My Jesus: Making Faith A Priority

Jesus is calling you and me to make Him the priority of our lives.
We say we "know" Jesus. We say we believe the Bible. The Bible is clear that "knowing Jesus" means He is the centerpiece of our lives. Yet, each of us - in part or in whole - rejects Him daily as the Lord and Savior of our lives. Yes, He is our Savior, but following Jesus means He is our Lord as well. Lord means "master" or "owner."

It is a heart-breaking story that is replayed in American household after household.What comes between a person and following Jesus?

• People say "I love my home" and demonstrate it by yard work and remodeling and refinancing.
• People say "I love my family" and demonstrate it by investing full-time energy and money in their children.
• People say "I love my job" and demonstrate it by working 80 hour weeks and celebrating a "climb" in business and prestige.
• People say "I love my Jesus" and demonstrate it by . . . an occasional hour on Sunday morning and perhaps a check to the church.

Jesus says we have it all backward. The planning and priorities of our lives should give the "first fruits" to the work of the Kingdom - to following Jesus. Then, we give to home, family and job whatever is left.

Read the story of the Rich Young Ruler.

This story isn't so much about money. It's about priority and the place of Jesus in our lives.
Too many people say, "Whew, for once I'm glad I'm in the middle class. I'm not a rich person with a lot of influence and so this doesn't apply to me." No. This story is about each of us who put what the world values over following Jesus. I'm guilty; so are you. All of us are - at times and perhaps all the time - found wanting in this regard. But, because "we all do it" excuses none of us.

• The Rich Young Ruler came to Jesus, knowing him as a teacher .  .  .  but not as God.
• Jesus says, Why do you call me “good – only God is good." Jesus is not separating himself from being God; He is saying that all men are self-centered and evil.
• The Rich Young ruler wanted eternal life, and Jesus said, “Well, you know the commandments” because Jesus knew the young man was looking for a check-off list. Jesus quotes the commandments out of order just to show the silliness of the check-off list. You and I can't do anything to receive eternal life.
• The young man says, "Well, I do those things. I keep the commandments."
• Jesus loved the young man because he was eager. Jesus says, "Well, there's one thing left to do." He tells the Rich Young ruler that he must go and sell everything that he has, and give it all the poor. AND THEN, "follow me." Jesus is saying, 'You must strip your life down to nothing so that in having nothing, you must have Me to make it day by day. Place Me at the top of your priorities."
• The Rich Young ruler’s face dropped and he went away sad because he could not give up the things of the world.
• Jesus says, “How hard it is for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God!” Exclamation – sadness. Then, he said it again.
• The disciples said, “Well, who in the world can be saved then?” Jesus said, "No one." What Jesus is saying is that the rich young ruler would not have eternal life because he gave his stuff away. We can’t earn salvation. He would have eternal life because he would clear away all the distractions, forcing him to live each day dependent on God to see Him through. And, surrendering to Jesus, to God, would give him eternal life.

How do we begin the journey of making Jesus a priority?

• Slow down.Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God."
• Calendar the things of faith . . . first. Take your calendar, and write "Attend worship and Sunday School" on each Sunday; put small group and mission activities on the calendar. Then, add the family calendar, being careful and thoughtful about removing the things of faith that help you grow.
• Invest in a few others. Segregate your "friends in faith" from your "friends who need faith" and invest in both groups.
• Use the name of Jesus. The more you talk about Jesus, specifically, the easier it becomes. 
• Study Scripture and have regular times of daily devotion.
• Pray. If you don't know how to pray, ask a friend in faith to help you.

In the story of the Rich Young Ruler, there's one thing to consider that is rarely mentioned.

When the young man turned and walked away. Jesus did not chase after him.

Jesus allows you and me to make our decisions. He wants us to freely choose to follow Him. He won’t chase after us. If you choose to value the things of this world over Jesus, He will let you. He will let you live in worry, fear, doubt, depression, regret, and sorrow. He will let you live that way that, hoping that in your deepest despair, you will turn to Him and cry out for the cup of water that only He can provide.

I do believe that we moved by the Spirit to sow the seeds of faith. Our burden is to tell the stories of Jesus – stories like the one of the Rich Young Ruler. We have a burden to share the gospel with people – to say, “Jesus is my Savior.” I believe it.

We have a burden – a responsibility – to live lives that protect our witness – lives that encourage people and don’t cause people to stumble. We have a responsibility to take a stand for what’s right in keeping Jesus and faith as the No. 1 priority in our lives; that stand will be in opposition to what the world calls important and the world will make us pay for it.

As we scatter these seeds of faith in our community and in our neighborhoods and in our work place, we will bump into “rich young rulers” with whom we can have conversations. They may turn away, but the seed will be planted.

We hope that seed was planted in the Rich Young Ruler, that He came to know Jesus one day and is in heaven today. Scripture never tells us. Our mission is simply to plant the seeds, knowing some will grow. So, this story speaks to us in two ways: Make Jesus the center of our lives, and then live lives that scatter the seeds of faith to others.

My Jesus: Moving Beyond Regrets

I've been with people in the last hours of their lives.
I've been with people who were in those last hours and were still cognitive enough to talk with clarity. Many people approach those final moments with lots of regret.

• "I wish I had not worked so hard. I worked to have things that I didn't need and to impress others who didn't even like me. I should have spent more time with my spouse and children, my parents and my siblings, and my friends."
• "I wish I had expressed my feelings more. I should have told people that I loved them, and that I appreciated them, and that I hoped for the best for them."
• I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends, especially those from my youth. I should have been a better friend; dying should not be the thing that pulls old friends together."

Sad, how death stirs the regrets in us.

And, yet, death can come at any second - at any moment. Ecclesiastes 12:7 reminds us of the hard truth about death, "and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it." Each of us will one day be like dust, but our spirits will remain. For those who know Jesus as the Savior from sin, our spirit will be alive in the New Jerusalem; for those who do not know Jesus as the Savior from sin, the spirit will return to God for His eternal punishment upon it.

Knowing that death is imminent, there should be an urgency to take seriously the living of our lives and to avoid regrets. How do we avoid regrets? Well, we must make amends and apologize where we have hurt others. We must take ownership of poor decisions, and consequences and live forward. 

Easier said than done, right?

I don't lay awake at night regretting money I've not made. I've had enough. I don't regret the homes I might have owned. I've had a roof over my head and a comfortable rocking chair. I don't regret the places I might have gone. I've seen a lot of cool places and I'm content. But, despite taking apologizing to people I've hurt and despite taking ownership of poor decisions, I still find myself living in moments of regret. I regret not living a live that was completely devoted to following Jesus. I regret the 20 years or so that I I thought I followed Jesus, but did not reflect Him in kindness, thoughtfulness, forbearance and attitude. I regret - even moments today - failing to give more of myself away as Jesus did for me.

Satan is in the regret business. He uses regrets to draw us further from Jesus, and to draw us further from friends in faith through the local church. Satan loves to hold up the mirror, point to our reflection and whisper:

• "You aren't worthy."
• "You are a failure."
• "You have been away from church for so long - they will whisper about you when you go back."
• "It's too late to mend bridges with people."

And, Satan loves to move hateful, cynical people into our lives to remind us of our failures, our shortcomings, and poor decisions. He loves to get us looking in mirrors, and he loves when those hateful people hold up the mirrors for us.

Sadly, all of us live with regrets - even when we know they are forgiven. We haven't really forgiven ourselves. And, all of us are easily led into holding up mirrors for others. We do it under the disguise of giving constructive criticism, or counsel, or even - hack, hack - Biblical counseling.

When I consider "My Jesus," the Jesus that I love and the Jesus that I hear and the Jesus that walks with me, I think first about the story from John 8:1-12. I even love the mystery surrounding this passage. It doesn't appear in the ancient Greet manuscripts, but it does appear in most Bible translations, including the King James. It's generally believed that John didn't write this (it sometimes has appeared in Luke), but because it's about Jesus and forgiveness, it mostly appears in John. It's just this "mystery" that makes it so wonderful to me.

Read John 8:1-12. Do you see how the "mirror holders" had gathered around this woman? Do you see how Jesus came alongside her sinfulness? Do you see how Jesus "sent a message" to the mirror holders, and how they faded away in the fullness of Jesus message? Do you see how the woman recognized Jesus as "Lord"? Do you see how Jesus avoid condemning the woman? (Remember, Jesus came to save the world and not condemn it). Do you see how Jesus instructed the woman to turn from her sin and live forward? No regrets.

I love this story.

I've hurt people with my words and my actions. And, I regret it deeply. And, I've tried to seek people our and make amends. Still, when I wrestle with regret, Jesus steps in and says, "Regret no more the days of yesterday, Scott. Live forward in faith. Put an X on the sin of yesterday, live forward and sin no more." That message is why I love my Jesus so very, very much.

• If you have regrets today, Jesus says “Live forward; sin no more” as you walk in faith with Him.
• If you have things that need to be said to others, get them said today, tomorrow, this week.Get those words said with a sense of urgency.
• If you are holding a mirror up to others, trying to shape them into your image rather than God’s image for them, I warn you: You are arm-in-arm with Satan – not with Jesus. If you are throwing rocks at people, the words in the sand are for you. Be very afraid.
• If you have lived through the regrets and now live in peace, be an encourager to others. Turn people to the comfort of Jesus and the faith family of other believers.

Whiter than snow

By Monty Hope
Because of its rarity in these parts, a good snow storm always creates lasting memories.  From a South Carolina perspective, we have had two memory makers this year.  Tuesday, January 25th, marked a nice white covering for the midlands, but that storm will best be remembered for the apocalyptic traffic conditions in Atlanta.  I was stuck in a hotel about an hour north of Atlanta and my wife sent a picture of our home after the snow.  While the picture looked beautiful, I knew the real story under the covering of wintry wonder.

I know our porch has some rotten wood and needs painting.  I know many of the shrubs are >18 years old and need to be pulled up.  They look tired and weak.  I know multiple screens on the back porch have been ripped where my youngest son was practicing his best Lionel Messi routines.  I know there are crabgrass patches in the yard that need to be dug up and replanted with centipede.  I know Zone 4 of my sprinkler system doesn’t work because there is a short in it.  I could go on and on.  In fact, Rene’e can give a more detailed and exhaustive list of the things I never get around to fixing.  Bottom line: That beautiful picture is a cover up.

For some of us, our lives may look like a snow covered landscape.  We look clean or “all together” when seen by others.  Perhaps we are even camouflaging the truth from ourselves.  After all, we are good Baptists.  What possibly could be wrong?  What is the snow we “pile on” to make our lives seem clean / blessed to ourselves and others?

Is it material possessions?  Do we live in the right house in the right neighborhood?  Do we drive the right car? Do we wear the right clothes?  Nothing wrong with having what we have, but do we use these possessions to try and hide the truth?  Could the truth be that we have more debt than we should or that we spend more than we should or that we give less than we should?

Is it our work or occupations?  Do we have the right “position” with the right pay?  Do we use the “position” as a means to hide the strife and struggles we face in our work?  Do we use the job as a way to pretend the grass really is greener?  We know the truth.  You have to cut the grass no matter what side of the fence you are on.

Is it community service?  Do we belong to the right charity or volunteer in the right organization?  When we serve, is it to pile on the snow hiding the fact that our own family is a wreck and we are avoiding the time we need to spend there?

What about religion?  This one hurts.  Do we attend the right church or the right Sunday school class that somehow creates a façade of religion rather than a true relationship with Jesus and fellow believers?
Why do we pile this snow on?  To fool ourselves into thinking all is ok.  Perhaps we are suffering pain, uncertainty, or low self-esteem.  We believe piling snow will solve our problem.  At least it makes it look good.  Do we pile it on to fool our fellow man?  We surely do not want them to know what is going on.  Do we cover with snow to hide the sin that is in our lives rather than to deal with it?  For me, it’s all about pride.  I am a man.  I am an Engineer.  I am a leader.  It is my job to fix things.  So, what do I do?  When I am trying to fix things in my own power, they don’t get fixed; they get covered with snow.  Heck, instead of solving the problem, I often create a deeper mess to have to dig out of.

Jesus said in Matthew 23: 27-28, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”  Are we whitewashed tombs?  It’s God’s will for his sons and daughters to be blessed.  Please do not hear me say something is wrong with having wonderful possessions, wonderful jobs, or a wonderful church.  I know I just need to evaluate those for what they are: blessings.  I don’t need to use them to cover up what reality may be.

We have an alternative to the cover up plan.  We have the wash away plan.  Psalm 51:7 says, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”  Isaiah 1:18 says, “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord.  Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”  The wash away plan was perfected 2000 years ago when Christ died on the cross.  There is no need to pile on the snow; there is only a need to be cleansed.  When we know and accept that His blood was shed for us, we are perfected.  We must also recognize that, in this life, we need to stay connected to this cleansing power.  Our world is imperfect; we are imperfect.  When sin creeps in (and it will), we must return to the blood not cover with snow.

If we are true believers in Jesus, we will soon enough know perfection without sin.  Perhaps that day is today?  Are you ready?

The old hymn “I Shall Be Whiter than Snow” by James L. Nicholson states is well.

Lord Jesus, for this I most humbly entreat,
I wait, blessed Lord, at Thy crucified feet,
By faith for my cleansing, I see thy blood flow—
Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow,
Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.