opening salvo “Did Jesus ever have a stomach virus?”—seemed to support that assumption.  Thus, 50 pages in, I’d felt that the author had missed the mark in terms of the title’s (and especially subtitle’s) promise.

But now, at the other end of reading this, I think Patrick Reardon really is talking about a Jesus I missed, and aspects of His humanity that I really hadn’t grasped before. Really, this book reveals a lot more about our humanness than Christ’s—and how God desires to transform it into what He’s always intended. And boy, is that a good thing. And as such, it’s a great book to work through during this Lenten season.

Patrick Henry Reardon. The Jesus We Missed: The Surprising Truth About the Humanity of Christ. 256p., $15.99, Thomas Nelson.

What Reardon does deliver, and in spades, is a view of what a perfect human life actually looks like, and how a man with a “clear channel to God,” as it were, reveals God/divinity at every turn. And of course it would. But how many times do we write off Jesus’ works on earth as, “Well, of course He could do it—He’s Jesus,” rather than believe the truth of Jesus’ own words: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12, ESV)?

In between, however, there’s some very fascinating observations. For example, imagine being Jesus reading the Old Testament, growing up in the synagogue, and recognizing Himself as the Messiah being spoken of, the co-composer of the words being read, the physical affirmation of the truth of those words. Also, to again, hit on above, the recognition that Jesus, being the perfect man, would of course manifest all the spiritual gifts of prophecy, healing, discernment and the like. If a man like Elijah could do these things, why wouldn’t Jesus?

There’s a lot more to discover here. But by examining the life of Jesus in detail, Reardon gives us a vision of the life Jesus means for each of us to have, as we believe and trust more deeply in Him. We see One who “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7) but who nonetheless was  in constant communion with God. Because of this, Jesus looks at even the most common things in godly terms,  and by doing so transforms them into lessons, parables, teaching instruments…. temporary things capable of conveying eternal life. And in doing so, shows us how to follow Him as human beings.

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Lay Down Your Ambition: the fuller version

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Carl Simmons

Last week we explored how we build ourselves up by the things we do. This week is more about the “triggers” that lure us into that kind of thinking. Our circumstances are one set of triggers. Our own passions, and personal ambitions, are another.

Before we dig into further, let’s make one thing clear: It’s not as if God hasn’t given us hopes and dreams and ambitions to pursue. Not all of the “good things” we do are bad. Not by a long shot. The struggle is in who gets the credit, and in who’s really being served by what we do. Again, and for probably not the last time: Laying it down is about taking our-selves out of the equation and focusing on what God wants, rather than how we benefit from what we do. What we get out of it is the blessing, not the goal.

More often than not, we make even good things about our work and our accomplishments, as if we’re somehow made superior by them. We may give God lip service, and maybe even some sincere acknowledgement, but we know who really stepped up to the plate and got it done.

In his book The Spiritual Man, Watchman Nee points out, “The enemy well knows how we need our mind to attend the spirit so that we may walk by the spirit. Thus he frequently induces us to overuse it that it may be rendered unfit to function normally and hence be powerless to reinforce the spirit in time of weakness.” One well-used way of putting that today is, “If Satan can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.” But Nee points to an even more significant truth: Satan will use our busyness and our ambition to help us slowly become bad. As we drift from the leading of the Spirit, we leave ourselves increasingly open to things that aren’t of God.

We’ve seen this far too many times in recent church history, but it’s far from being a new problem. People may start off sincerely at first, and experience success, but then it become more and more about the success and less and less about serving God. And eventually success becomes “the spirit” of the thing, rather than something that’s measured by our obedience to The Spirit. Spiritual leadership that isn’t leading others closer to Jesus isn’t spiritual leadership at all.

Jesus, however, calls us to a different work: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24, ESV). It is a challenge so difficult that only one man has ever done it entirely successfully. And He is the one who calls us to it. And He is the one who will make success happen, in His way and in His time. So lay down your ambition, and begin following Jesus into something far bigger than yourself.

Lay It Down Today

This idea starts off a little light, but roll with it: What gets you excited, makes you want to get up in the morning—or at least has you looking forward to getting back home? Let’s keep relationships off the table, as we already touched on that last week. For now, think of something that isn’t necessarily life-giving in itself but is life-giving to you—a hobby or activity, or something that benefits others? It might even be your work. Got that in your mind? Good.

Now: How can you invite Jesus (or invite Him further) into that activity? It might be as simple as adding prayer throughout your activity—notice I said “throughout,” not just before or after. Maybe it’s tweaking that activity so your actions are more directly giving God glory rather than just “taking a break.” Whatever you come up with, begin making it a regular part of that activity—then see how God begins changes things up as you do.

Also—and here’s the deeper part—consider how this attitude can be brought into the more “serious” parts of your life. Where are you striving to accomplish something, and how much of that is you? How can you begin taking your hands off and letting Jesus guide those things—and when success comes, give Him the glory instead taking the credit? This part obviously will take longer to develop, but begin today.

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Lay Down Your Circumstances

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Carl Simmons

I have to admit: I’ve always been perplexed by people who talk about the “comfort” of the Christian life, especially in terms of it being the primary reason for believing in Christ. To be sure, there’s “comfort and joy” to be had in knowing Christ, and “a peace that passes all understanding.” But humanly speaking, there’s still life to be lived. And life can be painful, so much so that it cuts through the veneer of all that joy and peace people both inside and outside of Christianity think we’re supposed to be exuding 24/7.

The good news is: God’s OK with that. In fact, He’s the one who’s allowed those circumstances to happen. And a big reason He allows them is this: Our circumstances reveal who we are and what we really trust. The situations we face each day—especially the bad ones—tend to bring out what we’re made of, whether we want them to or not. We may be shocked by what our circumstances reveal about us, but God isn’t. And He wants us to stop being shocked, too, and instead put our trust in Him rather than ourselves to get through them.

But very often, we don’t approach it that way. We think that if God cared about us, He’d change our situation. Consider this, then: That was pretty much the serpent’s argument in the garden, and it worked. Even Paradise wasn’t good enough for us.

On the other hand, when we lay our circumstances before God, He provides a way through them, even when we think things might be impossible—or probably closer to our real issue, even when we have no control over our circumstances. I already have the control, God reminds us; are you going let Me do what I need to do, or are you going to continue to fight Me?

We see a great example of laying down circumstances in the Exodus account. After the second plague out of 10 (frogs, by the way), Pharaoh asks Moses to remove this lousy set of circumstances. Moses’ response in Exodus 8:9 is worth noting: “Be pleased to command me when I am to plead for you and for your servants and for your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile” (ESV).  Moses is actually giving Pharaoh, the enslaver and persecutor of his people, permission to set the dates for this plague to be removed. Yet by doing this, he’s acknowledging that no matter what Pharaoh decides, God is still in control and will ultimately deliver Israel.

In contrast to this attitude is the well-known (and often over-argued) hardening of Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 8:14, 19, 32, 9:12, etc.). The best definition I’ve seen of this “hardening” is “the continuation of a prior condition.” Put another way, God was pressing Pharaoh’s buttons and revealing his heart, knowing how he would respond to his circumstances. Because God had something better in mind for Israel, and that way led directly through those hard circumstances:

For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go (Exodus 9:15-17, ESV).

Sometimes, parting the Red Sea is a lot easier than opening up a human heart.

And that brings us back to… us. We want to change our outer circumstances; God is more concerned with changing our inner circumstances—the very ones we seemingly should have more control over but don’t. (Read Romans 7 if you don’t believe me, or even if you do.) When that happens, our outer circumstances already begin to change. And God will be there for the rest of it as well.

Lay It Down Today

Let’s spend some more time with a question you hopefully began addressing during last week’s small-group session: What circumstances are you facing right now that seem impossible to you—and maybe, therefore, also seem like they’re impossible for God to handle as well?

Ask God to open the way for you to walk through your circumstances—not a solution (although He may well provide one), but to see clearly how to follow Him through whatever it is you’re facing right now. Resolve to wait for God’s answer, and ask Him for the strength to wait. Start that waiting right now. Don’t just throw up a prayer and close this book, but spend time right now, waiting. Give God the chance to speak—and for yourself to hear.

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Lay Down Your Kingdom: a small-group session

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Carl Simmons

To work through this session, it may help read through the devotionals that go with this study, especially the “Lay It Town Today” pieces. You can find them in bits and pieces under the following names:

Lay Down Your Independence
Lay Down Your Strength
Lay Down Your Reputation
Lay Down Your Possessions
Lay Down Your Relationships

For this session, you’ll need….
• enough name tags for everyone
• pens/markers for writing

 

Laying Down Your Day (15 minutes)

Make sure everyone has a name tag and something to write with. Then say something like: Think of something you’re especially proud of—for example, an accomplishment, an award you won, a title or position at work that you earned, or that major purchase you could finally make. Write it down on your name tag, but don’t show anyone else yet.

Give everyone up to a minute to write.

OK now, very quickly, peel the backs off of your name tags and slap them over your hearts where everyone can see them. And then, let’s talk.

1. Why did you choose that thing? And why are you so proud of it?

2. Looking back now, where was (or wasn’t) God as you worked toward obtaining or achieving that thing?

God has given us great gifts throughout our lives. But we need to remember that that’s what they are—gifts. Even our greatest accomplishments in this life are the result of how God has gifted us, and how faithful we’ve been to that gifting. That’s why this week has been all about laying down our kingdoms—which, after all, are only the kingdoms God’s let us have. As we lay down our kingdoms, we open ourselves further to God’s kingdom work in our lives. Let’s dig more into that right now.

Laying Down the Word (25 minutes)

Read the following passage from Day 3, and then discuss the questions afterward.

“[O]ne of the biggest reasons that God calls us to lay down our reputations…. is [that it’s] a way of securing and encasing ourselves in a human love that, even when genuine, is less than God’s love for us.

“Thomas Merton, in his book New Seeds of Contemplation, described it as ‘winding experiences around myself… like bandages in order to make myself perceptible to myself and to the world, as if I were an invisible body that could only become visible when something visible covered its surface.’”

3. When have you seen a person or group get too wrapped in his/her/their reputation? (No “bashing” permitted; just explain the situation, from your perspective.)

4. When have you been guilty of getting wrapped up in how others see you—or on the other hand, felt like “an invisible body”? How did (or does) focusing on that separate you from God and how He sees you?

In Day 2, we examined the example of Abraham. We observed how God had to deal with Abraham’s natural strength—and the image he tried to maintain before others—before Abraham could receive the even greater gifts God wanted to give him. We’re not going to re-read Abraham’s story today, but let’s reflect again on it as we discuss these questions:

5. Why do we rely on our own strength instead of God’s when it comes to the challenges we face? Put another way: Why do so often so go the “Ishmael route” rather than the “Isaac route”?

6. When have you found yourself tempted to go the “Ishmael route” lately? Why? How have you responded so far to that situation, both positively and negatively? What still needs to be laid down before God in that situation?

Read Matthew 19:25-30, and then discuss:

7. Think again about the situation(s) you’re facing right now. What seems impossible to you right now—and maybe, therefore, seems like it must be also impossible to God?

8. How do Jesus’ promises assure you otherwise? How can you live in those promises, rather than in what you believe?

Laying Down Your Life (20 minutes)

Have group members get into subgroups of three or four.

Have someone read the quote from Day 4 below, then talk about your “Lay It Down Today” assignments from this past week. Which assignments did you find most useful or interesting? Which were more difficult, or harder to connect with? In each case, why? Go on to discuss the questions below. Take 15 minutes to talk together in your subgroups, and then take a few more minutes to pray together about what you’ve shared. Once you’re done, remain quiet until everyone else is finished. May God bless you as you submit your lives ever further to Jesus, and discover His love and freedom as you do.

“We do not serve a God of either/or, but a God of both/and—if we’re willing to surrender all of our tiny little kingdoms and properties and belongings to Him. God must rule over the things He’s given us, and be the one who determines how they’re used.”

9. Which part of your kingdom—your independence, strength, reputation, possessions, relationships—is the hardest for you to lay down before Jesus? Why?

10. What would laying it down look like, in your case? What could Jesus do with that? What are you afraid He might (or might not) do if you took that step of faith?

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One Small Step for Man… but a step, nonetheless

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Carl Simmons

We have a new member on the blogroll… and in turn, they have a new contributor.

David Showers, whose book Ten Steps to a Closer Walk With God I reviewed recently, has just relaunched his online magazine Extant. And as part of that relaunch, starting immediately yours truly will be a regular columnist there. (My column is called The D-Word — I expect by now you know what that word is. :)) Longtime and/or incredibly faithful readers may recognize the material there (although my initial entry there was from scratch); the rest of you get another shot at some good reading.

And you’ll find plenty more good stuff there—videos; news; articles on spiritual growth and parenting; blogs; book, movie, music and technology reviews. It’s a work in progress, but you (and I) will get to see it progress from the ground up.

So go check it out, stand up and be counted, and we’ll talk again soon.

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Lay Down Your Relationships, Part 2

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Carl Simmons

The good news is that loving Jesus above all doesn’t obliterate our love for those here on earth; it transforms it. Remember, “laying it down” is really laying our selves down. If we’re honest, we’ll probably admit that much of our love for others is about what we get out of the relationship. We love others, or are attracted to them, because they make us feel good, special, important, worth something. Obviously that’s not a bad thing. The problem occurs when we base our lives upon those feelings and rely on those around us to constantly replenish those feelings. And when those people or feelings fail us, we’re devastated in more ways than we’re even aware—because we’re now also feeling how far we’ve let ourselves drift from God.

No matter what our worth to others, we’re worth so much more to Jesus. Likewise, no matter what others are worth to us, Jesus should be worth so much more. As we learn to live out of that reality, we not only enter further into the presence of that infinitely greater love but are now able to truly share that love with those we love.

Yes, I’m talking very loftily here. It’s true, we seldom live in this place. But I fear that many of us have given up even trying to truly pursue Jesus’ love—that we have found even his “easy yoke” of obedience to Him too restraining. And the fact that we have given up is the principal reason why we settle for something—or in today’s case, someone—less than Jesus.

As one of my favorite songwriters, Bill Mallonee, puts it, “Love is just a plea / Deepest point of need / We take a reasonable facsimile, most of the time.” We desire to feel something, and Jesus just seems too far away. And so we unwittingly (or bitterly) turn away from the One who’s right next to us, who we’d see if we’d only truly desire Him long enough to see past the troubles we face today.

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him…. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures (James 1:12, 16-18, ESV)

So let’s start living as “firstfruits.” Let’s begin cultivating the deepest and most satisfying relationship we can ever have—our relationship with Jesus—and allow Him to transform our earthly relationships into what He desires. Let’s lay it all down, and move on to receiving His life and living that out day by day.

 

Lay It Down Today

Take a 15-minute mini-retreat right now, as soon as you’re able to do so.

For the first 10 minutes: Quietly reflect on the time you first drew close to Jesus. You can focus on either one specific moment or that general season of your life, but try to really reflect and recapture the sense of what that time in your life was like. Who was with you (or who were you close to, then)? Where were you? What were some of the sights, sounds, smells you associate with that time? What were you thinking and feeling? Replay all of it in your mind and heart.

Then: Take another five minutes to quietly reflect on where you are right now in your relationship with Jesus. Think also about where you are in comparison to those first days, and why. Finally, think about Jesus coming alongside you right now. What’s different from before? What’s better? And what do you miss from that first time you drew close to Jesus?

Close by thanking Jesus for the time you’ve spent with Him and how your relationship with Him has grown over the years. Also, if there are places where you feel you’ve “lost your first love,” ask Jesus to restore and rekindle your heart toward Him.

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Lay Down Your Relationships, part 1

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Carl Simmons

Let’s pick up where we left off yesterday, at the end of Matthew 19: “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29).

Is Jesus always trying to separate us from our friends and family? Is that really what He wants? I don’t think you can make a rule out of this. However, we are always to choose Jesus first. Whatever their proximity, Jesus’ brother and sister and mother are those who choose to do God’s will (Matthew 12:50). Jesus is, however, warning us of the division His presence, and our allegiance, may cause. We may indeed be forced to choose a side. But Jesus promises that no matter whatever, and whoever, we leave behind for His sake, we “will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.”

But let’s cut this a couple other ways than how we might be used to thinking about it:

  • Is the abundant life Jesus promises us purely just a pleasant existence among a bunch of “Christian friends”? To be honest, I think that’s the way most American Christians live it out. We may not have to leave our church behind, but we’ll almost certainly need to step outside of the comfort of it, in order to follow Jesus.
  • Perhaps the bigger yet lesser acknowledged fact is: We are never alone in our relationships. Jesus is always there, in our midst, whether we acknowledge Him or not. To believe anything different is to cultivate the kind of relationship Jesus says we must lay down. And yet, the friendships where we know Jesus is ever-present, and put Him first, are the richest friendships we have. If you’ve ever experienced this, you know it’s true.

The Bible repeatedly tells us that this world is only temporary, that everything in it will pass. That doesn’t just go for the present world system and its evils, but even the people and things we love. This is a tough truth to accept. We’re being prepared for an eternity with Jesus. We must learn to love Him first. Will we be reunited with the people we love in heaven? There are strong biblical arguments in both directions. But Jesus makes it clear that our ultimate priority must be Him.

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Lay Down Your Possessions

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Carl Simmons

Now the rubber starts hitting the road even more violently. Not that it’s easy at all to deal with all the internal stuff we’re been addressing for most of these previous devotionals, but let’s face it: At some point, all that inner conviction has to begin manifesting itself as outward fruit. As Jesus’ half-brother James said, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:14-17). Or, even more pointedly:

And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions (Matthew 19:16-22, ESV).

It’s easy to distance ourselves from this story. After all, to put it 2012 terms, we’re part of the 99 percent, right? We’re not really rich. Many of us are even having troubles meeting our bills on a day-to-day basis.

But consider this: Someday, hopefully, all these little devotional will be compiled into a nice little book. And the money you’d spend on that one book would be more than the daily income of more than a third of the world’s population. Still feeling like a 99-percenter?

Ultimately, it’s not about what we have or don’t have. One can be genuinely poor and still greedy. It’s about our incessant need to have it. We want to possess and be possessed, and those are our biggest problems. Are we willing to put everything we have at Jesus’ disposal—or, if called upon like the rich young ruler, dispose of it altogether in order to follow him in the way He calls us to?

I think we know the answer to that one, if we’re honest. In fact, I think the real “1-percenters” are those who can say yes and mean it. And yet, Jesus does call every one of us to lay down our possessions—or more specifically, our possessing. What do we hang on to more than Jesus—and for that matter, than the people He puts in front of us? It’s time for us to release our grips.

“Then Peter said to him, ‘Look, we have left everything to follow you!  What then will there be for us?’ Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth: In the age when all things are renewed,  when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging  the twelve tribes of Israel. And whoever has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life’ ” (Matthew 19:27-29).

God is not a God of either/or, but a God of both/and—if we’re willing to surrender all of our tiny little kingdoms and properties and belongings to Him in the first place. He must rule over them and determined how they’re used, not us. As John Piper says in Desiring God, “It is better to love than to live in luxury!” Are we willing to test that?

Lay It Down Today

I can’t tell you what to do here. But again, if you’re honest with yourself and are willing to let God address this area of your life, you’re going to come up with things to lay down in a hurry. So, really, that’s your assignment. Spend time, just you and God. Ask Him to point out those things that you’ve let posses you. Scream and cry about having to let them go, if you must, but resolve to follow Jesus, no matter what the temporary cost. Trust that He will provide what you truly need—all the while remembering that He may not be providing it only for you.

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