Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, somewhere along the line we have
lost sight of what you truly desire for us.
Somewhere along the line we have come to believe that all we need to do
is raise a hand, or walk an aisle, or pray a prayer and you will be
pleased. But help us, Lord Jesus, to
know that what you really want from us and for us is so much more than that. What you really desire is that we follow
you—wherever you lead, whatever you ask, whatever the cost. Give us the courage and the strength to do
that. Amen.
Scripture: Mark 8:34-38
Journal: What does it mean for you to be Jesus’
disciple? How is he asking you to follow
him these days?
Reflection:
We are on the verge of a time when the church is
going to be able to make some decisions.
For long periods in the history of the church, as in the history of
Israel, there were no significant decisions that could have been made. I think we have been through a pretty tough
patch with the church, and I try never to criticize the church, because I know
who is in charge of it. But sometimes we
need to be conscious of where we are coming from and where we are going.
We are coming into a time when many
churches and Christians who are in leadership positions will be able to say
it’s all about discipleship and transformation into Christlikeness. Now, if you read the New Testament, or even
the Old Testament, you might have come to that conclusion already. It is hard to avoid, but circumstances in
history have a way of claiming us and not letting us see what’s actually
happening.
We have been through a period when the
dominant theology simply had nothing to do with discipleship. It had to do with proper belief, with God
seeing to it that individuals didn’t go to the bad place, but to the good
place. But that developed in such a way
that the predominant thought is that a person can have the worst character
possible and still get into the good place if he believed the right thing. This disconnection became increasingly
burdensome to the church itself until we came to the point that, as is widely
discussed, there is not a clear difference between Christians and those who
aren’t Christians.
Now, that is due partly to the fact that
Christian teaching has thoroughly penetrated ordinary society. Many people who are not part of the church
and who are not followers of Christ by their own conscious intentions wind up
living a kind of halfway, limp way of living out what Jesus taught and who he
was. And it is a familiar fact that the
world likes to beat the church with the church’s own stick and to criticize it
in terms of what Jesus himself taught.
We have perhaps had enough of that, and
there are indications that we are ready for a change. That change will make a startling difference
in our world, because Jesus’ intention for his people from the beginning, and
indeed from long before that in God’s covenant relationship with the people of
Israel, was world revolution. If you
read the Great Commission, you may not realize it is about world
revolution. If you think it is about planting
churches, as important as that may be, if you think it is about evangelization,
as that is often understood—no, no, it is about a world revolution promised
through Abraham, come to life in Jesus and living on in his people up to
today. That is what our hearts hunger
for, even when we don’t know how to approach it or how to go about it. (Living
in Christ’s Presence by Dallas Willard)
Prayers
Closing Prayer: May you experience grace—God acting in your
life, in your thoughts, in your feelings, in your rest. May his face shine upon you. May his shining face lift up over you as you
lie down, as you sleep, and give you the thoughts you need to have. The blessing of the Trinity rest upon you and
everything you are and do. Let it be
so. Amen. (Living in Christ’s
Presence by Dallas Willard)
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