Will Davis Jr.'s Blog, page 30

How to Have a Great Funeral

I attended a funeral this past weekend. It was a great funeral, really great.

And no, “great funeral” isn’t an oxymoron.

The mother of a good friend died of Alzheimer’s. As you know, Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease. It robbed this woman of many years of her life and made her last seven years extremely difficult for her and her family.

And yet, there we were–singing, story-telling and laughing for the better part of 2 hours. I actually left feeling encouraged.

The family even had a Happy Hour at a nearby restaurant, after the funeral, for more story-telling and laughing. Like I said, great funeral.

No, that isn’t strange and no, we’re not all in denial.  This sweet family and those of us who attended the service are all fully aware of the magnitude of this loss and the suffering that preceded it.

But there was an undeniable backdrop to the entire event–peace. Even through the tears and obvious grief that was shared by this family, they communicated an overwhelming sense of peace.

What is peace? It’s an unearthly calm in the midst of chaos. It’s the quiet confidence that flows from a hope that isn’t connected to any part of this world. It’s a steadiness that supersedes earthly circumstances.

This family was immersed peace.

The difference? They knew that the funeral wasn’t the end of the story. They knew that this great lady who had died way too early for their liking was tucked safely in the arms of Jesus in Heaven. They knew that she was actually more alive and more whole they any of us are. They knew, because of Jesus’ resurrection, that death hadn’t won the day. And, they knew that they’d see this amazing wife, mother, grandmother and matriarch again . . . . soon.

That’s the difference.

That’s why Paul challenged the church in Thessalonica to remember their hope: But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope, 1 Thessalonians 4:13.

Trust me. I’ve been to many funerals in my life, and I know the difference. Nothing is tougher than a funeral without hope and peace. Nothing is harder to swallow than the realization that death did win the day and that there will be no grand reunions in Heaven. Those kind of funerals are almost too much to bear.

But this one–and countless other funerals I’ve had the privilege of attending–was different. And that difference is eternal.

I hate death. I hate sickness, aging, disease and the indignity they bring to humans. But because of Jesus Christ–his fully obedient life, his sacrificial death and his triumphant resurrection–death and its henchmen do not have the last laugh.

In fact, that last laugh belongs to all of us who know Truth and who eagerly await Heaven. And sometimes you can even hear us laughing at funerals.

Yea God.

 

 

 

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Will’s Letter to ACF

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Prayers for a Guarded Tongue

Here’s this week’s entry from Pray Big for Your Life

Chapter  6

  Did I Just Say That? Prayers for a Guarded Mouth

Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. Psalm 141:3

 

Recently, my family and I made the short drive from our home in Austin to the small city of Waco, about a hundred miles north. You know Waco–home of the Texas Ranger Museum, the original Dr. Pepper factory, the Brazos River, and of course, Baylor University, my alma mater. It was homecoming and I was looking forward to seeing some old friends.

My buddy Steve Carrell and I used to travel together and lead revival meetings. Steve is now Music Director at First Baptist Church of San Antonio. Our paths don’t cross nearly enough. So, when I heard that Steve was in Waco for homecoming, I immediately started looking for him. My search didn’t take long. As I rounded the corner near the Baylor Bear Pits (yes, it’s where they keep the bears), I saw my friend Steve. He had that same goofy grin, looked like he’d lost a few pounds and was talking to three rather large college-age young men. Steve didn’t see me.

Now if you’re a guy, and you run into a friend that you haven’t seen in years and you want to pick up right where things left off, what do you do? Guys, you know: You harass him. You insult him. You tell him how bad he looks, etc. He wouldn’t feel loved and he would wonder what was wrong if you were suddenly nice to him. So, in classic Man it’s great to see you. You look terrible form, I yelled at Steve from about ten feet away: “Hey, why don’t you just shut up?” Steve stopped his conversation with the three giant man-boys, turned and stared at me, recognition not yet showing in his face. Knowing that it was only a moment before my good friend both recognized me and saw the humor in what I was doing, I said it again, only a bit louder: “That’s right, why don’t you just shut up?”

What happened then all kind of moved in slow motion. As the three giants simultaneously turned and snarled at me, I came to the troubling realization that the man I was being so rude to wasn’t Steve. He looked like Steve, sounded like Steve, acted like Steve, but he wasn’t Steve. And I had just yelled at him to shut up, twice.

Open Wide and Say Nothing

I think the biblical writer of Ecclesiastes showed great wisdom when he exhorted his readers to be men and women of few words (see Eccl. 5:2). For me, the more I speak, the greater the opportunity I have to say something that will hurt somebody. James, the half-brother of Jesus and writer of the New Testament Epistle that bears his name, also knew the deadly power of the tongue. He wrote: Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be, (James 3:5-10).

I stand guilty as charged. I’ve used my words to hurt those I love, to exaggerate, to lie, to over promise, to curse and insult. James said it well: This should not be! And like toothpaste once it’s out of the tube, harmful words are impossible to recall once you’ve said them.

So pray for your tongue.

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Caution: Babies Taking Flight

Recently, as I was driving into the Denver airport to drop my daughter off for a flight, we noticed a sign warning drivers to use caution as baby eagles that lived in the area were just learning to fly.

My first thought was that the sign actually would make drivers less cautious as they, like me, would start looking at the skies for baby eagles and spend less time watching the road. But as I thought more about it, I reflected on the irony and the tragedy of what it says about our culture.

Do you know that it is illegal to destroy an eagle’s egg? As two formerly endangered species, golden and bald eagles are vigorously protected. You can read about the laws here. And I am glad they are. These amazing and majestic animals have been brought back from the brink of extinction through such vigorous protections.

My own encounter with a bald eagle in the wild just last week reminded me that such sightings are far less uncommon. Thanks to our laws and protections, eagles have made a comeback.

I ran into this majestic guy a few days ago in Estes Park

So I get it when Denver officials want us to look out for the baby eagles.

What I don’t get, is that such care and protection isn’t afforded to unborn baby humans.

I don’t think that many people would argue that eagles, or any animal for that matter, are more valuable than humans. It is rather because we are at the top of the created order that we understand our responsibility to steward this planet we get to live on. Eagles can’t protect themselves from humans, so we must protect them.

So why is it any different with a human, albeit unborn? I am very familiar with the reasoning of those who support “choice,” and I certainly do not think that I will sway any of them with this simple blog. In fact, I’m not trying to. That’s a change of heart that only God bring.

What I am attempting to do is remind Christians of our biblical responsibility to be advocates for and protectors of the “least of these” in our world. I am asking that we be as vigilant, focused and vocal in our protection of the unborn as the Denver officials are in making sure that the baby eagles have room to spread their wings.

Here are several things we can do:

1. Financially support and volunteer at crisis pregnancy centers. These centers are the front lines of helping women and couples think through the long-term implications of ending a pregnancy. They provide grace-based counsel and alternatives to abortion. Give your time and money to them.

2. Teach the biblical view of sex and sexuality. With the vast majority of abortions being preformed on unwed women, it’s obvious that part of our problem is a failed understanding of the significance and meaning of sex. When it’s seen as a covenant act and not as a recreational pastime, we will move much closer to preventing those pesky “unwanted pregnancies.”

3. Teach the image of God. Many unborn are aborted because of the early diagnosis of some form of severe mental or physical deformity. The view is that such people can’t live meaningful lives and are being spared from a life of hardship. The Bible says otherwise. The image of God that is in every human makes them infinitely valuable regardless of their physical, emotional or mental challenges. We need to teach the biblical value of humans–all humans–regardless of their ability or inability to contribute to society.

An unborn human at 12 weeks.

4. Support adoption programs. These programs offer real solutions to women and couples considering abortion. Let’s make sure they’re well-funded and well-promoted.

5. Adopt. Some of you are being called to open your home to one of these “unwanted” children. If you are, don’t resist the calling. God will honor your obedience.

6. Take in an unwed mother. Some young pregnant women simply have no place to turn and no where to go. You can easily get access to these women through serving with pregnancy centers or by just keeping your eyes open. When you meet an unwed pregnant woman, offer to take her in and walk with her through the rest of her pregnancy. You’ll probably be rescuing more than one life.

7. Pray. Ask God to lead our government officials have to the courage and conviction to protect the unborn. Pray that churches and Christians will do all they can serve those in “crisis pregnancies” and those agencies who minister to them. Pray that those with unwanted pregnancies will discover the grace, forgiveness and perspective of Jesus.

8. Share the Gospel. As I said earlier, ultimately God has to change the hearts of those who support a woman’s right to end a pregnancy. From an unbelieving worldview, that right is paramount. Looking at the world from the “What’s in this for me?” and “How will this impact me and my rights?” is normal for a person without Christ.

But Jesus changes all that. The Jesus we follow is the same Jesus who didn’t protect his rights as the Son of God, but readily released them so he could die for sinners, even sinners who would reject him. It is that others-centeredness at the heart of the Gospel that can change someone who is willing to take the life of an unborn child into to someone who is willing to go to jail or even die to protect one.

Friends, be very careful. All around us are baby humans who are seeking to spread their wings. Let’s not get in their way.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14

 

 

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Why Pray for Instant Obedience

Here’s this week’s entry from Pray Big for Your Life.

There are several reasons to pray for a rapid Obedience Response Time. Here are just a few.

First, God promises to honor obedience.

The Bible is loaded with statements about the importance of obedience in a believer’s life. God seems to go out of his way to make the case for the benefits of obedience. That is something, by the way, that he didn’t have to do. God could require our obedience just because it’s right and he’s God. He could expect us to follow his Word and not give any promise of blessing or benefit for it. But that’s not how God operates. He’s a loving, benevolent God who loves to honor the obedience of his people.

Listen to some of God’s promises to the nation of Israel regarding their obedience (see Deuteronomy 28:1-10):

If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.
All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock–the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.
The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways.
Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you.

It would be difficult to overstate the abundance of favor that God promises to show on behalf of those who obey him. I don’t know what exactly those great promises (and the countless others like it in the Bible) mean for the lives of believers today, but I do know that God is faithful to his Word. That’s why I always tell Christians who are wrestling with their Obedience Response Time that God honors obedience. If you are faithful to him, he promises to be even more faithful to you. His Word promises it.

Second, obedience increases your spiritual maturity.

When God calls you to a step of obedience, there is always more going on than what you can immediately see or discern. God may indeed want you to serve a neighbor, forgive an enemy, or repent of a sin, but he typically is also working another, longer-term agenda. When God calls you to obey him, he wants to mature you.

Radical obedience is a crash course in spiritual maturity. When you step out in obedience to God’s call, you guarantee that your maturity will increase and your walk with him will deepen. Besides bringing God’s favor and blessing, obedience brings depth to the most important relationship we have—our relationship with God.

When Moses accepted God’s call to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he entered into an adventure of growth and intimacy with God that lasted 80 years. Moses discovered things about God that he would have never known had he remained in the safety of the Sinai Desert. When Peter stepped out of the boat onto the stormy waters of the Sea of Galilee, he too entered into a level of relational intimacy with Jesus that he wouldn’t have known otherwise. And even though he lost his courage and quickly began to sink, he still experienced something with Jesus that the others in the boat missed.

Obedience thrusts you into a level of dependence on and knowledge of Christ that is impossible to know in the supposedly safe quarters of sluggish obedience. You want to pray for an immediate Obedience Response Time because your spiritual development depends on it. You’ll never become what God intends for you as long as you argue and negotiate with him when he calls. Get up and get going; step out of the boat. You can’t afford not to.      

Finally, your instant obedience causes a ripple effect of blessing. The impact of obedience typically goes way beyond your own personal benefit. God’s command for you to obey him often includes his plan to bless others through you. Tony’s obedience has produced significant blessing in the lives of some Austin homeless people. Before you stall in your obedience to God, think about who else stands to gain by your obedience. You will probably quickly realize that the impact of your obedience, or disobedience, goes way beyond you.

In early September of 2005, thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims made their way to Austin. Some of the first arrivals were housed in a local school district athletic facility. These dear people were in significant shock, had lost everything, and in many cases didn’t know if all their loved ones had survived the storm. They languished for days at the facility until housing could be found for them.

On the first day that some of the survivors came to Austin, I felt a gentle leading of the Spirit to drive down to the facility, try to meet a few of the survivors, and just take them to lunch. I thought that I could offer a few of them a brief distraction from their chaos. When I got to the facility, I told the security guard what I wanted to do. He disappeared inside and came out a few minutes later with three haggard-looking folks, a young man and woman, and a 12-year-old child. They had lived through a terrifying and exhausting few days. Over lunch, I heard their stories and learned that there were about thirty more people in their group. When I dropped them off back at the facility, I promised to try to help them.

What happened next still astounds me. As people in my church heard about this family’s needs, the offers for help came pouring in. Within just a few days, we were able to find apartments for all thirty of them and a few others as well. We completely furnished their apartments and helped them secure the six-months-free rent that FEMA was offering. It was the largest outpouring of money, materials and volunteer effort in our church’s history. Several of the families attended our church until they moved back to New Orleans. One family decided to stay in Austin and plant a church. We helped them get started.

The impact of that weekend is still being felt in our church today, years later. Our involvement with those Katrina survivors helped push our missions ministry to the forefront in our church. It helped us see the impact for good that we could have if we were willing to give and sacrifice generously. It also showed many in our church the great joy that comes with serving those who can’t return the favor.

At the time of this writing, our church gives at least 20% of our annual revenues to missions. We are praying and planning to do more. We still send large groups of men, women and children each year to the Gulf Coast to help with the ongoing Katrina restoration effort. We also send them to places such as: Managua, Nicaragua; Juarez, Mexico; and Guatemala. And, we can trace the momentum of the missions movement in our church to Labor Day weekend, 2005, when we decided to help a few Katrina survivors. And we can trace that to my seemingly small decision to obey a leading to take a few people to lunch.

God will use your obedience. He’ll use it to change you and bless others. Pray for an instant Obedience Response Time. You don’t want to miss the adventure that God has for you or hinder the blessing that he has for others. Pray Mark 1:17-18 for yourself: Lord, when you call me, please give me the courage to instantly obey you. Help me to drop whatever I’m doing and follow you.

 

Discussion Questions

Rate your Obedience Response Time on a 1-5 scale. Let 1 represent stalled or slow obedience and 5 represent immediate obedience.
Can you name a time that you delayed your obedience to God and it cost you or others? What happened?
Can you name a time that you obeyed God and he honored it?
Why is obedience scary? What keeps so many of us from practicing immediate obedience with God?
How might your life be different if you shortened your Obedience Response Time?
After reading this chapter, how will you pray differently for yourself?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Starbucks and Blankets

Here’s this week’s entry from Pray Big for Your Life. 

Tony Colvin is currently the Director of Creative Arts at the church I pastor. Tony and his wife, Karen, are two of my favorite people, and have always demonstrated a high degree of commitment to doing God’s will, no matter how challenging. Tony left a higher-paying, solid sales career at Dell Inc. to come work for our church. Tony has a very short Obedience Response Time.

Tony was at home one night after work getting ready for bed when he felt the Holy Spirit nudging him to do something. As he sat quietly and listened to the Lord, he sensed that God wanted him to minister to somebody, right then—that night—before he went to bed. Think about how easy it would be to write off such a leading as too inconvenient or too radical to be obeyed right then. But Tony really felt like the Spirit was telling him that someone needed care that night, and that early morning obedience wouldn’t be good enough.

Tony got dressed, told his wife he was going out, and then drove to a nearby Starbucks to pick up some coffee to go. Then, he picked up a bag of cheeseburgers and just started driving, praying for the Holy Spirit to lead him.

After a few minutes, Tony noticed a man with a backpack crossing a dark intersection into a highway department materials yard. Tony had found his mission. He got out of his car, walked right into the area where he had seen the man and called out to him asking if he was hungry or wanted some coffee. The man warmly received both Tony and the hot coffee. Tony stayed longer than he had originally intended that night and even took the man to Wal-Mart to purchase a new jacket and blanket. When he left the area, which turned out to be a homeless camp, he did so with a great sense of fulfillment and joy. He knew he had done what God wanted him to do and that God wasn’t finished with him.

Tony developed a relationship with the people at the camp, learned their names and most of their stories. He and some other people from our church have provided them with blankets, clothing, food, and even tents. In some cases, Tony arranged for them to work at our church in return for such things as bus tickets or help with rent. Tony also learned that ministry to the homeless is messy—not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually.

These are not the easiest people in the world to minister to; but they matter to Jesus, and therefore they have to matter to Jesus’s people. Tony knows that his obedience that night brought both immediate and long-term blessing to the lives of some people who desperately need it. He also knows that it has forever changed him.

It has also changed our church. Because of Tony’s obedience, we are developing a homeless ministry at our church. We are learning about the most effective ways to help homeless people and we’re connecting with other ministries in the city who can help us make wise decisions as we try to serve our new friends.

Some of the homeless are also starting to contribute to our church. They built a backdrop and set we used for a vision series we did at our church. The set included a homeless camp with items they had “donated.” And recently, at our Easter weekend services, two of the homeless came and helped set up beforehand. Then they stayed and worshiped with us. Tony later commented that seeing his two homeless friends, singing and raising their hands in worship, along with the well-dressed congregation that crowded into our church that weekend, was one of the coolest and most meaningful things he’s ever seen.

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A Very Bright Light in Austin–For Nearly 30 Years!!!!

I had the pleasure of serving last Sunday at the Angel House Soup Kitchen. I was there with a group of volunteers from ACF as part of our Fifth Sunday Serving emphasis. It was an inspiring day.

Way back in 1986 pastor Frank Deutsch was led by God to start a ministry to the poor, the homeless and the hungry in East Austin. Since then, The Austin Baptist Chapel/Angel House Soup Kitchen has been faithfully serving the “least of these” on Austin’s east side. In 1990, Frank decided to start serving a hot lunch seven days a week. Angel House now serves between 300-400 people a day. You can do the math.

 

Before we served lunch, we worshiped with the congregation of the Austin Baptist Chapel and received some anointed biblical teaching.

 

Frank’s secret soup recipe was amazing! That’s some serious soup.

I was thrilled to run into one of my heroes, David Seaborn. David was a record-setting running back at Austin High and Baylor that I used to cheer for as a kid. David is a pastor and a member of the board of directors for the Angel House. He also preaches there three times a month.

I’m so proud of my friend Frank and his obedience. It would be impossible to measure the impact he’s had on the the lives of Austin’s needy.

To learn more about Angel House, click here.

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World Class Obedience

Here’s this week’s entry from Pray Big for Your Life

Chapter 5

No Delay: Prayers for Your Obedience Response Time

 When God says “Go,” how long does it take you to respond? Are you prone to negotiate, stall or seek second and third opinions? Do you look for escape clauses and pre-obedience agreements? Or, when God speaks, do you respond immediately?

If you are a parent, you probably don’t put up with delayed obedience from your children. You teach them to trust your judgment, to respect your authority and to do what you tell them to do immediately and without any stalling. God expects the same from us. He expects us to trust him, to honor him and to obey him. And, he promises to bless and reward us when we do. Pray for your Obedience Response Time, your ORT, to grow shorter and shorter. Pray that when you hear God’s command, you will obey instantly.

World Class Obedience

The Bible is loaded with examples of men and women who practiced instant obedience. Consider Noah, who obeyed God and started construction on an ark even though the concept of a flood was probably foreign to him. God honored his obedience and preserved him and his family through the most terrible days the world had ever seen. Consider Abraham, who obeyed God and left his hometown in search of a far country that he had never seen, but that God had promised to give him. God honored his obedience and made him the father of Israel.

In my opinion, Abraham also received one of the most difficult assignments God ever gave a human. Without any explanation, God commanded Abraham to offer his beloved and promised son Isaac as a sacrifice to him. The biblical text records Abraham’s radical response to God’s brutal assignment,

“Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about,” (Genesis 22:3).

I’m stunned and humbled by Abraham’s unblinking response to God. We know from the text that Abraham was fully prepared to carry out God’s difficult order, even though he didn’t fully understand God’s reasoning. He did, however, know that God is good and that he could be trusted, even with the life of his promised son. God honored Abraham’s faith.

In the New Testament, Jesus’s first disciples also demonstrated impressively short Obedience Response Times. The writer Mark tells us that when Jesus approached Simon and Andrew and invited them to join his ministry, “At once they left their nets and followed him,” (Mark 1:17-18). That was probably not the first time that Simon and Andrew had met Jesus. They were aware of his ministry and his rising popularity. But it was probably the first time that Jesus had extended his call/command on their lives, and their response to him was instant–no negotiation, no debating, no stalling; just an immediate Yes to the call of the Lord.

We need to pray for equally obedient hearts. We need to pray that when Jesus calls, we’ll drop our nets and follow.

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Today the Gay Pride Flag, Tomorrow the Christian Flag. Right?

Last week the US Embassy in Israel flew the Gay Pride flag right below the US flag. The flag was flown as an act of support and solidarity for Gay Pride week in Israel.

 

U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro’s office in Israel issued the following statement in two languages: Proudly flying the colors! For the first time in history, the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv has raised the Pride flag together with our American flag. We are proud to join with the municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo and its residents in celebrating LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual] Pride Week. Read the full article here.

Corey Bardash, co-chairman of Republicans Abroad-Israel, said that the flag-raising “shows that there is a little island in the Middle East that shares the same democratic values as America.”

Democratic? As in representative?

OK, cool. Depending on what source you read, anywhere from 3% to 12% of American adults claim to be gay. And, depending on what source you read, 70-85% of American adults claim to be Christian.

And since we’ve got a little island of democratic representation flying flags over the embassy in Israel, I guess it’s safe to assume that they’ll be hoisting the Christian flag any day now.

Especially since Israel’s neighbor, Syria, has made executing Christians a common and celebrated practice. And since so many Americans, gay and straight, claim to be Christians and grieve for our brothers and sisters in Syria and other persecuting countries, we can expect the Christian flag to flown in support of them. Right?

Any day now. Any day.

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How to Stay Close to Jesus

Here’s this week’s entry from Pray Big for Your Life.  

The Secret to Proximity

In John 15, Jesus gave his disciples a vivid picture of what it means to be close to him. It was the night before his crucifixion, and Jesus wanted to make sure his followers knew the secret to staying near to him in the tumultuous days and years that lay ahead. Here’s part of what he told them: Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me, (John 15:4).

Jesus used the familiar imagery of a vineyard to help his disciples see the importance of staying connected to him. They lived in an agrarian world, and it was easy for them to make the connection between fruitbearing and abiding. Branches that are cut off from the vine stop yielding fruit and quickly die.

Jesus wanted his disciples to understand that the same was true for them: As long as they remained in close proximity to him, they’d be fruitful; but when they allowed distance to creep into their relationship with Christ, they were in big trouble. It’s tragic that Peter, only a few hours after hearing Jesus give this warning, became a graphic example of how quickly the lack of proximity can seriously damage a disciple.

A Christ-follower who abides or remains in Christ never does so by accident. Staying connected to Jesus requires focus, discipline and intention. I believe that without exception the most important ingredient in staying close to Jesus is God’s Word. Twice in his teaching on fruitbearing Jesus mentioned the importance of God’s Word (see John 15:3 and 7). The Bible, very much like the vine in Jesus’s metaphor, provides the life-giving nutrients that make a branch fruitful. Christians who live off a steady diet of God’s Word will find it much easier to remain in Christ and bear fruit than those who neglect the regular reading and study of Scripture.

Pray for a hunger for God’s Word. As you pray about your spiritual proximity to Christ, pray also for a closeness to his Word. Pray that you’ll love and be hungry for the truths of Scripture.[i] Then, act on your prayers and start reading God’s Word every day. The steady diet of Scripture will go a long way toward helping you remain true to Christ and keep you from slipping back into the shadows.

Arm in Arm with Jesus

Here is an image that you can use for inspiration as you pray for your proximity to Jesus. It inspires me as I pray for my own walk with Christ. It’s from the film, The Passion of the Christ and based on the scene described in Matthew 27:32.

As Jesus was making his way to Golgotha, the place where he was to be crucified, he was too weak and bloodied to carry his cross alone. The Roman soldiers grabbed a man from the crowd, Simon of Cyrene, and forced him to help Jesus carry his cross. In one powerful scene, Jesus falls to the ground and can’t go on. A mob immediately begins to beat him. Simon, who was rapidly developing an affinity for Christ, came to his rescue. He beat back the crowd and then began screaming at the Roman soldiers. He told them that he didn’t care what they did to him, but if they didn’t stop harassing Jesus, he wouldn’t carry the cross any further.

Then Simon stooped down and helped Jesus pick up his cross. On the screen, we see the two men from behind, slowly standing up together. They move side-by-side, each with his inside arm up over the other man’s shoulder. The cross is between them. The view from that angle only lasted for a moment, but it immediately grabbed my attention and I have never forgotten it: Jesus’s arm, bloodied and bruised, interlocked with Simon’s, and together they were carrying Jesus’s cross.

I want that image to represent my walk with Christ. I want to be that close to Jesus, that close to his cross. I want to get his blood all over me. I don’t want to shy away from any shame or persecution that might come through affiliation with him. And when he is mocked, I want to rush quickly to his defense. I want to not care what happens to me, as long as Jesus is exalted.

Pray that for yourself. Pray that you will always be arm in arm with Jesus. Ask God to keep you close to his Son and to never allow you to drift into the shadows. Pray that you’ll remain faithfully at Jesus’s side, safe in his loving protection and boldly identifying yourself as his disciple. Pray Luke 9:23 for yourself: Lord Jesus, help me to want to follow you. Give me grace each day to deny myself, to identify with you and the glorious cause of your cross, and to follow you.

 

Discussion Questions

List four or five synonyms for proximity.
Use one of those words to describe your relationship to Jesus. How well does it describe your walk with Christ? Are you close to him, so close that you can hear his heartbeat? Or are you like Peter was at times, following at a distance?
How can you tell if you are close to Jesus or not?
John 15 talks about the importance of abiding in Christ? Would you describe yourself as an abiding Christian? If not, what would it take for you to become one?
After reading this chapter, how will you pray differently for yourself?

 

[i] A great source of pinpoint prayers for loving and obeying God’s Word is Psalm 119.

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