Math Teachers & Kings

If I asked you who Jesus is to you, how would you respond?

I think we all have an answer ready to speak that would be perfect for church, or our friends, or Bible studies. And that I willing to bet, we believe this response however, what if I asked you, as a Math teacher would, to prove your work?

What I mean is, if I looked at how you spent your time, your words, your money, your work, your family, would it reflect Christ? Would it reflect someone who is pursuing to be more like Jesus? I ask this because if we really meant what we gave as our response to the question asked earlier about who Jesus is to me, then our lives would reflect it.

The author John wrote this in his first letter,

"All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world."

1 John 4:15-17, NLT.

For some of us, this is amazing news to hear.  For others, this is heartbreaking news.  We know we haven't even begun to live a life the reflects Jesus' love in the world.  And to say we lived like Jesus did here on Earth would make many of us cringe with a distaste of failure.

Let me be the first to say, I am the one who cringes the most.  I know my life is far from looking like Jesus' did.  The worst is, I know I will never fully be as Jesus was but I'm called to live up to this standard.  I know I've found myself in the midst of failure and asking myself, "What now? What do I do?"

Return. Return to God and ask Him to help you be more like Him.  The beauty of the Gospel is that we who were completely undeserving of His unfailing, unbeatable, abounding, enduring love were given His grace and mercy on the cross.  And for those of us who choose to follow Him and live our lives as He did, His Spirit is in us, guiding and molding us everyday to be like His Son.

There is mercy given to us new everyday (Lamentation 3:21-23) and His grace is all sufficient for us (2 Corinthians 12:9) and God will give them to His children.  For us, the broken, dirty, and thrown aside can find who our God is in this journey of returning to Him.

Therefore, when I say Jesus is my life-giving savior, the unrelenting lover of my soul, my freedom, nothing will ever be the same in my life. Everyday, I choose to leave the old me full of pain, hurt, doubt, excuses, and lies in the grave, and allow the new me given life by the Spirit to be how I live everyday as I choose to follow Jesus.

What will you call Him?

Grandfather's & Lantern's

My grandfather is a wise man.

I know this because his wisdom has proven itself true time and time again.  Though he isn’t perfect, so often he knows exactly what to say.

One of his favorite phrases is “Tough.” 

Essentially, if you live long enough, you’re going to get burned, hurt, broken.  Life is tough.

I think we can all agree, life is tough.

So often, when life does get tough I’ve caught myself saying, “Jesus, take me now. I just want to be home with you. I’m ready to go.”

Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthians touching on a similar subject.

“So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him [Jesus]. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body. Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others." 2 Corinthians 5:9-11, NLT.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to be with Jesus. Being with Him is not only where we belong, but our true home.  However, I believe we let this mentality take over when times get tough.

When tough times do come, it is much easier to think about leaving rather than enduring knowing one deep truth:

Many times God has used the toughest of times to bring those far from Him closer to His deep embrace. Although we are hurting, He is with us and He will receive glory no matter the outcome. 

Its easy to forget, we have a responsibility to Him whether we are here on earth or with Him.  That responsibility is to please Him.

A friend would put it this way, “We still have a lot of work to do. Let's get to work!"

I emplore you to use your time in this life to chase passionately after God, and in the hard times pursue Him harder than you ever have before.  Let the tough times be the times where you’re light shines brightest in a dark and broken world that so desperately needs to be filled with the light of Christ. 

Don't give up when tough times come, rather dig deeper into Christ and work harder than ever, here is where your light shines brightly bearing the name Jesus, because He is filling you up, not anyone or anything else, no matter the outcome.

My last words to you are simply to shine, my friends. Shine.

Simply,
Tex G.M. Rule