Week 4 - The Work of the Spirit

I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

John 17:21

How can oneness ever be possible in the Body of Christ or in the world when we are all so different? How can we ever achieve this?
 

We can’t. Only the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Jesus Himself – can accomplish making us one.

God has given us some compass points, however, so that we can tell if our lives are directionally correct in terms of being formed more in the image of Jesus. Some of these points, we often refer to as the “fruits of the Spirit.” Galatians 5 lists them simply for us:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control…Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” [Galatians 5:22, 25]

These things – love, joy, peace, patience, and so on – are not a to-do list for the spiritual. They are precisely the things we cannot do; they are the results of the Spirit’s work in us. What God is telling us all along, over and over, throughout Scripture is, “You cannot do it yourself – and, you do not have to. I am here.”

So, the work of becoming one with God and one another is the work of opening ourselves up to God’s transforming presence and power in our lives. It is allowing the Spirit to work with freedom and creativity in us so that the world, and we as a part of it, comes to experience the fullness of life in God.

The Real Question: Where do I try to perform my way into holiness rather than simply allowing God to do His work in me? How can I let go today to give the Spirit more freedom to work in me?

Family Talk: Ask your kids to take in a deep breath, hold it and then slowly let it out. Remind them that God’s Spirit is much like the air we breathe. It is God living in us that makes it possible for us to be one with God and one another.

ONE in Prayer: God, You see me and know me. I invite your Spirit to come into my heart and life in a new way and I ask You to work freely in me to accomplish what only You can do. And I know that this will be very good. Amen.

There was a time when life turned upside down and some my Lakeland family came to my home to pray for me. I remember being overwhelmed seeing them come into my home one at a time there to just “be” with me. The moment we started praying I couldn’t stop weeping the pain of everything came rushing forward and through the barriers I was trying to hide it behind. Suddenly a calm came about me and the weeping stopped and I just felt like it wasn’t a bunch a friends there praying for me but the arms, hands and face of God in that room living that moment with me. Feeling God isn’t something we often get a chance to tangibly do. I did that day. Each and every one of those women represented God’s love for me.  

- Tracie

Week 4 - One with Others

I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

John 17:21

His own prayer reveals that Jesus wants us to be joined with God and with each other, but He also wants more than that. He is bravely asking His Father for the whole world; He doesn’t want anyone to be left out. He says that if we are one in God, then the whole world will see and believe that God has come to them.

Becoming one with others is not just a sappy sentiment reserved for campfire songs; it is integral to our given mission of spreading the life of God in the world. If we are not one, the whole message has not gone out, the full text of the Good News is remains undelivered.

Simply “believing” in oneness without practicing it through action is not an option for followers of Jesus. The Bible is quite clear:

“What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?...Faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.” [James 2:14, 17]

Choosing to live as one with others requires a commitment to live what I believe out loud. It demands that I actively seek out and set aside what separates me from others, and invite God’s love to conquer that divide. It means moving through fear and forgiveness. It insists on letting go of self-preservation in order to embrace another.

The Real Question: How do I practice oneness with others? What do my actions reveal about my love?

Family Talk: Pick one members of your family and have everyone else express one thing about them that they like, admire etc. If time allows pick another member and do the same thing.

ONE in Prayer: God, Help me not just to believe in love but to live in it. Give me Your passion for oneness with God and with others and help me to bring about Your kingdom, even in the small and daily decisions of my life. Amen.

College life was unique for me in that our campus ministry was truly "One". For a while, we cleaned random peoples' dorms, prayed together, ate together, and even gave drunk people rides home from the bars together. The unity among us was so strong that we felt very comfortable and at home talking about the many things God had done and was doing in us and for us.

- Andrew

Week 4 - Last Words

I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

John 17:21

When someone is facing death, we pay special attention to what they say. Last words can carry the weight of a whole life within them. They often tell us in a nutshell something essential about the person speaking.

The night of His betrayal that led straight to His execution, Jesus spent time in prayer. While it was not unusual for Him to pray at length to His Father in heaven, this was no ordinary prayer. This was His last recorded prayer before the events of His death churned into motion. Like so many other last words, the words of this prayer reveal something essential about the Person who is speaking them.

And what did He pray for, knowing what lay ahead? Did He pray for punishment to come down on those who opposed and threatened Him? No. Did He pray for world peace, to avoid all death and destruction? No. Did He pray that His Father would provide an escape for His followers to flee the dangerous world? No.

Jesus prayed for oneness.

He knew that there is but one solution to every threat or danger, suffering or injustice, and that solution is to be one with God, just as He was Himself. God is love, and only Love can adequately address anything and everything that comes to us in this life. Love keeps us safe, at peace, and forgiven. Living in Love, living in God, is the only way that we can live with God and each other as one and experience a taste of the togetherness for which we were made. That is the life that Jesus has and the life He most wants for us. It is what was on His heart just before He died.

The Real Question: Do I share Jesus’ ultimate desire for me: to be one with God and others?

Family Talk: Question:-What are the two greatest commandments according to Jesus? Answer: Love God and Love others. What does it mean to love?

ONE in Prayer: Jesus, I join your prayer for me – to live as one with God and others. Build into me an awareness of Your love that holds us all and let Your love guide my life. Amen.

Over the last few years, a oneness with our families has grown.  We have been through traumatic times together and shared many special memories together as one. Our children are “our” children and there is nothing we would not do for each other. I truly believe that God brought our families together as One.  There is so much joy in a true feeling of ”Oneness,” with God especially, when being “One” can be shared.

– Connie

Week 3 - Hearts That Burn

That same day two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem.  As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them.  But God kept them from recognizing him.

He asked them, “What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?”  

They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.”

“What things?” Jesus asked.

“The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago.

“Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive! Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.”

Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” Then Jesus unfolded to them the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

 By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going on, but they begged him, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late.” So he went home with them. As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared!

 They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven disciples and the others who had gathered with them, ³⁴ who said, “The Lord has really risen! He appeared to Peter.”

Luke 24:13-34

When was the last time your heart was moved by the presence of something you didn’t fully understand but somehow knew, felt and experienced?
 

That’s what followers of Jesus were experiencing on the road as they walked with the Stranger who methodically helped them to connect the dots of all that had been happening with the heart of God. Their own hearts began to “burn” with a new energy, a fire of truth and love.

In our culture, we over-dramatize and manufacture emotion so much that we often remain numb to the real things that ought to move us. We weep at Hallmark commercials, but blankly stare at the evening news. We quickly drive past deteriorating neighborhoods in our own city, but cry when a single family somewhere across the country is awarded a new home on a TV show.

Where are our hearts? Are they on the road? Are they awake and listening to God’s story being unfolded in our lives? Are they burning with the realization that God is redeeming the world right in front of us, where we live, calling us to be a part of His work?

Noticing the energy and activity of the Spirit of Jesus in our hearts is a choice. We can allow God’s heart to take up residence in our heart, or we can just keep moving numbly down the road. Most of us choose to stay numb, because waking up would mean that we would be forever changed and find ourselves running in a new direction. But that is exactly what life is like for followers of Jesus.

The Real Question: When was the last time that I allowed myself to be moved by the heart of God for someone else? How do I allow myself to become numb to what is really happening around me?

Family Talk: What is one thing you noticed that is wrong, unfair or bad and it made you sad or angry?

ONE in Prayer: Jesus, I want my heart to burn with Your heart for the people and situations I see around me. Wake me up with Your Spirit so that I can join You in Your mission of loving and redeeming the world. Amen.

In February 2010, I sat on a plane heading for my first pilgrimage to a third world country.  I had no idea what to expect – what I would experience, how it would impact me, how it would ruin me.  And ruin me it has.  Never before had I loved, cried, hurt or praised God more deeply.  Through these amazing orphaned children, God ripped a hole in my soul.   I now see my comfortable affluent life through these children’s eyes and this revelation demands and screams for a response.   I don’t know the full extent of this response.  Today it is to be aware, to listen, to notice, to not forget, and to share the story with anyone who will listen.  Tomorrow….?

- Jamie

Week 3 - All Things New

That same day two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem.  As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them.  But God kept them from recognizing him.

He asked them, “What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?”  

They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.”

“What things?” Jesus asked.

“The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago.

“Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive! Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.”

Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” Then Jesus unfolded to them the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

 By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going on, but they begged him, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late.” So he went home with them. As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared!

 They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven disciples and the others who had gathered with them, ³⁴ who said, “The Lord has really risen! He appeared to Peter.”

Luke 24:13-34

In three days, all that these followers of Jesus had put their hopes in had crumbled.  They knew that everything had changed forever; what they didn’t know yet was that everything was still changing. Jesus was making “all things new,” just as He had said.

Change is hard. It can be disorienting and painful. Sometimes it can seem like God has gone into hiding. But our inability to see God does not lessen the reality of His presence.

Scripture says that “Jesus himself” met these friends on the road to walk with them. Not an angel or a messenger; it was the Jesus they knew, but in disguise. Why would He keep Himself from them, knowing that His friends were hurting and confused?

It is one moment in our journey of faith to discover that God trusts us to come into His presence; it is another moment farther along the journey when we discover that God also trusts us in His “absence.” Though God is never truly absent, He may hide Himself for a time to let us examine our faith.

Deepest change as a follower of Jesus often happens when we discover that suddenly nothing is the same, and God is not telling us exactly what to do. During these times, He is believing in us to continue to follow Him, to keep trusting Him. He is not separating us from Himself; He is separating us from an old way of seeing so that we can experience Him in a brand new way.

Sometimes we forget that we are included in “all things” that are being made new. Change is part of the journey, but God is transforming us into people with hearts that burn for His Good News.

The Real Question: What is God making new in me right now? How is He changing my vision of Him and of the world?

Family Talk:  If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? 

ONE in Prayer: Jesus, I want to be made new by You, but I usually don’t want the change that comes with it. Help me to trust You and receive the new vision You have for me. Amen.



God is constantly changing and growing me. I had to learn to trust Him when it didn’t seem like I could take the next breath. It is easy to look to others to gain acceptance, affirmation, love and security, but really I’m learning that I need to seek these things in God before ever allowing myself to find them in someone else. I am His work in progress from the inside out, and find myself lately with this overwhelming desire to know Him on a level different than I ever have before. There is a “deepness” to God that I think I have always been afraid to seek because I never felt that I was good enough to be allowed there.  Now I feel like something won’t be complete in me unless I find that place where He is and meet Him there.  

- Tracie

Week 2 - Trusting Presence

Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone.

Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!”

But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!”

Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”

“Yes, come,” Jesus said.

So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.

Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”

When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.

Matthew 14:22-32, NLT

Over the roar of crashing waves that night, Jesus said to the disciples, “Take courage. It is I!”

The radical truth about Jesus is that He does not reveal God to be one who insists on everything being cleaned up and calmed down before He will show up. No. Our God shows up where we might least expect Him – or want Him, sometimes – right in the middle of all that’s going wrong. And this is what gives Jesus’ words such power. He was not speaking some platitude or cliché from a safe distance; He was inside the storm with His friends.

It was Jesus’ presence with His friends that opened a way for them through their fear into a new experience of a reality greater than the one that was swamping them at the moment.

As we weather storms and times of deep transition in our lives, if we listen closely, we might hear the Spirit of Jesus say to us, “Remember, this is ME you’re talking to! Remember that I am the one who loves deeply, who calms the sea. I care for the hungry, the hurting, and the broken. I am your friend, and I am right here.”

As human beings prone to fear, the first step toward trusting God is to receive the courage He gives to us in the form of His presence. When we remember that the Prince of Peace walks with us as our friend, we can let go of fear in anything we face. And, like Peter, we may find ourselves doing things we never imagined possible.

The Real Question: Have I fully received God’s presence into my life this day? Where might I trust Him more if I did?

Family Talk:  When do you feel God is closest? 

ONE in Prayer:  Jesus, it is amazing that You come to me in the midst of my troubles, pain, and brokenness, but I know that it is Your love that makes all things well. Help me to remember Your love and presence are with me as I learn to trust you more. Amen.

I don't really have a choice but to trust God in our efforts to start a family.  It is obvious that we are NOT in control.  He is.  He is the creator.  As much as I think I want to start a family of our own, I don’t want to manufacture it myself out of my own efforts.  I feel this putting distance between me and God.  This has changed from asking God specifically for a child to a more general approach of trusting and asking Him to reveal his purpose in my life.  Blessing us with a child may or may not be part of that, but there is still a purpose and a plan.  I have simplified contentment in my heart.  Contentment is simply that God has already given me everything when He offered salvation to me. 

– Twila

Week 2 - Learning to Walk

Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone.

Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!”

But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!”

Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”

“Yes, come,” Jesus said.

So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.

Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”

When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.

Matthew 14:22-32, NLT



They were not sinking. Many of them were skilled, life-long fishermen. They were “fighting the waves;” they were dealing with the storm. They could have struggled through, sailed on, and met Jesus on the other side. And that was what Jesus had told them to do; that was the expectation to which almost all of the disciples were clinging. Except for Peter. He let go of his expectation just long enough to catch a glimpse of God on the move.

In that moment, Peter had a decision to make. Did he just want to get from point A to point B and hook up with Jesus on the other side, or was he ready to encounter Jesus in a new, unscripted way? His heart didn’t hesitate. He wanted to be with Jesus, wherever He was, even if it seemed impossible, even if it didn’t make sense. He wasn’t satisfied to be with Jesus eventually; Peter wanted to be with Jesus now.

His inspired excitement wasn’t quite enough to get him there, however. Peter sank up to his neck in forgetfulness, momentarily losing sight of Who it was he was walking toward. But Jesus’ presence was real – not just a ghost as the disciples had feared – and He intervened. Jesus called Peter back to the awareness that although in a strange place, he was walking with God. That’s the reality that was keeping his head above water.

Maybe following Jesus is not about mustering up enough faith to be able to follow God with perfection. If we wait until we get our belief together, we may miss the encounter. Perhaps following Jesus begins with stepping out to inhabit God’s faith in us, so that we can grow with God, not just toward Him.

The Real Question: Where have I been trying to get it together before I trust God? Am I ready to step out to meet God where He’s waiting for me?

Family Talk: Share with your kids what is was like watching them take their first steps. If you don’t remember, share with them from another experience you observed them growing up (losing a tooth, learning to talk, going to school, etc.) Share with them how you believed in them, even when they doubted themselves.

ONE in Prayer: God, help me not to be satisfied with going through the motions. Help me to catch a vision for where You are moving and working in the world. I want to walk with You as I grow and serve in Your name. Amen

 My wife and I no longer felt good about parenting our children from a legalistic paradigm. We felt instead we were to spend more time with our children, loving them, talking with them about matter of the heart and praying God would capture their hearts.  Moving away from a rule based approach was scary and hard at first, but God has been faithful.  Our children appear to be growing in their love for God and other people.  And they are not operating under a dualistic paradigm which legalism tends to walk hand in hand with.

 –Jamie

Week 2 - An Inconvenient Trust

Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone.

Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!”

But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!”

Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”

“Yes, come,” Jesus said.

So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.

Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”

When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.

Matthew 14:22-32, NLT

It had been a very long day. It began with the painful news that John the Baptist had been beheaded by the king as part of a twisted party game. John was a cousin to Jesus and the first to affirm who He was and His ministry; his death was a tragic and personal loss.

Jesus tried to get some space to grieve, but the crowds pressed and followed Him anyway. The day became late and the people were hungry. So, this also became the day when more than 5,000 people were miraculously fed from five small loaves and two fish, with leftovers to spare.

The passage says that as soon as the makeshift meal was over, Jesus told His disciples to get back in the boat and sail across; He needed time alone with His heavenly Father. And this is where our story of trust picks up – in the midst of pain and loss and never-ending work and exhaustion and longing for God.

So often, we somehow get the idea that trust is the result of things going well. We say to ourselves, “As soon as things get settled, then I’ll be able to trust God with this or that.” Perhaps we have confused certainty with trust. Trust steps out precisely when things aren’t certain or under control or convenient.

Trust looks beyond present circumstance to a Person. The Psalmist says it this way:

“Some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.” [Psalm 20:7]

It was on this imperfect, difficult day that Jesus invited His disciples to step into a new trust in Him. We can expect that in similar moments in our lives, Jesus again will show up in unexpected ways and places, inviting us to grow in trusting God as well.

The Real Question: What is holding back my trust in God right now? Where is He inviting me to trust Him more?

Family Talk: Share with your kids what you have learned about trusting God. Give a specific example.

ONE in Prayer: God of All, help me to remember who You are, even on my worst days. Let me hear your invitation to trust You, and know that You can be trusted. Amen.

God asked me to trust Him with who I was going to marry. I had dated a guy off and on for 6 years. He didn't have the qualities I wanted in a husband, but I so desperately wanted him to "get it" so that I could marry him. I finally gave it to the Lord and let go of the relationship. When I did, God felt so near to me even though it was very difficult. A few years later, I married my best friend who had all the qualities I had prayed for in a husband plus many more. God knew, better than I did, what I wanted and what was best for me. I thank God over and over again for giving me the strength to trust Him.

- Sarah

Week 1 - It Is Risky

While [Jesus] was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.

“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.  The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

Mark 14:3-9

Religion is something that many of us use to try to avoid risk in our lives. We leverage religion to avoid hell, avoid pain and suffering, avoid our past (and sometimes our present) as we inordinately focus on some distant, all-fixed-now kind of heaven.

While this type of escapist thinking does fit many of the world’s religions, it precisely opposes the way of Jesus. In His life, death and resurrection, we see a Christ who does not avoid hell; he goes there and back. He does not side-step suffering; He responds with healing embrace to the suffering of those He encounters, and extends His arms willingly to receive his own brutal death. He does not exchange awareness of reality for a far off kingdom to come; He says the kingdom is here and now.

It is risky. Christianity is not a safe religion. When lived, it is a sacrificial relationship.

So as we encounter the young woman and her jar, we begin to understand why her life stood out among the religious. It was a risky move for her to crash the dinner party of religious men – a place she never would have been welcomed. It was risky for her to exchange her future for the Eternal Now, Jesus, who was already here. It was risky to bear her heart to the world in so intimate an act as anointing the head of One she believed to be worthy of a king’s welcome – but who was not the king of their occupied land. It was risky, but love compelled her anyway. 

No wonder Jesus loved her. No wonder she is our example.

The Real Question: What is God calling me to risk for the love of Him? Does my love for God include a readiness to sacrifice?

Family Talk:  Talk with your kids about what you feel God is calling you to risk for the love of him?

ONE in Prayer: Jesus, I confess that so often I am unwilling to risk even small things in my life for You. This is not how I want my heart to be. Open my heart to Your love so that my love for You can become more like Jesus’ – a love that surpasses everything else, no matter the risk. Amen.

In college, I was asked to do some medical translating on a trip to Bolivia.  Since I worked and paid my own way through school, I thought, “No way can I find the money/support to not only go overseas, but also take a month of fulltime summer work opportunity,” but I just couldn't let go of the knowledge that God wanted me to go. So, I begrudgingly agreed.  Boy was I wrong.  God was so faithful that not only did I make enough money (in support) to get to Bolivia, but also to provide substantial amounts of money to the hospital we worked in to offset SAVING the life of a child.  I almost missed out on being a part of helping to save a life!  Talk about living the Gospel.  You can't beat saving a life to know what people mean when they say being Jesus.

 – Megan

Week 1 - Losing My Religion

While [Jesus] was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.

“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.  The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

Mark 14:3-9

It wasn’t a “bad” idea: selling the perfume, making use of the money, giving it to the poor. It actually could have been a very kind thing to do, and quite religious, even by today’s standards. The idea may have been legitimate in terms of remembering the poor, but, according to Jesus, their definition of loving God was still too small. They were stuck in the mindset of practicing religion, and missing the opportunity for intimate relationship with God that was sitting right across the table.

Where they saw waste, God saw true worship.

For example, does it make sense to shell out a few hundred dollars to replace laptops, books, furniture and clothes for underground seminary students in China when the police raid their school? After all, the police will just come back again and again. Isn’t there a better plan? Shouldn’t we throw money after something that is more productive or strategic? Wouldn’t that be less wasteful? Wouldn’t that make more sense? It might. But then we would miss out on making the kind of extravagant offering that the woman with the alabaster jar made: one as simple as a jar, as ordinary as an apartment full of stuff. An offering that says, “Love is the strategy.”

Like the people gathered at the table that day, sometimes we may have to let go of practicing our “religion” in order to start living in fellowship with the heart and presence of Jesus that is already on the move in our world.  Sometimes, that may not seem to make much sense as the world goes, and it might take a bit of courage.

The Real Question: Are there ways that I am practicing religion instead of experiencing relationship with God? Where does God long to outgrow my definition of His presence in my life?

Family Talk:  Talk with your kids about the difference between “should” and “want”. You might try asking:

• What is one thing you should do?
• What is one thing you want?
• Jesus wants you to love him not because you should but because you want to. 

ONE in Prayer: Lord Jesus, I want to be one who worships you with all I am and all I have. Help me to have courage when worshipping you calls me to step beyond what I know. I want to join your strategy of loving the world. Amen.

For a couple of years in college, I carpooled with a guy to the UMKC campus from Lee's Summit.  One morning I was driving and we pulled up to a stoplight where a homeless man was asking for money.  I try to make a habit of being generous whenever I see someone in need, so I rolled down my window and gave him my last couple of dollars.  After we drove through the intersection, my friend, who I knew was a long-time Christian, said "I can't believe you just gave that guy money.  You know he's just going to buy booze with that."  He was probably right, but in the moment I felt convicted and replied, "Yeah, maybe.  But I think it's our job to give and his job to use it wisely.  I'm just doing my half of things and I can't be responsible for his part."  It's a challenge every time I give away money, because I'm always tempted to judge.  Always.  My hope is that God will continue to challenge me, and hopefully I can tame my judgment down to a barely-audible whisper instead of a dull roar.

– Chris