About
This is a journal about how Jesus changed my life and how he will continue to change my life. He loved me, so now I will try to show that love to others.Following
God’s love for us is not determined by how much we love Him and others. Our joy is.
“As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”” -Mark 5:18,19
This man was possessed by many demons and was tortured and tormented by them like very few ever have. Jesus then rebuked the demons and sent them into a heard of pigs. The crowd that saw this was amazed but they were also very freaked out. Being so afraid, they sent Jesus away from their town, as they did not want anything to do with him. However, this man who he had healed was not afraid. He was redeemed and understood the truth about Jesus. Of everyone from the town, this man, who was probably tormented beyond what the others could even imagine, was the only one to see Jesus for who he truly was. His response after receiving Jesus’ mercy was a desire to join Jesus and go with him. Jesus did not permit this, but instead told him to go back to his friends and tell them what the Lord had done for him. This man was basically told by Jesus to go evangelize. He was told, by the person who showed him more love than anyone else ever had, to go show others the love that he has been shown.
Jesus has also loved me and I have often wanted to respond in the same way this guy did; where, after Jesus had shown me love like no other has, I wanted to just be with him. In this world, there is no other person who can love like Jesus, so seeing a glimpse of that love makes it hard to be patient for the day that we will one day be with him. The thing is, Jesus doesn’t call us to just come home to be with him after we experience his love, but instead, he calls us to join him in a different way. He calls us to join him in loving others just as he loved us. One day we will be with him, but for now he has given us the great task of loving others so that they might know him. This man wasn’t rejected when asking if he could join Jesus and love him back, instead he was called to join the work and ministry of Jesus and love him back by loving others.
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” -1 John 4:11,12
My response to Jesus must be to love others and go out to the people God has given me and show them, not what I think they should do, but more so, what the love and mercy of Jesus has done for my life. I firmly believe that the truth found in true love is irresistible. I am aware of nothing else that has power like that.
Jesus doesn’t need anything. If you want to love him, there is nothing you can give that he doesn’t already have, but you can obey him by loving others with your life.
“And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” –Mark 2:17
Jesus chooses to be around sinners. Even though the people in this passage are clearly sinners, he is attracted to them and wants to be around them. The reason Jesus isn’t hanging around righteous people is because there are no righteous people. Our only hope at righteousness comes through Christ. That is the reason he comes to call sinners to righteousness.
It is true Jesus is hanging out with tax collectors, and the scribes refer them to as sinners. The verse above is Jesus responding to their question, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus also admits that he is hanging out with sinners in his answer. Jesus is always around people that society would consider to be sinners, but he is also very often hanging around the judgmental, religious leaders. If Jesus claims that he came not to call the righteous, but sinners, he is either hanging around too many of the wrong people, or claiming that these religious leaders are also sinners. These religious leaders may be self-righteous, especially in calling other people sinners, but that does not at all mean they are righteous.
I once heard someone say, “we aren’t sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners.” This made me realize I have no control over my being a sinner; it is simply my nature.
One of the greatest things that this passage has reminded me, because I far too often forget, is that Jesus isn’t ashamed of me. I may be a sinner, but Christ still loves me. This fact that he loves me as a sinner does not mean I should continue to choose sin; I have fallen into that trap many times before. The truth is, Christ doesn’t love me only because I am a sinner, he actually hates that “sin” part of me. Instead, I need to realize he loves me because he wants to redeem me. The whole reason he chooses to show me love is because he wants something greater for my life than sin and death. It is important that we realize the true reason behind why he loves us.
Christ loves sinners. He does not choose to love them simply because they are sinners, but because he wants to redeem them.
“And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.” -Mark 2:4
These men must have had great determination to get to Jesus in order to do what they did. They climbed a building, dragging their paralyzed buddy, and broke through the roof just to get a chance to meet with him. It seems like they actually believed Jesus was who he said he was.
For a while now, spending time in the Bible has not been the easiest thing for me to be devoted to. Sure, I have had spurts of consistency, but the word “consistency” doesn’t really compliment the word “spurts”. Lately, my biggest issue has been self-discipline in the area of time management. This has been an ongoing problem for the bulk of my life, but was not until recently, something I even realized. It was even more recently that I stopped talking and thinking about it as such, and actually started to do something about it. I have known for a while that I need to start reading the Bible daily but I could never manage time to do it. My schedule is different almost every single day of the week, and that, on top of already being a poor-planner, will hardly allow for consistency in anything, including sleep!
I recently discovered Google Calendar and decided that if I was ever going to be consistent, or on time for where I need to be, I would need to account for where my time goes. After researching this nifty tool, I figured out that I can set up a calendar that will wirelessly sync from my computer calendar, to my Ipod calendar, to my online Google calendar. This was very exciting for me, as it would be for you too if you previously spent your entire life in a spontaneous mess of over-lapping plans and failed estimations of allotted time needed.
Once I began plugging in the various items that take up time in my day, I was able to visualize where I had time to invest, instead of waste, and where I didn’t have time to plan things. I later decided that if I was ever going to consistently spend time in my Bible, I would need to have a set time for each day. If I didn’t do that, there would be no hope. I decided that the beginning of the day would be best because starting my day off with a renewed mind is most likely going to lead to whole day with a renewed mind.
While planning all of this, I saw that, since I have trouble allowing myself enough time to sleep, adding something that requires me to wake up earlier, will also require that I go to sleep earlier. So I decided to add, to my calendar, the times I would need to go to bed and wake up, along with what time each day I would spend time reading my Bible. This decision to manage my time and read the Bible daily had become more of a sacrifice than I had originally intended, but since I had been praying about this time management issue, God did not allow that to discourage me. Instead, he showed me how much all this planning actually helped my relationship with him, and how much that helped my life.
These men that broke through the roof did what they did because they believed Jesus was who he said he was. If I really believe Jesus is who he says he is, then doing such a small thing like waking up early to invest time in his Word, so that I can apply it to my life, should not be an issue. I’m thankful that God has heard my prayer and desire to want to fix these areas in my life that I am just naturally not the least bit competent. He has made great provisions for my flaws and I have been able to see that he answers the prayers of those who desire him and seek him out.
The men who lowered their buddy down through the roof got to see Jesus forgive his sins, and heal him. When they went to Jesus he took care of them and gave them what they needed, but he also used them for God’s glory.
“Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ”Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, ”Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—”I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”” -Mark 2:6-12
When you seek after God, he will provide for your needs, but the bigger picture is, he then gets to use your life for the work and ministry of the Kingdom of God. Don’t let anything get in the way of what God can do through your relationship with him.
