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Archive for the ‘Discipleship’ Category

Turmoil and Peace of Following Jesus

Posted in Christ, Disciples, Discipleship, Faith, tagged , on April 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

JesusCalsmsStormMatthew 8:23-26

The story is brief, Jesus enters a “ship”, the disciples follow, and the going gets rough.

Storms happened all the time, ships sank all the time; the danger was real and the disciple thought they were going to die; others had died in just such circumstances and Jesus was asleep, letting it all happen.

Frantically they wake Jesus, but his response is to rebuke them for being fearful. Then he rebukes the wind and sea and all becomes calm, inside and out.

Jesus expected his disciples to realize with him there’s no going under but over.

I chose to follow Jesus, like his disciples. The storms of life threaten like they did his disciples. I am fearful like his disciples and, like his disciples, I have Jesus present though sometimes he appears to be sleeping.

Jesus expects me to not be fearful but trust God will see me through, storms are no match for him and me together.

– fritz

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Changing Perspectives

Posted in Discipleship, Faith, John Ortberg, Maturity, Quotes on May 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

John Ortberg

“The growth of the disciples looked something like this: First they had faith in Jesus; then they began to have the faith of Jesus. Their mental maps began to look like Jesus’ mental map. — John Ortberg1

John goes on to say that the deepest conviction of the followers of Christ is boiled down to one sentence,

… his disciples realized that Jesus is the Savior of the world—that he really is the revelation of God himself—and therefore they trusted him with their eternal destinies as well. Elton Trueblood wrote these words, and I think they are profoundly true: “The deepest conviction of the Christian is that Christ was not wrong.”

That’s really what it comes down to, experiencing Christ in living enough to decide to believe him, to take up the faith he had.

Related Post: “Mr Monk’s Gospel Lesson” – May 14, 2010

1 Ortberg, John (2008-09-02). Faith and Doubt (Kindle Locations 715-719). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

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Jesus Meddles

Posted in Character, Dedication, Discipleship, Jesus, tagged on July 11, 2011| Leave a Comment »

[Y]e pay tithe [but] have omitted the weightier matters of .. judgment, mercy, and faith” – Matthew 23:23

Those wanting just enough of God to be comfortable, just enough religion to feel good about themselves, were never happy with Jesus. He likes to meddle too much!

Jesus is not content to sit quietly as we live our lives our way. He’s like my youth director friend who was fired. He was doing fine, the pastor said, until he started asking the kids for commitment.

But that’s Jesus. To outsiders it’s considered meddling but to those who know him it’s not meddling at all — its his love and mercy. Doing the right thing is the blessing to us.

Sound Bite: “That’s not meddling, that’s God’s love!”
Prayer: “Jesus, have your way in me, help me to give my all for you. Amen!”

— fritz@langgang.com

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