Wednesday - Change It - Neighbours to Acquaintances
Remember our story yesterday about Jesus stopping to help a hurting woman? It wasn’t just about interruptions. After helping the woman who interrupted his travels, Jesus carried on his way towards Jairus’ house, since he’d asked Jesus to heal his daughter. It turns out that Jairus’daughter had died in the meantime, but Jesus kept going, and arrived at her bedside and raised her from the dead. That’s the true point of this story – the resurrection from the dead is what we’re heading toward – ultimate goal. He gives us a glimpse in this story, showing us that our death will not be the end of us, but that Jesus offers to simply wake us up in his kingdom. It’s a matter of whether we want to join that party.
Jesus said the main thing was loving God, loving neighbours. The confidence to live that way, with all its sacrifices in this world, all flows from Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. It is our resurrection from being dead to sin now, and the physical death still to come.
We can be distracted by other things – even good things – and lose perspective. We can tell ourselves things will settle down, or that more will be enough, or that everybody lives like this.
But these are distractions. We can only do so many things well – why not make our specialty what God says is most important? We’ll have to slow down.
John Ortberg – Love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible. Love always takes time, and time is the one thing hurried people don’t have.”
Think of the difference between good doctor and bad doctor from a patient’s perspective. It often has to do with perception of being hurried – does the doctor seem to listen and care? I know someone who visited the doctor recently, and waiting for an hour in the exam room listening to him talk on the phone about golf, then she heard him tell a drug rep he was extremely busy. She knew it was a lie, and that he didn’t care about her as a person.
We don’t want to be like that with our neighbours!
Question: What good things might be keeping you from the “main thing” of loving God, who calls you to your neighbours?
We meet for coffee every Wednesday night at Starbucks in the Chapters Store in Ajax, in Durham Region just East of Toronto. Maybe we’ll see you there?
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If you ask people how they are doing, how often do they include the word “busy” in their reply? We often feel we need to justify ourselves that way – I’m busy. I’m not lazy. I’m productive!
This isn’t untrue, we usually are busy! But it’s not always a good form of busyness. Negative busyness comes from a cycle of slavery to work, defining ourselves by our work, or becoming consumed by worry and guilt about work.
One inner way to combat this is with satisfaction. It starts with satisfaction in Christ – I am not God, I am not in charge of universe. God is.
I rebelled against him, but Jesus has done something incredible, in his death on cross, for me. He’s accomplished what matters most in life – he’s freed me from having to prove my worth. I don’t need to accomplish anything to know God for eternity. He’s accomplished it for me.
This can be remembered with Sabbath rest every week. Rest is an opportunity to look back and celebrate what’s been done by God, and by you. You might journal, and pray to thank God for the successes, say sorry for the failures, and acknowledge that what’s done is done.
Then you can look forward to the new week ahead, now in perspective.
Challenge: Divide a piece of paper into four columns, and think about the last work week. In the first column, write your worries, then your guilts, then your unfinished business. Now in the fourth column, write some words that represent who you are, and want to be. Where are the disconnects between this column and the others?
