March 3, 2021 (Wednesday)
The third “be my disciple” statement Jesus made is found in
John 8:31 – 32, “Jesus
said to the Jews who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain
faithful to my teaching. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set
you free.” [CEB] Let’s dig in.
The word translated, “remain faithful” means “continue” in
the ongoing sense. It is an error to presume Christianity is a one-and-done
decision. It is a continual remaining, holding, abiding, obeying, practicing or
keeping…
What John is saying is; to continue (remain, keep going)
means we must be constantly learning, growing, and moving forward in our walk
with Jesus. One of our difficulties is we tend to want our theology and praxis
(practice, application) to be convergent rather than divergent.
In convergent thinking there is one correct answer and
ideally one correct method to arrive at that answer. This type of thinking
focuses on memory and minimal understanding. In divergent thinking we start a
one point and explore plausible possibilities on multiple plains, leading to a
diversity of methods, answers, and paths.
The key is knowing God’s word and being able to see more
than just one possibility at a time. Kind of looking at a cut diamond. Each
facet is individual but works with others in multiple and possibly changing
ways to act as a prism, allowing us to see the beauty of various colors.
I moved a long way from home to go to college. It was my
first time away from home. As I sat in my room the first day, I had this
overwhelming sense of dread. My roommate set up his stereo and put it on the
Christian radio station. The verse of the day was life changing, “You keep him in
perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” [Isaiah
26:3 ESV]
I learned that when my mind was unsettled and life was able
to rattle me, it was because I was looking at the waves and sinking like Peter.
(Yes, that’s a pun.) I learned that peace only happened when I was looking at
Jesus rather than my circumstances, or myself. It requires discipline to trust
God in the storm.
But there’s a catch. How do I achieve this peace? The answer
is I can’t. Nobody can achieve peace of mind. Peace is not something that is
found. Peace is not something that one and work for, such as meditation. Peace
is something only God can give. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” [Philippians 4:7 ESV] It’s God’s peace, not ours.
Divergent thinking will begin to wonder if these ideas can
be applied elsewhere, in different ways. For instance, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;
against such things there is no law.” [Galatians
5:22 – 23 ESV] Each of these fruits is an action… a verb. Yet each have the
quality of a noun… something we possess.
Let’s consider gentleness for a moment. Does this fruit also
mean integrity? Can we include kindness? Is there a way to be gracious to others?
Back up a second, if we are gentle it means we will be gentle to people who do
not deserve it, those who seriously irritate us, and maybe especially our
enemies.
Much like peace, gentleness shines brightest in the storm. Does
gentleness carry the idea of being useful? Did you know gentleness mirrors
Jesus (see 2 Corinthians 10:1)? Wait, does that mean Jesus was joyful?
Only by remaining faithful in practicing Jesus’ teaching
will we know the truth. What is truth? His name is Jesus. Only Jesus can set us
free from sin and all those things that thrust us sideways, trip us up, and take
us down.
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