Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Jesus' Words

I have been really wandering why it is that for most of my life I thought what Jesus had to say about life really wasn't so important. Its actually quite unfathomable. I, for as long as I can remember, have believed Jesus to be the Son of God. However, I have not for long thought of him as being brilliant. Only for the last year or so has that been the case. His words are so deeply meaningful to me now, that I can't really remember what I thought before. I think I was simply indifferent to them. What a strong dispositon eh? To be indifferent towards God, is truly not such a safe place to be. Nor was I really for a long time. It's a dangerous place, maybe the most dangerous of places to stand in defiance to God. To be so filled with pride, and so confident of your own abilities, that you end up making the same mistake Lucifer made. Praise be to God for mercy right? For I shutter to think how many of my total days were lived exactly like that...on my own strength, thinking whatever I want, dwelling on whatever i want, spending my resources however I wish, doing whatever I want, etc.

My other thought about Jesus' words is that its so funny how some of them we hold so dearly too, and others we don't. For example, "Go and make disciples of all nations..." is almost universally agreed by all denominations to be exactly what we should do. So must denominations have "missionaries" and such right. However, in Matthew 10 Jesus sends off the discples for what appears to be the first time, in twos, to go preach that the kingdom is near, to cast out demons, heal the sick, and raise the dead. Why is it then, that never in a church setting have I heard we should do this? Why have i never gotten Casting Out Demons 101, and Raising the Dead 102, and How to Heal the Sick 210, and more importantly what in the world does the "kingdom near". I think in all my church life I have heard three messages on the "kingdom now" message that was Jesus' main point throughout his ministry. Craziness

My last thought for now is how I love how Jesus talks to people. He seems to always speak to the heart. He really seems to me anyways, to be quite sarcastic and probing at times. I love that. I love that throughout the gospels he doesn't give a flying flip what anyone thinks about him or who he hangs out with. He cares about his Father in Heaven's approval, and not much else. He does what the Father is doing, and He knows because he spends time with the Father. Brilliant huh. I wonder if we would know what the Father is doing, if we spent time with Him?