Mutually Exclusive

Romans 11 is a nice slice of humble pie. This chapter shows that there constantly lies a choice before me: Either I choose pride or I choose grace. These things are mutually exclusive - there is not 'why not both' option here.

v6 “And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.”
Pride says "nailed it". Grace says "Jesus nailed it", literally to a cross for you and me. We cannot earn it, we could never deserve it. It is simply undeserved, unrepayable favour and forgiveness. It is grace.

v16 “If the root is holy, so are the branches.”
- Pride says "look at the fruit I produced." Grace says "look at the fruit that God produced through me." In and of ourselves as little branches, all we're really good for is making a bonfire or building a kite. But when we are rooted in Jesus, it changes the whole game. Our holiness, our righteousness, our worth, our identity, our hope, our effectiveness - it all comes from being plugged into Jesus. We, as branches, become what our root is. What we're plugged into determines what we output. No plug, no power, no output.

v18 “You do not support the root, but the root supports you.”
- Pride says "God needs me for his plans." Grace says "Because HE loves me, God chooses to use me, to involve me in what He is doing." He is God and I am not. He doesn't need us at all, but boy, does he love us and call us and give us all we need to embrace the fullness of the incredible adventure He has for us.

v20 “They were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble.”
‭‭- Pride says "I stand because I am strong and unshakeable." Grace says "Because Jesus is strong and unshakeable, I will stand in faith." He gives me the legs to stand. He gives me the rock on which to build my life. He gives me the hope that anchors my soul. Through Christ alone I stand. Romans 11 ends off with a powerful reminder: It is all from Him and through Him and to Him alone.

Am I saying that grace cannot exist where there is pride? No, (thank the Lord!) grace is so much bigger than that. But I don't think we can embrace the fullness of the amazing grace of Jesus while holding onto our pride. If we want to take hold of all grace has to offer, we have to let go of our pride, our ego, our self-righteousness. And what a trade that is! Our silly little pride that leads only to death and failure for the incredible, life-giving, freeing grace of our God.

Make Up Your Mind

Luke 21:14-15
"But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.”
"Make up your mind not to worry." So what Jesus is saying is that worrying is a decision we make.

It reminds me of this quote:

Circumstances happen, and for the most part, there is not much we can do about them. However we make the choice to worry or to not worry and Jesus calls us to actively not worry.

More than that, he calls us to trust. Trust that he will provide the words or comfort or wisdom or finances or whatever it is we are tempted to worry about. He will always provide, so we can always trust. 

And because of that - not because we are strong or independent or capable in and of ourselves, but because of God's provision and grace, at the start of every day we can make up our minds not to worry.

Our Command Is Your Request

Beauty and the Beast, final Be Our Guest lyrics:

Our command is your request.

I've been reading through Luke and noticed that there are so many instances of Jesus telling his disciples and those he healed to do something and them doing exactly what he said. For example:

Luke 5: "Jesus said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break."

Luke 9: "When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere."

Luke 9: "He said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” The disciples did so, and everyone sat down."

Luke 19: "He sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’” Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

Luke 17: "As Jesus was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed."

What's interesting here in Luke 17 is that the healing came through the obedience. In the moment of hearing Jesus and doing what he said, the men were healed. It's similar to one from Luke 5, where through the obedience of Simon there was a great harvest. There is great reward awaiting us on the other side of our obedience to Jesus.

Each time I've read these verses, I've stopped and thought, "How's my obedience?". When Jesus speaks (through the Bible, His Spirit, or through His people), do I take his word and carry it out exactly. Do I ignore it? Or do I hear it, but then adjust it to suit me? Do I do the easy bits, but leave out the challenging parts? Do I procrastinate and put it off for another day?

So many times in the Gospels it speaks about how Jesus spoke with such authority. I think something of that respect for authority has been lost in this day and age. We always want to know why and have all our questions answered before doing something. We often also want to voice our own opinion of we think it could be done differently or better. And granted, sometimes there is a space for that. But also, sometimes submitting to authority means trusting that the person in the position of authority has been placed there by God himself and therefore we respect and obey.

I want to live with the understanding and reality that all authority on heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus (Matt 28). In Luke 7:8, the Centurion understood the right idea of authority: "For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it." In light of that, I want to grow in both my hearing of Jesus' words and immediate and accurate carrying out of his commands.

Cleaning Up Bottles With You

Happy 2019! In honour of New Year's Day, I've been listening to the song with that very name by Taylor Swift. One line of the lyrics always stands out to me:

I want your midnights, but I'll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day.

See, we want the glamour and glory of life, but how many of us are willing to stick around for the hard times, the messy times, the clean up on aisle nine? We want the promotion without the hard work, the six pack without the good eating and exercising habits. We want to have our cake and eat it, without the preparation and the cleaning that is required.

This year, I want to do the hard things that need to be done. I aim to not rely on my fickle feelings. Yes I look forward the highlights and the success, but also, I want to do the 'average' and 'lame' things of life so well.

As it says in 1 Timothy 4 below, there is hope of an incredible promise of life that is ours for the taking. And we can take hold of the fullness of this life by training ourselves in godliness. As with all training, sometimes it won't be fun, we will be stretched and exhausted and disheartened at times. But man, is it worth it. Hold onto the hope, the hope that anchors your soul.

Train yourself in godliness. Exercise for the body is not useless, but godliness is useful in every respect, possessing, as it does, the promise of Life now and of the Life which is soon coming. Faithful is this saying and deserving of universal acceptance: and here is the motive of our toiling and wrestling, because we have our hopes fixed on the ever-living God, who is the Saviour of all mankind, and especially of believers. 

I don't know about you, but I sure want the midnights AND I want the mundane day-to-day moments of cleaning up bottles with Jesus every day in 2019 and always.