Being Wounded for Jesus

Since the beginning of this year, I've been reading this daily devotional by Adolf Schlatter called Do We Know Jesus? Today on July 23rd, I was confronted with this question: "How often does love bring pain because people we would like to help do no permit themselves to be loved?" Schlatter continues on to say that "In Jesus' service one receives wounds."

If you're like me, when I think of being wounded for Jesus, I often think of being physically hurt or thoroughly slandered and belittled by someone for the name of Jesus. But, to think about being wounded for Jesus by someone who refuses to be loved has made me rethink what it truly means to love my neighbor as myself (Mark 12:31).

When I reflect back on the past five years, I can see how the Lord has been teaching and showing me what it means to truly love someone as myself. It has been a process, but I can see how the Lord has been softening my heart towards others. The more the Lord has simplified my life, the more I've been able to look past my own circumstance and see the needs of others. The less complicated my life has become, the more I've been able to make room for others by beginning new relationships and deepening others. An interesting observation in the midst of all this is that, not only has the Lord simplified and uncomplicated my life, but He has also simplified and uncomplicated my heart. There is now a spaciousness in my heart for more of the Spirit of God and His passions.

One thing that I've learned on this faith walk is that Jesus is passionate about loving people by bringing them into salvation and redeeming everything in their lives to the glory of God. So, when Jesus encounters someone who refuses to be loved, this grieves and pains Him because He knows that sin has hardened this person's heart and now holds them in bondage against receiving the love and care that they need. We have to remember that loving others is a gift from God (1 John 4:19) and that to be able to serve another is a privilege that deserves a willingness to self-sacrifice.

When someone allows you to love on them by inviting you into their lives, take a risk and love them by sharing eternity with them. There is no greater expression of love than to lay down our lives for another in order to share eternity with them (John 15:13). And when someone refuses this kind of love our hearts should be wounded and we should be deeply grieved, not because they have refused our love and our pride is hurt or because we feel insecure about our own lovableness, but because in that moment we feel what Jesus felt as He hung from the cross.

The Kingdom of God. part 1

1For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. 2We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 3For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. 4While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. 5God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit (2 Cor 5:1-5 NLT).

I don't know about you, but I long for eternity. I long to finally be able to see God face to face (Rev 22:3-4). Sometimes, I can get so bogged down with this life that I forget that the Holy Spirit is, not only a guarantee of what's to come, but through Him I actually have a piece of eternity that dwells in me all the time. He is included as part of our inheritance in Christ (Eph 1:14). We must never forget that the life of the Spirit is eternal life. The Spirit of the living God knows no other way to live, but eternally. How much of your everyday are you actually living the life of Heaven?

If you're like me, than the answer to that question is pretty obvious. "Not as much as I would like." But, could there be any other answer? Probably not. Now the more I think about it, the more I think we need a different question, one that gets more to the heart of the original question which is in essence, How much of the Kingdom of God are you experiencing in your everyday life?

Yes, it is true, that the fullness of life that Jesus promises us (John 10:10) that believers experience is only in part (1 Cor 13:12) because it is only at Jesus' Second Coming will the Kingdom of God be fully realized where, as Paul says, we will put on our "heavenly bodies." But, believers must never forget that we can and do experience eternity in the here and now. Though it is but a taste, it is still a taste of God's Kingdom (Heb 6:4-5). Remember, we as believers actually carry around the Kingdom of God within us because the Spirit of God is of the Kingdom. So maybe the better question is: How much time are you spending with the Holy Spirit throughout your day? Because it is through Him that we experience the eternal Kingdom of God. "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17 NIV)."