IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU!

If anyone would come after me, he mut deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. - Luke 9:23

READ LUKE 9:18-27 TODAY

     I remember giving the Purpose Driven Life to one of my friends at work.  She said, "Tony I can't read this."

     When I asked, "Why?" she replied, "Look at the first line - It's not about you!"  She couldn't come to grips with that statement..

     Really, how many of us can?  Really, if we're honest, how many of us wake up thinking about what somebody else is going to do that day?  How many of us think about all the things somebody else has to do?  How many of us think about what somebody else is going to have for dinner?

      Not me!  C'mon, not you either!

      But, I think what Jesus is asking us to do is consider that "It's not about us!"  I think He would want us to take baby steps toward not even thinking about ourselves.  There are a lot of keys in the "Treating People Like Jesus Does" keychain, but this is a biggie.  Our selfless attitude is where it all starts. 

CELEBRATE THE MEAL!

"Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.".....They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. - Luke 9:14, 17

READ LUKE 9:1-17 TODAY

     Lot of neat little details here!  First, Jesus has them sit in groups of about fifty.  (Cool that he said "about."  I can just see the disciples counting off 1-2-3...ok, just get in a group!)  Second, The disciples picked up the leftovers.  Now, there were five-thousand people there.  I guess Jesus was not big into waisting food either.  Third, there were twelve basketfuls of leftovers.  Don't you think Jesus could have made just enough.  If He's powerful enough to produce it, you'd think He be knowledgable enough to know the quantities.

      Do you get what Jesus did?  He didn't just provide food for their bodies - he provided food for their souls.  He got people into groups, He gave them a lot of food!  Think about those groups of about fifty talking about what had just happenend.  Think about how they must have sat around for hours eating and sharing their thoughts.  Think about what Jesus did there......and then do it yourself!

LOVE DISTRACTIONS!

"Daughter, your faith has healed you.  Go in peace......"Stop wailing," Jesus said, "She is not dead but asleep." - Luke 8:48,52

READ LUKE 8:40-56 TODAY

     The whole family took the annual trek (ok, maybe we've missed it the last three annuals) to prepare Mr. Melton's classroom for the upcoming school year.  It's a day filled with excitement, anticipation and enthusiasm.....until you get started.  And then you realize you haven't put in a lot of thought to where everything should go.  And then you realize there is just a ton of junk here.  And then you realize that all the stuff your kids were supposed to do doesn't work.

     I had this plan where everything would get put where it's supposed to, the whole family would enjoy every second and we'd come out of there with a fully-functional-Fifth-grade classroom.  Not so much.

     And so I got frustrated.  Every time something distracted me from the "goal" I felt a little more frustration setting in.

     You know what wouldn't have been frustrated? Jesus!  Or maybe he was, but He handled it a whole lot better. 

     Check out our two stories today.  He's walking to teach some folks and a lady has the audacity to try to get Him to heal her.  He's on another journey and someone wants to take time out of His busy day to heal his dead daughter.  C'mon!

      Guess what I just realized?  Maybe the reason Jesus handled distractions so well is that He realized the importance of each situation.  He knew how much this stuff mattered to this lady and this man. 

      I just heard this at Community Christian Church "If it matters to you, it matters to me."  They were talking about God's relationship to us, but why should our relationship with other people be any different.

      We're gonna get distracted from our "goals."  But, maybe if we can remember it's not our "goals" that are important, it won't be so frustrating.  We might even start treating people like Jesus did.

ASK JESUS TO CALM THE STORM!

One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. - Luke 8:22-23
READ LUKE 8:22-25 TODAY

OK, so I'm cliche (how do you spell that word?). I'm going to use the old "Jesus calms the storms in our life" message. Give me some slack, I was up until 3am working on tech stuff for school.
But, you ever have a storm in life? (Here we go) Ever have a time when things are just not working out, or that seems like a lotta bad is happening? Ever feel like there's no hope or there's no chance of something good coming out of this?
I think that's where the disciples were....and they called on Jesus. Now, I don't know about you, but I"ve never stopped a storm. I know for a fact, those disciples hadn't either (or else they wouldn't have had to bother Jesus).
And in life, there are just some things, some relationships that you just can't "calm." Some people and some situations are going to require you to call out to Jesus and say, "We're about to drown!"
If we realize that, it is possible that the storm might just be calmed! (OK, it's over. That was painless, wasn't it?)

DISCIPLES FIRST!

My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice.  - Luke 8:21

READ LUKE 8:19-21 TODAY

     For the Title today, I began to type, "JESUS FIRST!"  Then, as I thought about it, that's not what Jesus is saying.  He is pumping up the value of anyone who follows Him.  Jesus is saying, "How you treat people, all people, is real important!"  Heck, that's kind of like what we're doing with this blog right now - trying to figure out how to treat people like Jesus did.  Interesting!

     I do wonder what Jesus did right after He said this.  Did He go to His mom and brothers and be like, "Just joking guys, you're my mom and bros!"?  After He said that, did He stop what He was doing and go hang out with mom and brothers?  

     I guess that doesn't really matter.  What does matter is how we value people - especially those people who are trying to build the kingdom.  That's our family, and I guess Jesus is saying, just as important, or maybe more, than our biological family.  Hmmmm, now that's gonna take some time to chew on.

     Late! 

LISTEN!

No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed.  Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.  for there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.  Therefore, CONSIDER CAREFULLY HOW YOU LISTEN! - Luke 8:16-18

YOU JUST READ EVERYTHING YOU HAVE TO!

     Jesus is talking about how you let your light shine, and then He talks about how everything you do, everything you think, everything you do in private will be brought out into the open.  To me, that's some pretty big stuff - using your talents and making sure everything you do is something you wouldn't mind millions of people seeing on t.v.

      But, then He throws in the whammy!  Since this is so huge.....CONSIDER CAREFULLY HOW YOU LISTEN!  Listening?  That's the key? 

      If I really want to follow Jesus, I should watch how I listen?  Maybe that's a good idea with other people too!

FOUR CHOICES!

A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up.  Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture.  Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants.  Still other seed fell on good soil.  It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred time more than was sown. - Luke 8:5-8

READ LUKE 8:4-15 TODAY

     We take a little break from learning how to treat people, for this one question - Who are you?  Has your seed been trampled?  Has your seed been withered?  Has your seed been choked?  Or is your seed yielding a crop a hundred times more than was sown?

     Do not be afraid to say "Yes" to the last one!

TREAT WOMEN LIKE JESUS DID!

The twelve were with Him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna, the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. - Luke 8:1-3

READ LUKE 8:1-3 TODAY

     THIS ONE'S ONLY FOR THE GUYS!

     I often wonder, "When Jesus saw a female, what went through his mind?"  I wonder what he thought about them.  Did He think about how pretty they were?  Did He think about how they might help the Kingdom of God?  Did He think about their role in society?  Did He just kind of pass them by because in His day they weren't very important?

     Well, today we get a little glimpse.  Today we see that Jesus, at least in some part, thought of them as disciples.  It struck me, that it wasn't just the twelve who were hanging out with Him - but some women.  It also struck me that it was only the twelve - only the disciples and a bunch of women.

      We never get that picture do we?  We never think about Jesus and his disciples.....and women.  We don't hear too many sermons or read too many books about these women who were with Jesus.  We don't see them in the paintings.

      And maybe that's part of the reason, us, as guys, get a warped view of women.  Maybe we've let society and the media show us how to think about women instead of thinking about them how Jesus did.  Maybe we could learn from Jesus, and have the first thing that pops into our head when we see a woman pass by on the street be - DISCIPLE!

      Just a thought!