Following Jesus Today: Using Your Stuff for Kingdom Purposes
When we follow Jesus, we learn to think differently about “our stuff.” Whether we have relatively little or whether we have a lot, all of our possessions ultimately belong to the Lord and are committed to his work. What this means for each of us will vary with our circumstances and calling. But we will share together in a life of hospitality and generosity.
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Following Jesus Today: Must I Leave Everything Behind? Further Thoughts
In the New Testament gospels, when Jesus called people they often “left everything” to follow him. While there’s no doubt that following Jesus involved significant sacrifice, financial and otherwise, not every disciple of Jesus gave up literally everything. In Luke 5, for example, Levi “left everything” to follow Jesus but was still able to host a banquet in his home. Though Levi was the legal owner, he thought of his home in a completely new perspective. It was now devoted to the ministry of Jesus. It was a base for hospitality and generosity. For us, therefore, whether we own, rent, or live with others, “our stuff” is not really ours. Everything we have belongs ultimately to the Lord and is devoted to his purposes.
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Following Jesus Today: The Surprising Call of Jesus
The story of Levi in Luke 5 shows us, once again, that Jesus calls people who are on the margins of society. Often, those on the margins are even more responsive to the call of Jesus because they have less to give up than those who are more central and privileged. Yet, we must remember that Jesus also calls people who are on the margins of our own networks and preferences. Jesus doesn’t check with us first before he calls people to follow him.
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Following Jesus Today: Why Take Risks?
The more we trust Jesus, the more we will take risks for the sake of the kingdom of God. We will be emboldened to try things we would not otherwise try, to love in ways we would not otherwise love. Why? Because we trust Jesus to guide us, empower us, and work through us. So, whether we are moving far away from home in response to God’s call, reaching out to care for a colleague at work, or confronting injustice in our city, we rely on Jesus, the one we trust because he is utterly trustworthy.
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Falling on Good Soil
Let us not offer Christ the rocky soil of partisanship and the stony path of greed and self-preservation, but let us be good soil into which the words and the stories and the actions of grace can fall, and take root, and grow.
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To Set the Mind on the Flesh is Death
In each of our lives, in our families and workplaces, in our public statements and private thoughts, we need to think through how we have participated in the fallen world of death and how we can seek out the redemptive world of the Spirit instead.
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