~ Living Like You Mean It

Living Like You Mean It

In yesterday’s article I wrote that Jesus first call upon us is that we “be” the children of God.  I stand by that statement and I believe that it is true.  It is however capable of distortion.  Because of the simplicity of the message it can be argued that we can sit back and bask in the warmth of God’s love; nothing is farther from the truth.

Our God knows that as well as “being” we need to have a “function” as well.  This function has little to do with our work, our family position or even our social position; it has everything to do with what is best for us where God has us. 

Further the function that He has for all of us is the same one that through our relationship with Jesus others may find that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Light and that He is the path through which each and every person can be reunited with Father.

How do we achieve this feat of drawing others?  We do it by being so close to Father through the way of Jesus that God shines into others lives.  Christians were so named in Antioch because of their association with the Christ (acts 11:20) and the fact that they gossiped the Good News of Jesus; no doubt they lived what they believed and that is what gave them credibility.

Even before Jesus ministry, the Bible records God’s intention for us to “be still” in three different environments.  The people of God are told to “be still” in Exodus as the Lord fights for the people.  In Nehemiah He calms a grieving nation and in the Psalms He claims His rightful position over the nations.

The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”  Exodus 14:14

The Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for this is a holy day. Do not grieve.”  Nehemiah 8:11

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”  Psalm 46:10
In the Book of Micah Chapter 6:8 we also find

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8 (NIV, ©2010)

Jesus then builds on these passages with His teachings and life example.  The reason that Jesus was rejected by the religious establishment was that He lived His teaching and that they didn’t as much as for His criticism of them.

The Sermon on the Mount is a concentrated passage of descriptions of people’s circumstances where God was with them.  Each of the characteristics He spoke about was contrary to the norms of then society as well as ours.  The entire New Testament is about this new Way of Jesus, His direct teachings in the Gospels and then their application as the followers came up with aspect of that teaching.

Jesus life is real.  The peace and love we experience must be accompanied with the Micah Challenge.  If we just live in a warm and fuzzy land that does not connect with people around us, with the poor and the oppressed, the powerless and the unloved then we are not living the Jesus life.

 Into each of our lives as followers of Jesus there will be someone looking for Father Love and this is the privilege that we have that our function is to point others to Him.