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Day 87
Today's Reading: John 19
One hundred pounds is a lot of extra weight to carry with you. It is noticeable when you put it on and it’s noticeable when you shed it. Our story today is one hundred pounds put on and it’s noticeable, because you can’t hide one hundred pounds.
Let me tell you about a person whose name you will recognize. Nicodemus. And he picked up one hundred pounds on his Jesus journey. Nicodemus has a three-verse bio journey through the Gospel of John.
What do you think when I mention his name? For me, my first thought goes to John 3:16. He was the one to whom Jesus personally shared that amazing verse. Thanks to Nicodemus going to Jesus at night, we got the verse that has probably led more people to Jesus than any other Bible verse: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
Thank you, Nicodemus, but there is so much more.
People can easily be known by one thing in their life and no one goes any further with them. It could be something they say, do, a crime they commit, a public sin they are known for, a heroic act. This can work both ways, good and bad. Something bad that someone has done can be remembered and all the good that they try to do is overshadowed by that one moment. Their character gets judged by that one thing.
Oswald Chambers, the great Christian devotional writer, said this about character:
Character is the whole trend of a man’s life, not isolated acts here and there. . . . Character is the sum total of a man’s actions. You cannot judge a man by the good things he does at times; you must take all the times together, and if in the greatest number of times he does bad things, he is a bad character, in spite of the noble things he does intermittently.”
A man’s character is what he does habitually. A man’s character cannot be summed up by what he does in spots, but only by what he is in the main trend of his existence. Character is that which steadily prevails, not something that occasionally manifests itself.
Now back to the man I want us to see a little further with—Nicodemus— and that his new Jesus journey gets more rooted as the Gospel goes on.
Nicodemus’ next verse happens in John 7:50, as we looked at earlier: “Nicodemus (he who came to Him before, being one of them).”
The parentheses are so important. “He who came to Him” is a reference to John 3, “before being one of them.” Nicodemus becomes a follower of Jesus after talking with Jesus that night. His interview, Nic at night, is what changed his life. In John 7, Nicodemus seems to be defending Jesus to the other pharisaical leaders. Though he is a slow witness, at least he is opening his mouth.
And then we see his final passage on how far he has come. It’s in John 19— and this is where the hundred pounds comes in: “Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight” (verse 39).
By the time we reach John 19, Nicodemus is unashamed and unafraid. He really is one of them, meaning a disciple of Jesus. Think about this: while everyone leaves Jesus at the crucifixion, not only does Nicodemus show up, he shows up with a lot of extra weight. Weight that he can’t hide. He does not flee and run and deny. He brings, get this, one hundred pounds of burial ingredients (myrrh and aloes). One hundred pounds he has to drag to the sight of the cross and then on to the grave. Everyone knows he is doing this for Jesus.
That tells me that he is unashamed. The people know who it is for and what it is for. He is very clearly aligning himself with Jesus on Good Friday. The ruler of the Jews and the spokesman for the Pharisees put on a hundred pounds for Jesus.
I love the process that happens in people’s lives. We want everything to happen instantly, but God has different growth patterns for different people. Give them their space, and they will get there.
Here’s what I love about this John 19 story: it’s that he dragged a hundred pounds of stuff to the burial site. He wasn’t preaching and giving these glorious words like, “Jesus, I will never deny you.” He just lived it out. It is life and not words that impact. We have great speakers for Christianity but not everyone who can speak is living it. Let’s spend more time living than speaking.
Remember, the preachers were all gone at the cross, but Nic was there. Nic and a hundred pounds. He was all in when it counted most. Follow his example. Live it.
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Day 86
Today's Reading: John 18
I remember a few years ago flying out of a large midwestern city in the middle of bad storms. Planes were still taking off, but passengers were feeling uneasy. I have to tell you, as I waited at my gate, I wasn’t feeling it either, and fear started to hit me.
Then I saw our pilot come to our gate. He was this old, wrinkle-faced man. His uniform bore a lot of gold bars on his coat sleeve, and his bags, covered with stickers, were beat up and falling apart. Did seeing him help the situation and my fear? You bet it did!
What did beat-up bags, gray hair, and a wrinkly face represent? Experience. No doubt he had been in this situation before and up in the air a lot. I did not want to see some wide-eyed young man who was excited about his first flight as he pulled his new bags to the gate. I wanted the old pilot captaining my plane. His experience quelled my fear.
Consider this: what would you think if the pilot got on the loud speaker and said, “This is your pilot, and I am so excited today because this is my first flight. I’ve never been in the air before but I got all A’s on my flight school tests.” I don’t know about you, but I would be looking for the exit door. To be a good pilot, you can't just be book smart. You need something called flight hours. You have to be in the air, not just studying for tests on the ground. You need experience.
There was another Pilate in the Bible who knew some stuff, but did not have the experience of flight hours. And we meet him in today’s reading at the bogus trial of Jesus.
Jesus was standing before Pilate, and Pilate asked Him a question. Pay special attention to Jesus’ epic response:
Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” (John 18:33-34)
Jesus’ question to Pilate’s question was rhetorical. No answer was expected because we know the answer. Jesus’ question was: "are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about me?"
What Jesus was saying was, “Are you just repeating information, or have you experienced what you are saying?” Do you just have ground school or did you get in some flight time?
When Pilate asked Jesus about being King of the Jews, he did not know Jesus as King, he was simply repeating something he’d heard. He had no flight time with this King.
What kind of Pilate are you? Did you just hear this and are saying what you heard, or do you know Jesus as King? Have you experienced Jesus as King? Jesus was challenging not only Pilate, He is challenging all of us. Just because we say the right things doesn’t mean we have experienced the right things. Christianity is not just knowing the right stuff but experiencing a relationship with God personally as our King.
A marriage license doesn’t guarantee intimacy and a healthy marriage. You can have a document that says you are married and have no relationship with your spouse. The same is true with the Word of God. You can read the Bible, but that does not guarantee experience. Just because you know the Word of God doesn’t mean you know the God of this Word. Knowing this book is not based on education, but on a relationship with its author.
Pilate said the right words but it got him nowhere. So as you go on the 260 Journey, may you go further than the Pilate of John 18 and become like the pilot who flew my plane out of Gate 34A. One was just repeating what he heard, the other had the experience.
What kind of Pilate are you?
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Day 85
Today’s Reading: John 17
John 17 is holy ground. If I were God’s editor, I never would have allowed this chapter in the Bible. It’s sacred, it’s other-world, it’s uncomfortable . . . it’s the prayer closet of Jesus. This is a very solemn chapter, what we call the high priestly prayer of Jesus.
I have thousands of books in my library on so many topics. But to my amazement, I’ve seen only two authors ever venture to take on one of the most incredible chapters, prayers, and words ever penned to mankind and write on them. I am not sure if the two men who did had a lapse of judgment or a leading of the Holy Spirit.
John 17 lets us eavesdrop on what Jesus was praying before He was taken to die on Calvary and we are allowed to hear Him. We are given what seems to be a glimpse into the holy of holies where the Son is talking to the Father.
The Lord’s prayer is very powerful. But it is one thing to be taught something and another to see it modeled. Luke 6 is the teaching; John 17 is the modeling. Prayer is better exemplified than taught.
And in this chapter we are allowed to see how Jesus prayed. I think we can all agree that if anyone knows how to pray, it is Jesus. If there is anyone who is going to have His prayers answered, it is Jesus. The right way to pray is Jesus’ way of praying. If He did not want to be heard, it would not have been recorded. If this prayer was not meant for us to look at, He would not have had His disciples hear it. Since they heard it, and since they recorded it, there must be something for us to learn from it.
Growing up in Long Island, New York, I had the wonderful opportunity to overhear my Russian grandmother pray. She was a great prayer warrior. Many times I would come home from school in the afternoon and hear my grandmother praying in Russian, because she never learned English. She would be in our living room crying and praying in a language I did not know. Sometimes I would listen, but most of the time I would feel as if I should not be there.
There is something powerful about a person pouring out themselves in prayer to God. There is something uncomfortable about listening to someone’s private prayer time. I could not stand there for more than a few minutes before I would have to leave her and God alone. If I felt this way about my grandmother, how much more would I feel about opening the door to John 17 and listening to the private prayer of Jesus and His Father. There is something in me that says I should not be there. I should read the Bible up to John 16 and then go quickly to John 18. But there is something in me that wants to open the door and listen to Jesus. There is something in me that says I should be there and I should listen very carefully.
Let’s open the prayer closet of the second member of the Trinity, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, Jesus, and hear Him pray.
This is the very first verse: “Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You.’”
I will take the risk that this would not be incorporated as a biblical absolute but as a challenge of focus the next time we pray, that we use John 17 as our model in our prayer time. It says that when Jesus prayed, He lifted up His eyes. This was not just His prayer posture, it was a Jewish posture. No Jew would ever pray as we do today. The first thing we often hear before we pray in a church service is, “Let’s bow our heads.” The words out of our mouths when praying over a meal is, “Let’s bow our heads.” A Jew would never look down when talking to Jehovah. They would see this as dishonoring. A Jew would always lift their eyes.
On a natural level, there is a difference between a person you see with their head bowed down and a head that is lifted up. A bowed head carries with it dejection, self-consciousness, fear of making eye contact. It carries no good thing with it. But a person who walks and talks with head up and eyes lifted seems to have a confidence and certainty to them and their words.
The next time you pray, go John 17 in your prayer time. Lift up your eyes to heaven and realize that you have a living Father who hears you. And if you want to make it even crazier, lift up your eyes and read out loud the prayer of Jesus in John 17.
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Day 84
Today’s Reading: John 16
In The Grace Awakening, author and pastor Charles Swindoll used an imaginative illustration for how best we can live: imagine driving on a treacherous mountain road with a cliff on both sides. As you approach a hairpin turn, you must decide which is better: a state-of-the-art hospital with the best doctors in the world at the bottom of the mountain or a giant yellow warning sign before the curve telling you, “Danger! Curve Ahead. Drive slowly”? The answer is obvious: a warning sign.
In John 16, we find Jesus giving His followers a life of warning signs so they don’t end up at the bottom of the mountain in the hospital. The warning sign is called conviction and it’s a ministry of the Holy Spirit. Read with me what Jesus says about it:
I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. (John 16:7-11)
When He comes, He will convict.
What is conviction?
It is an inner warning, a big yellow sign that says, “Slow down! This may not be right."
Conviction of the Holy Spirit is the opposite of peace; it’s a disturbance in the soul that can be silenced only by stepping on the brake when coming to the turn. The conviction of the Holy Spirit is what saves us from crashing and burning and needing the hospital at the bottom of the mountain.
The hospital at the bottom of the hill can be a counselor’s office, a pastor’s office, etc. I’m not saying those hospitals can’t fix the damage inflicted, but think of the pain that people could have avoided had they yielded to the Spirit’s conviction.
Most of the times the conviction comes when we are entering into a compromise, an area of sin, a place that will hurt our spiritual lives. People will confuse conviction and condemnation.
Conviction is the feeling that what I was doing was wrong, and with God’s help, I can change. Condemnation is the feeling that I am wrong and I can never measure up. There is no hope of change in condemnation.
Conviction is from God. Conviction is the warning sign on the hairpin turns.
Our job is to yield, like in this story:
During the Great Awakening—a time of revival throughout our country—Jonathan Edwards was leading a prayer meeting in which eight hundred men were in attendance. In the midst of the meeting, a woman sent in a note asking them to pray for her husband. She described him as unloving, prideful, and difficult. Edwards read the message aloud to the men, thinking that perhaps the woman’s husband was present. Then he boldly asked if the man whom he had described would raise his hand, so the whole group could pray for him. Three hundred men raised their hands.
Really, three hundred men yielded to the yellow sign to avoid the hospital. All because they yielded. May we do the same.
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Day 83
Today’s Reading: John 15
Today’s reading is a challenge. It’s a second step that Jesus gives to those who choose to follow Him.
During Jesus’ life, He constantly said to those who were ready to start a journey with God to “follow Me.” And for those who accepted the challenge, he gave them a revolutionary second step: “Abide in Me.”
Listen to these challenging words of this new kind of relationship with God:
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)
What does it mean to abide? The word abide simply means to spend time. Or more specifically, to abide means to give God time (because relationships need time to grow). It isn’t just “come to church” but “come to Me.” God wants time with you.
The day you followed Jesus, you got a taste of God. The day you accept the challenge for what is next, you get a shower (you go from drinking water from a straw to drinking water from a fire hydrant).
You got on the king’s property, now it’s time to enjoy the king’s palace. All of us are given the same amount of time. Those who are successful use it wisely—they abide.
American businessman, Jim Rohn, said it like this, “There are only three colors, ten numbers, and seven notes; it’s what we do with them that’s important.”
What keeps us from abiding?
The cost: time.
The cry: “I don’t have any more time.”
The challenge: It isn’t adding but subtracting.
Louie Giglio, one of the most amazing pastors in the Atlanta area, said, “Whatever you say yes to in life means less for something already there. Make sure your yes is worth the less.”
Here is the bad news: time flies.
Here is the good news: you’re the pilot.
Direct your life correctly.
In John 15, Jesus connected abiding to four amazing benefits. If you take the challenge and choose to go on a journey of abiding, just as you did to follow Jesus, look for these four things to happen:
1. Joy: “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full” (John 15:11). Talk about standing out in your arena of life. Joy is attractive because it’s rare today.
2. Obedience: “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (John 15:10). Abiding makes obedience easy and joyful.
3. Answered prayer: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). The thought of praying and seeing it answered is worth the price. I pray, God answers—because of abiding.
The more I’m with God . . . that’s abiding.
The more I talk with Him . . . that’s prayer.
The more prayer gets answered . . . that’s exciting.
As Louis Lallemant said, “A man of prayer will do more in one year than another will do in his whole life.”
4. I’m productive . . . bearing fruit: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4). Producing fruit is what a branch is meant to do. Without fruit, it’s just a stick.
“Bearing fruit” in verse 4 means doing what you are meant to do. Branches bear fruit, but not all branches—only the ones connected to the vine. You can’t be connected with God without being effective for God.
Many of us chose salvation, that is we accepted Jesus’ call to “follow Me.” Now it’s time for us to accept Jesus’ second challenge to “abide in Me.” Abiding is not just time with God in heaven, abiding is time with God here on earth.
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Day 82
Today’s Reading: John 14
I remember listening to one of my daughters as she was learning to count. When she got to the number eleven, what came next seemed normal to her. Unfortunately, it was wrong: eleventeen, twelveteen, thirteen . . . Why not? Seems logical.
In today’s reading, we see that Jesus had one of those logical moments. It happens in yesterday’s reading: John 13:38. Jesus’ eleventeen moment follows verse 38. It isn’t supposed to, but it does: one comes after thirty-eight.
John 14:1-6 is a popular passage for funerals. In fact, I have read it many times at funerals:
“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:1-6)
As heavenly as these words are, they were not given for a funeral, they were given to help an arrogant and self-assured disciple named Peter, who was very much alive.
Always remember that the chapter and verse numbers in the Bible were never there when written. They were not added into a printed Bible until around the 1500s by Robert Stephens in the Geneva Bible. That’s why I am not a fan when people try to take the verse number or chapter number and make it part of the message of the text. It just is not there. So if that’s true, Jesus was right, verse 1 comes after verse 38 since there are no chapter divisions.
When Jesus spoke these words in John 14, it was in response to and directly after these final words in John 13: “Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny me three times” (verse 38).
Here is what I love: instead of Jesus leaving it there and letting Peter know that he was about to blow it big time, Jesus gives hope.
Peter says, “I will lay down my life for you."
Jesus says, “You will deny Me three times.”
We all know who’s telling the truth.
The iconic Golden Gate Bridge was completed in 1937 and was, at the time, the longest suspension bridge ever built. It was also very deadly work. “At the time, the industry standard was that for every million dollars spent, there would be a loss of life,” says the bridge’s spokeswoman, Mary Currie. The bridge’s estimated cost? Thirty-five million dollars. But the structural engineer, Joseph Strauss, concerned for the workers’ safety—as almost two dozen men died in the first half of construction—insisted on placing a safety net under the bridge to catch any workers who accidentally fell. It was a novel idea at the time and cost $130,000. After the net was put in place, no one else died. The safety net made the difference.
In John 14, we see that Peter is about to get his $130,000 safety net when he falls. Jesus essentially tells Peter, “What you say will not happen; what I say will . . . but there is more.” Here’s the safety net: You won’t lose when you fall, you win when you fail. Peter, you will deny Me and not keep your word, but I will keep My word.
What is that word? “I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”
This is not heaven, this is restoration. The prepared place was not in the clouds but on a beach in John 21. Jesus was telling Peter that when he walks away from Jesus, he will still have a place. Jesus will receive him and they will be together.
God knows every failure and fall . . . and He has a net. Peter was falling into grace.
Charles Spurgeon said this about God’s grace: “Grace puts its hand on the boasting mouth, and shuts it once for all.”
No more boasting Peter. I think if Peter was counting, he too would say one comes after thirty-eight. The same is true for us, and I am so glad.
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Day 81
Today’s Reading: John 13
I know in mathematics 4 always follows 3. But I have to tell you that there is one place in the Bible that 4 should not follow 3. And it’s only because it does not make sense. Or let me say it another way, my 4 and Jesus’ 4 are totally different.
In today’s reading, we come upon two verses that seem disconnected to the human mind, but not to Jesus. Listen to how powerful John 13:3 is: “Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God” (MSG).
Listen to the sure facts in this verse that Jesus knew:
• “The father had put him in complete charge of everything”• “He came from God”• “He was on his way back to God.”
These are three big statements. So what should follow these incredible words? If I were in complete charge of everything, my 4 would look something like this . . . “lightning bolts came out of Him.” Or maybe Jesus levitating off the ground and saying, “I told you I was God. I am in charge now!”
That’s what 4 should look like. That’s what I would have done. Not Jesus.
Here is what happens next. Here is Jesus’ 4:
He got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. (John 13:4-5, MSG)
The transition does not even make sense in my mind. In my selfish, prideful heart, I don’t understand how this 4 follows the previous three. But when you know what Jesus knows, you do something spectacular, something that blows our minds. Guess what? That’s exactly what He did.
Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. His knowledge, His position, and His relationship with the Father in heaven made Him the ultimate servant and greatest example of humility. This has to be the greatest model for us: that the more we know, the more secure we become. And the more secure we become, the more we serve.
The insecure won’t serve. They are busy proving to others what they should know about them. They are in charge, they are the boss, they are the parent, they are the supervisor, they are the pastor. Those who keep telling you what to know don’t really know themselves.
I probably would have taken those three “knowing” statements from verse 3 and not served but gotten servants. But Jesus served. That is how messed up my thinking is.
Let me throw one more crazy transition in this whole mix. He took that whole teaching moment and said to them in verse 14, “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash . . .” Fill in the blank. Think of what is normal, or since we are dealing with Jesus, what is abnormal to our way of thinking?
Here is what makes sense to me: “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet . . . you ought to wash My feet.”
That is not what Jesus said. He said, “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”
This is another crazy 4 after 3 conundrum.
He wasn’t washing feet to get His feet washed. I know there are times that I have done stuff for others hoping to get the same back from them. Not Jesus.
I invited you over for dinner, therefore you should invite me over. I let you borrow my car; therefore you should let me borrow your car. I complimented your hair, you should compliment mine. I invited you to speak at my church, you should invite me to speak at your church.
Do you see how unlike Jesus this is? He washed feet to get them to wash others’ feet not His.
Jesus is amazing. I have such a long way to go. My 4 after 3 and Jesus’ 4 after 3 are so far apart. I need to learn more about Jesus’ 4. You too?
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Day 80
Today’s Reading: John 12
A paradox is a statement that contradicts itself. It goes something like this:
“Deep down, I know you are shallow.”
“One thing I know—that I know nothing.”
“I am nobody.”
“He’s a wise fool.”
It’s putting opposite words in a sentence together that don’t seem to work.
These are silly paradoxes that have no bearing on anything of eternal importance. But in today’s reading, we run right into a very strange paradox that has great eternal consequences. Consider this statement with its contradiction:
Many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. (John 12:42-43)
This is a serious paradox: “Many even of the rulers believed in Him, but . . . they were not confessing Him.”
Is that even possible? Believing without confessing. Can you be a paradoxical saint? When I was reading John 12, I was excited to see that the rulers believed in Him. People of influence realizing that this was the Messiah. But my excitement was short lived when I hit the paradox, separated by a comma.
Confessing is a big part of belief, or should I say, it’s a big partner with belief. Listen to how Paul put it:
If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. (Romans 10:9-10)
Believe and confess are a big part of salvation. Think of these important words from Jesus, recorded in Matthew 10:32-33: “Everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny Him before My Father who is in heaven.”
These rulers decided to rewrite the script. This paradox seems serious. And verse 43 gives us the eye-opening “why” behind the paradox: they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
Has wanting to please people silenced you from going public about your belief in God? When you know that people in your circle are Jesus antagonistic or church haters, do you keep quiet to please them? Do you shut your mouth on truth so as not to rock the boat? Does their open mouth contradict my belief and keep my mouth shut?
If these are true of us, we are paradoxical believers. And we know the source of it. It is a love issue—and it exposes what we love most. Do we love the approval of people or the approval of God? The answer to this question will determine if we will be paradoxical, or in other words, a believer but not a confessor.
It’s dangerous to believe without confessing, because it exposes something about us. Can that really happen? It did happen and the result was catastrophic. Ready for this? James 2:19 tells us that “you can believe all you want that there is one true God, that’s wonderful! But even the demons know this and tremble with fear before him, yet they’re unchanged—they remain demons” (TPT).
We can have the right belief in God and still be unchanged. Our belief should not lead us to church only, but on a journey to love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls. I think the lack of confessing is from loving the wrong thing. They loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
When I recognize that I have a problem going public about my relationship with God, it’s at that point that I don’t pray for boldness but for God to help me to love Him more.
Love goes public. Love shouts it out. When I fell in love with my now-wife, Cindy, I wanted everyone to know who I discovered. Way before smart phones with thousands of pictures, we used to carry an actual photo of the one we loved. I wanted people to see her, but how would I get a photo? One day I saw a photo of her in a newspaper from a deal she made for a bank and I cut it out. I carried that black-and-white newspaper clipping folded up in my wallet everywhere. And when people asked me if I had a picture, I would tell them, “Do I have a picture? Look at this.” And I would proceed to unfold it. I was confessing because I was in love.
Love tells!
When there is no telling, we may have a love issue. Or it may be that we love the wrong thing.
When we believe in Jesus, we start a journey of love not a journey of knowledge.
C.S. Lewis tells of an old author who asked, “Is it easy to love God?"
“It is easy,” the other man replied, “to those who do it.”
Christianity is not easy for those who love church, love being moral, love the atmosphere. When you fall deeply in love, you want to please the one you are in love with. Love makes confession easy.
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Day 79
Today’s Reading: John 11
Has God ever been confusing to you? Have you ever asked Him, “What are You doing? I don’t understand?”
Our 260 Journey brings us to John 11 and to one of those moments. It’s the story of Lazarus—a man who went from health to sickness and from sickness to death. And here is where the confusion starts. This all happened with Jesus close enough to prevent his death but doesn’t.
What makes it confusing are two things Jesus does from the outset.
Let’s read the story:
A certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was. (John 11:1-6)
Here is where Jesus becomes confusing: we are told very clearly that Lazarus is sick, and Jesus loves him. There is something in us that thinks if Jesus loves us then we have a “get out of jail” free card from pain. Nothing could be further from the truth.
C. S. Lewis was once asked, “Why do the righteous suffer?” To which he replied, “They’re the only ones who can handle it.”
The second confusing moment with Jesus happens when He hears about the sickness. If you love someone, and they are in desperate need, you rush to them. Not Jesus. The Bible says when He heard Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was for two days longer. What? Seriously? No movement, Jesus?
It frustrates us when Jesus moves too slow. We want Jesus’ hand, but we don’t want His calendar.
I always remember in one of my frustration moments how an old church mother in Detroit reminded me of the old adage, “He may not come when you want Him, but He’s always right on time.” And in John 11, Jesus is going to be right on time. What is on time? Four days later and not till Lazarus stinks.
Why? Jesus says that it’s so His glory can be seen. Glory is what makes God famous and stand out.
Let me take you to the tomb and why Jesus waited:
Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.” (John 11:38-39)
It would have been easier for Jesus to come to sick Lazarus not to stinky-and-dead Lazarus. And here is where I want you to see as the confusion starts to get clarity:
When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. (John 11:43-45)
When Jesus doesn’t come when you call Him, something bigger is about to happen.
What was Jesus showing them? A resurrection is better than a healing. His message to Mary and Martha was this: If I heal your brother, three people will feel good. If I resurrect your brother, many will believe. We learn from this story too that there is a divine strategy in unanswered prayer.
The account of Jesus not healing Lazarus is proof that unanswered prayer may well mean that God has something better in mind for us than we ourselves had. There are times that God waits till something stinks before He shows up. Because Lazarus was resurrected instead of being healed, many saw the glory of God and believed.
Our prayers are for our well-being when God sees bigger. That day a dead man was resurrected instead of a sick man healed so a bunch of people could be resurrected.
So when your prayer is not immediately answered and you are dealing with delay, don’t doubt that He loves you. He may just be saying, “It just doesn’t stink yet."
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Day 78
Today’s Reading: John 10
Jesus is called Shepherd three times in the New Testament. And each time, a special adjective is put in front of the word to show His role in their lives.
In John 10:11, Jesus is called the Good Shepherd, with the emphasis of laying down His life for the sheep.
In Hebrews 13:20, Jesus is called the Great Shepherd, with the emphasis on His resurrection and how He accomplishes His purposes through His sheep.
And in 1 Peter 5:4, He is called the Chief Shepherd, which stresses His second coming and His reward to the under-shepherds.
As the Good Shepherd, He dies for the sheep. As the Great Shepherd, He rises from the dead. As the Chief Shepherd, He returns to reward His people.
Today we’re studying the Good Shepherd. Before I tell you about the Good Shepherd, though, we have to realize our role as sheep. That is how the Bible describes all of us: “We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way” (Isaiah 53:6, MSG).
Notice the emphasis on the word all. That means all of us are included, no one excluded. We are all sheep. While sheep is not a flattering term, it is appropriate.
Have you ever noticed that no colleges or universities use sheep as their mascot? They always choose something vicious, majestic, or strong. The Louisiana State University Tigers, University of Michigan Wolverines, or Kentucky Wildcats. No one uses sheep. Alabama Sheep, UCLA Sheep? Doesn’t even sound right. Why? Because of who sheep are.
Sheep are easily frightened; they are defenseless and they are highly dependent. They need guidance and protection. It may not be complimentary to be a sheep, but it is comforting to know we have a Good Shepherd, and that changes everything.
Listen to Jesus’ words: “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
John 10 is about the relationship between the Good Shepherd and the needy sheep. Sheep have no chance unless they have a shepherd, and not just a shepherd but a Good Shepherd.
Always remember, we never graduate from being a sheep the older we get in Jesus. We always need the Shepherd. We always need Him!
The chief enemy of the sheep is the wolf. Sheep have no defense mechanism except for the shepherd. And here is what is so important: sheep are only as strong as the shepherd. If the shepherd fails, they fail.
The wolf scatters the sheep. Why? So he can isolate them away from the shepherd. If he can get them away from the shepherd, then he can devour them. He scatters, isolates, and then has the helpless, defenseless sheep to himself.
Here’s how Jesus put it:
I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. A hired man is not a real shepherd. The sheep mean nothing to him. He sees a wolf come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the wolf. He’s only in it for the money. The sheep don’t matter to him.
I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. (John 10:11-14, MSG)
Sheep are known by their shepherd. They are known in two ways: sheep know their name and they know the voice of their shepherd who calls it.
So as sheep, we have one job: stay close to the Shepherd and when we do, we are within ear shot of His voice. He is our protection. He is our provider.
An Australian man was arrested and charged with stealing a sheep. He adamantly denied the accusation, claiming it was one of his own that had been missing for days. When the case went to court, the judge heard the arguments but was unsure how to decide the matter. Finally, he asked that the sheep be brought into the courtroom. He ordered that the accuser go outside the room and call the animal. The sheep’s only response was to raise its head and look frightened. The judge then told the defendant to go to the courtyard and call the sheep. When the accused man did so, the sheep ran toward the door and that voice. He recognized the familiar sound of his master. “His sheep knows him,” the judge said and dismissed the case.
Our Shepherd calls us each day. Let’s follow His voice.
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Day 77
Today’s Reading: John 9
"Amazing Grace” is considered to be one of the greatest hymns of all time, sung by Christians and non-Christians alike. It transcends religious boundaries. The hymn’s popularity would have surprised its composer, John Newton. The circumstances that inspired him to write the hymn more than two hundred years ago were amazing.
Newton was just a boy when he set sail as a sailor on his father’s ship. As he grew older, his life became one filled with debauchery. His duties on the ship included capturing West Africans and taking them to the West Indies to be sold as slaves. Slavery’s unspeakable horrors did not seem to bother Newton and he soon worked his way to becoming the captain of his own slave ship.
But in 1748, after many years transferring slaves, while voyaging from Africa to England, God’s grace intervened. An awful storm arose, so furious that the waves threatened to capsize the ship. Unable to control the situation, Newton went to his cabin and searched for a book to take his mind off his fear. He picked up Thomas à Kempis’s The Imitation of Christ, a classic Christian devotional. Though the ocean and the storm eventually calmed, the experience changed him.
Even still Newton continued serving as captain of his slave ship for several more years. He tried to justify his continued work by improving the conditions on the ship and even by offering religious services for his crew. But over time he finally realized that there was nothing he could do to justify what was so clearly abhorrent to God. He left the slave trade and became a powerful abolitionist. He also became an ordained minister as well as a prolific songwriter, penning hundreds of hymns, including “Amazing Grace.”
One of the lines from that hymn comes from today’s story in John 9. It is the healing of a blind man much like John Newton’s spiritual blindness—except this man was healed physically and spiritually. And all of John 9 is devoted to his story. The climax of this blind man’s experience happened when he responded to the religious leaders who were trying to get him to discredit Jesus—the One who had just opened his eyes with a miracle. The man’s response was memorable and hymn worthy: “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see” (verse 25).
Those are not Newton’s words but words fresh from the lips of a miracle man.
I love the two words in this response: “One thing I do know.” One thing means he was focused.
It doesn’t occur much in the Bible but when it does, it removes the peripheral and puts what matters in the crosshairs. One thing . . . those are highly potent and targeted words.
Here are a few other one things in the Bible:
David’s one thing . . .Here’s the one thing I crave from God, the one thing I seek above all else: I want the privilege of living with him every moment in his house, finding the sweet loveliness of his face, filled with awe, delighting in his glory and grace. I want to live my life so close to him that he takes pleasure in my every prayer. (Psalm 27:4, TPT)
Mary’s one thing . . .The Lord answered her, “Martha, my beloved Martha. Why are you upset and troubled, pulled away by all these many distractions? Are they really that important? Mary has discovered the one thing most important by choosing to sit at my feet. She is undistracted, and I won’t take this privilege from her.” (Luke 10:41-42, TPT)
Paul’s one thing . . .I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us. (Philippians 3:1
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Day 76
Today’s Reading: John 8
In Christian Letters to a Post-Christian World, renowned English writer, Dorothy Sayers, aimed some powerful words at religious people who have watered down the Son of God and made Jesus accommodating:
The people who hanged Christ never accused Him of being a bore; on the contrary, they thought Him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround Him with the atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified Him “meek and mild,” and recommended Him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies.
As we have seen throughout our 260 Journey so far, Jesus is anything but those things. Four times in today’s reading, Jesus refers to Himself by using a common Old Testament title used only for God: I AM (see verses 12, 24, 28, and 58). That’s why this chapter opens with the religious wanting to stone a woman caught in adultery and end with them wanting to stone Jesus. Look at the ending of the chapter with me:
The Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple. (John 8:57-59)
By Jesus using that phrase for Himself, He clearly meant for them to understand that He was saying that He was God. And the religious were not having it—thus the stones. They needed the stones to “declaw” the Lion of Judah and make Him a manageable kitty cat, as Sayers said.
Consider this revelation U2’s lead singer Bono offered: “Religion can be the enemy of God. It’s often what happens when God . . . has left the building.” Or to say it another way . . . religion is what is left when God leaves the room. That is the truth!
Many years ago, a woman entered a Häagen-Dazs store in Kansas City to buy an ice-cream cone. After she’d ordered she turned and found herself staring directly into the face of Paul Newman, the famous actor who was in town filming Mr. & Mrs. Bridge. He smiled and said hello. His blue eyes were even bluer in person, which made her knees buckle. She finished paying and quickly walked out of the store. When she’d regained her composure, however, she realized she didn’t have her cone, so she turned to go back in and met Newman who was coming out.
“Are you looking for your ice cream?” he asked her.
Unable to utter a word, she simply nodded.
“You put it in your purse with your change.”
When was the last time the presence of God made you forget what was going on around you? Made you forget the dishes? Made you forget the ballgame? Made you forget the bank account? Made you forget . . . where you put your ice cream cone?
Christian writer Donald McCullough writes on how cavalier we treat the privilege of standing in God’s presence Sunday after Sunday: “Reverence and awe have often been replaced by the yawn of familiarity. The consuming fire has been domesticated into a candle flame, adding a bit of religious atmosphere, perhaps, but no heat, no blinding light, no power for purification.”
Author Annie Dillard echoes the sentiment:
Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should latch us to our pews. For the sleeping God may wake someday and take offense, or the waking God may draw us out to where we can nev
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Day 75
Today’s Reading: John 7
Not many young people would know the radio show or his iconic voice, but some years ago, 21 million Americans would tune in on their radios to hear from the most listened-to voice in America. They would hold their breath in suspense as the storyteller recounted a true story with a surprise ending. It was called The Rest of the Story, a real-life mystery Paul Harvey would share. After he revealed the shocking ending, he would say, “Now you know . . .” pause . . . “the rest of the story.” And then close with his signature broadcast ending, “Good day.”
We just hit our Paul-Harvey moment in our 260 Journey. And we find it in a parenthetical statement within a verse of John 7. The parentheses tell us the rest of the story.
Question: what do you think of when I mention the name Nicodemus?
His claim to fame was a one-on-one night conversation with Jesus and in the midst of that interaction in John 3, we hear Jesus say the most amazing sentence ever spoken in human history: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (verse 16).
Thank you, Nicodemus, for having the guts to talk to Jesus. That statement Jesus gave you has probably led more people to Jesus than any other Bible verse.
But Nicodemus is more than just that scene. People can easily be caricatured for one thing and known by only one event in their life. Nicodemus seems to get stuck in John 3 and his story goes no further. What is amazing is that Jesus’ “born again” talk never seems to come to a conclusion and we never know if it “took” with Nicodemus. Did the religious leader gain a second birth and become a follower of Jesus?
In our reading today in John 7, though, if you blink, you will miss the rest of Nicodemus’s story. It sheds light on the most famous New Testament chapter without a conclusion. Here is the amazing parentheses of John 7 and the anticipated conclusion of the iconic John 3 meeting: “Nicodemus (he who came to Him before, being one of them) said . . .” (verse 50, emphasis added).
Did you see it? He who came to Him . . .
That is John 3, the born-again-talk evening.
Then verse 50 continues, “before being one of them.”
That’s it. He is one of them. One of who? The disciples, a follower of Jesus.
Nicodemus heard the words of Jesus that night and took them to heart. Nicodemus was born again. Did it happen that night? Did it happen in John 3? We don’t know. We don’t have those facts. But it happened! We know that conversation changed that man.
I sometimes miss the parentheses in people’s lives. I have talked to people on planes and in coffee shops and in parks about Jesus and never saw anything happen. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have those parentheses. Just because it doesn’t happen in your chapter doesn’t mean it hasn't happened at all. Who knew? And who knows if your talk with someone about Jesus touched someone. We find out about Nicodemus four chapters later, though you may not find out for four years. But always remember, God’s Word never returns void.
All I know is that Jesus shared with Nicodemus about the new birth. It changed his life. And John 7:50 says in those parentheses the results of the conversation—“he who came to Him before being one of them”—gives us all the results of that special night in John 3. Nicodemus became a follower.
Do I dare say it?
Should I say it?
Forgive me, Mr. Harvey. Now you know . . . the rest of that John 3 story. Good day.
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Day 74
Today’s Reading: John 6
The Christian life is a journey, not an arrival. As part of that journey, we all have to do hard but noble stuff at some point:
• tell someone about Jesus• say no to something we used to say yes to• end a toxic relationship• decide to tithe
As Oswald Chambers said, “If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all noble things are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but the difficulty of it does not make us faint and cave in, it rouses us up to overcome.” Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same thing. Don’t miss out on something amazing because it’s difficult. We are ordinary people who know an extraordinary God!
Talk about doing the hard thing: In October 1912, Theodore Roosevelt was campaigning for the presidency and on a stop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a man shot him point-blank with a .32-caliber pistol. Though the bullet lodged in his chest, Roosevelt refused to cancel his campaign rally. “The bullet is in me now, so that I cannot make a very long speech, but I will try my best,” Roosevelt told the crowd. In fact, Roosevelt spoke for eighty-four minutes! That’s doing the difficult thing!
In today’s reading, John 6 helps us get ready for the hard thing that God sometimes calls us to. It’s the story of the loaves and fishes. It’s not a story simply about a miracle. It’s a test for the disciples! It’s them being challenged with a hard thing. Let’s read it:
After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). A large crowd followed Him, because they saw the signs which He was performing on those who were sick. Then Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?” This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do. (John 6:1-6)
This story wasn’t just about feeding people, it was also about testing the disciples with a one-question test: “Where shall we buy bread for all these people to eat?”
That’s it.
It was “fill in the blank.” (I hated those tests because you had no chance to guess, like you could on the multiple-choice tests.)
If Jesus would have said something like . . .
“Where shall we buy bread for all these people?”:
A. CostcoB. Sam’sC. a and bD. Me!
I think I could have gotten this one right.
Philip started filling in his test paper: “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.”
Wrong!
Then it was Andrew’s turn: “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?” (verse 9).
When Andrew started his answer with, “There is a lad here who has five loaves and two fish,” I want to shout, “Stop right there! You got it. Don’t say anything else.” If he would have ended his sentence there, he would have been a hero. But he threw in, “But what are these for so many people?”
He should have stopped at the fish.
When he continued to talk, he magnified the crowd and lessened God. He was minimizing the material God had to work with. From the beginning, God has never had much to work with. But that’s what happens when our problemsget big: God gets little.
Andrew was so close to the answer. In fact, he got the answer right, but then messed it up with the conjunction but.
When you are faced with a huge need, just tell God all the stuff you’ve got and what He has to work with. Tell God what you’ve got—then stop there!
“I’ve got two mad people in a marriage. That’s it, God.”
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Day 73
Today’s Reading: John 5
Today we land on John 5, an up-close view to a phenomenon of miracle healing waters called the waters of Bethesda. When the waters moved, the first in the pool got healed. Here’s the first part of the story:
After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [waiting for the moving of the waters; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.] A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. (John 5:1-4)
Methodist preacher Halford Luccock made this profound observation about this chapter:
Here are a group of invalids depending on some external commotion for all their healing. They put all their trust in “bubbles.” Society is very much like a boiling spring. It has its periodic fashions and crazes. The surface of the pool of life is disturbed; it bubbles. And we say, “Lo, here! This is the thing that will put me on my feet. The man at the pool was saved not by the coming of an external disturbance but by the advent of a person, Jesus.
I love that. It wasn’t bubbles but Jesus who healed him. Here is the rest of the story:
When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Do you wish to get well?” The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” Immediately the man became well and picked up his pallet and began to walk. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” (John 5:6-9, 14)
Jesus said three things to this man, and regarding those things I want to say something:
Do you wish to get well?
Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.
Do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.
First, Jesus said, “Do you wish to get well?” Seems an odd thing to say to a man who has been there for thirty-eight years, doesn’t it? I think people learn to survive and adjust with something they have had for thirty-eight years.
That’s why Jesus asked him the question, “Do you wish to get well?"
Notice this man’s answer: “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me” (verse 7). This man blamed other people for his lack of healing. Either someone did not help him in first, or the problem was that there were faster sick people. There is something dangerous to think that our lack of freedom, healing, or success is because others are not doing their jobs.
Second, Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” He was about to show this man that it wasn’t others but now he could do something about it. To get a command from Jesus and not obey is like one who says he believes in education and never goes to school. Destiny is not a matter of chance but choice. No one is born a winner or loser but a chooser.
Jesus told him essentially, “Choose to do what I tell you, and you will walk. Don’t make excuses; do something.” Like Corrie Ten Boom said, “Don’t bother to give God instructions; just report for duty.”
Third, Jesus went to the newly healed man after he was walking and said, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you” (verse
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Day 72
Today's Reading: John 4
The average American is exposed to between four thousand and ten thousand commercial messages every day. But it’s truth that is a rarity. We have opinions but not truth.
One of my friends put it this way: “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not everyone is entitled to their own truth.”
Truth is universal. It isn’t limited to individuals, geography, or ethnicity.
We see this in today’s reading of John 4, in which Jesus has such an important one-on-one conversation with a Samaritan woman. In this conversation Jesus will tell the truth, the difficult truth, but the liberating truth. In fact, He will share two truths that will set this woman—and an entire city—free. For as He said in John 8:32 (TLB), “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” That means we need truth in order to have freedom.
And as He shared two truths with the Samaritan woman, He shares those same truths with us: (1) the truth about God; and (2) the truth about ourselves. It’s the second truth that we usually miss.
After this immoral woman met Jesus at a well and realized this is not just some Jew but this was the Messiah (truth about God), she went back to her city. Listen to her words: “The woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, ‘Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done’” (John 4:28-29).
What a message. She did not say, “Come see the Messiah.” She did not even say, “Come see a man who told me all my good points and increased my self esteem.”
She said, “Come see a man who told me the truth about me. He told me my faults, my sins, and revealed to me my past.”
And Jesus did. He told her that she was immoral and living in immorality.
This Samaritan woman was saying, “Come see a man who has told me two truths—the truth about Himself and the truth about me.” We need truth to be free; we need to understand and embrace these two truths to experience freedom.
We live in a society that grossly overexaggerates ourselves, but Jesus doesn’t do that. Remember the truth about this woman:
He said, “Go call your husband and then come back.”
“I have no husband,” she said.
“That’s nicely put: ‘I have no husband.’ You’ve had five husbands, and the man you’re living with now isn’t even your husband. (John 4:16-18, MSG)
In Finding God, Larry Crabb wrote: “Feeling better has become more important to us than finding God.” You can’t feel better unless you find God, let’s be clear. Listen to the Samaritans’ response when they heard this woman’s raw words: “From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, ‘He told me all the things that I have done” (John 4:39). She was telling the city, “Today I am free because of two truths: I met a man who told me all things (truth about God) and all things that I have done (truth about me).” In other words, she was saying, “And after He exposed my dark past, He still wanted me and loves me. This is not a normal man. He is different!"
When we come to Jesus, we will hear the truth about ourselves, but we will also hear the truth about Him. And despite the revelation of our real selves and our messed-up lives, we discover that He loves us and wants us. That’s two big truths.
Plato said, “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” When you come to Jesus, you come to the light. Don’t be afraid. The true “you” will come to light, but so will the true God. And He is amazing.
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Day 71
Today’s Reading: John 3
There are a few chapters in our 260 Journey where you just pause, exhale, and know you are seeing beauty and majesty. John 3 is one of those chapters.
Plato said, “Whoever tells the stories shapes society.” Do we have a story to tell or what? We have the story—the gospel story. God’s story.
John 3:16 is God’s story stuffed into one verse. And Jesus tells it in twenty-five words—because that’s all He needed.
If we could choose one verse of the 31,102 verses of the Bible, this one verse sums up the gospel. The word gospel means Good News.
So here’s God’s story: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
This is the most wonderful sentence ever written. It begins with God, who has no beginning, and concludes with life that has no ending.
Let’s break down the verse:
God . . . the greatest loverso loved . . . the greatest degreethe world . . . the greatest numberthat He gave . . . the greatest actHis only begotten Son . . . the greatest giftthat whoever . . . the greatest invitationbelieves . . . the greatest simplicityin Him . . . the greatest personshall not perish . . . the greatest deliverance
but . . . the greatest differencehave . . . the greatest certaintyeverlasting life . . . the greatest possession
How did John 3:16 come to be? It was spoken to one man, Nicodemus, one night. (The original Nick at Night.)
Nicodemus was a religious man, and it seemed something was bothering him. Religion wasn’t enough.
What’s interesting is that some of the greatest verses in the Bible from Jesus’ lips happen through one-on-one conversations, not in sermons.
While Nicodemus did not ask a question to be answered, Jesus answered the question he meant to ask. He did not realize the conversation would be turned from religion to regeneration. To make sure we understand what Jesus was emphasizing that night to Nicodemus, let’s read a few verses surrounding this one so we can get a sense of the context:
So that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:15-18)
If I were to say to my children: “Dinner is great, but now it’s time to clean up. When you clean up, Mom and Dad are happy, because cleaning up means you respect our words, and when you clean up you do your part.” What is the key phrase? Clean up.
Jesus did the same thing. You have to pay attention to see it in these verses. Jesus’ key word: believe.
Belief is crucial, because it is the hinge upon which the door to heaven turns. Jesus used variations of belief five times. If you were to speak three sentences, and you included one verb five times, I would get the feeling you were stressing a highly critical point. And indeed, He was.
John 3:16 begins with God and His love, and it ends in heaven. But the one variable in the equation is this word, believes.
Believe is at the fork in the road of perish and eternal life.
God’s love gave us Christ, who died, giving us our only access to heaven. Therefore, salvation is not in question. It is there for the taking. The only thing in question is our response. Will we believe?
Pastor J. C.
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Day 70
Today’s Reading: John 2
Today our 260 Journey takes us to John 2. If we are not paying attention, we may feel as if we are at the end of the Gospel of John and not at the beginning. Let me explain why this can be confusing by reading something Jesus did in this chapter:
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” (John 2:13-16)
Anything seem odd to you?
What Jesus did here is in all three Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But here is what makes this scene stand out: it isn’t the same thing.
Think about this, Jesus cleared the temple of the money changers and those buying and selling. He made a scourge and then declared, “My Father’s house shall be called a house of prayer.” This happens in Matthew 21, Mark 11, and Luke 19—all on Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, which we call Palm Sunday.
But this is totally different. This is not Palm Sunday. This is the beginning of His ministry. This is John 2, not John 19.
Wow! This is huge. This is Jesus clearing the temple at the beginning of His ministry where the other gospels record Jesus clearing the temple at the end of His ministry.
What He cleaned out, three years later came back in.
Why? Junk is always trying to make its way back into the temple. That’s not just true for this New Testament temple but for another temple. In this same chapter, in verse 19, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”—and then it goes on to say, “He was speaking of the temple of His body” (verse 21).
In other words: I am now the temple that sin and money changers are looking to get back into.
This is so true. Stuff that was driven out of my life years ago is always trying to find its way back in years later; just like those money changers were.
In I Surrender, Patrick Morley wrote that the church’s integrity problem is in the misconception “that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior. . . . It is revival without reformation, without repentance.
Jesus would not let something into the temple that did not belong. I need God to come into my life each day and make a clean sweep of my personal temple, because junk always wants to come back. The same is true of you. As C. S. Lewis reminds us, “We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin."
How do we keep sin out? The Holy Spirit’s conviction is the scourge to make us aware, and repentance drives the money changers out. Conviction and repentance get the money changers out of our temples that are trying to get back in like old times.
Repentance is best defined by a little girl who said, “It’s to be sorry enough to quit.”
The great American evangelist, Billy Sunday, spoke about the fight against sin being a fight he would wage until he died: “Listen, I’m against sin. I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot, I’ll fight it as long as I’ve got a fist, I’ll butt it as long as I’ve got a head, and I’ll bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth. And when I’m old, fistless, footless, and toothless, I’ll gum it till I go home to glory and it goes home to perdition.”
Fight sin. Let Jesus clean house. Each day you wake up, ask Jesus to go through the temple and expose anything in your life
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Day 69
Today’s Reading: John 1
I am excited that today on our 260 Journey we begin a journey through the Gospel of John. This is the most unique gospel because it doesn’t start out like the other three gospels. It takes us to the beginning . . . the real beginning. Listen to its opening verse: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
That sounds very much like Genesis 1:1 at creation: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Here’s what’s even crazier: the “In the beginning” of John takes place before the “In the beginning” of Genesis.
What does that mean?
This puts Jesus in a unique category as the only person who ever lived before He was born. As one theologian said, “Jesus is the invisible God and God is the visible Jesus.” And that visible Jesus was about to embark on a three-year ministry that would change the planet forever.
French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte said it with the greatest clarity: “I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist. There is between Christianity and every other religion the distance of infinity.”
Let’s start this journey through John by reading verses 37-39 and see one of the most amazing venues Jesus ever taught in: “The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus” (verse 37). It’s good to stop here and take note that the “him” in this verse is John the Baptist. We would think it should have been that John spoke and they followed John. But this is epic: “They heard him [John] speak and followed Jesus.” John, you rock. You challenge me.
The challenge and the proof of any true minister and ministry is that people hear us speak and they follow Jesus, not us, our church, our denomination.
That is why distinctives about denominations are so bogus. Distinctives about what day we worship on, what we call Jesus, our water baptism formula, our theology about the gifts. It’s so anti-New Testament. They make the organization distinct not Jesus.
Can people hear me speak and not follow my church or my denomination? Can people hear an Assembly of God pastor speak and not follow Pentecostalism or a Baptist preacher preach and not follow Calvinism? This is a challenge to twenty-first-century preaching. Thank you, John the Baptist for modeling what we should be doing.
Here is where it gets good: Jesus’ first 10:00 a.m. service. It’s a service unlike any other in history. It’s in an unexpected place but it’s in the best place:
Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?” He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they came and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. (verses 38-39)
They asked Jesus, “Where are You staying?” Or, “Where is Your home?” And Jesus responded, “Come and you will see.” “Come to My home,” they came, and they had the first home group. The first Christian 10:00 a.m. service would take place where Jesus resided.
There is something about teaching and learning in a home. They went that day to where Jesus was staying and had no idea how that 10:00 a.m. service would impact their “forever.”
The home of Jesus. Wow! It’s one thing to learn from a pulpit and in a pew, it’s another level to learn from a classroom and a lecture. But the playing field changes when you learn in a home—and it beats all other venues.
Jesus’ first place of teaching wasn’t the synagogue, it was the home. When the home is involved, you are inviting people up close for them to see if what you have is real. Anyone can put on
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Day 68
Today’s Reading: Luke 24
It’s resurrection morning for Jesus. All of the Gospels highlight Jesus’ post-resurrection conversations with His disciples and followers, but only Luke highlights a conversation that happened seven miles outside of Jerusalem. To put it another way, a fire started seven miles outside of Jerusalem.
No building burst into flames.
No property was damaged.
No one was trapped.
No life was lost.
But two hearts caught on fire in a conversation with the resurrected Jesus. As someone once said, “Get on fire for God and men will come watch you burn.”
Fire needs no advertisement. When people hear the fire engines, people look for smoke. And seven miles outside of Jerusalem on a road heading toward Emmaus two hearts caught fire.
Let’s look at the story.
Two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. And He said to them, “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?” . . . And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened.”
He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. . .
They urged him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over.” So He went in to stay with them. When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and He vanished from their sight. They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, saying, “The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.” (Luke 24:13-17, 19-21, 25-27, 29-34)
I have been reading a sermon a day for almost thirty years. It’s a practice I picked up when I started pastoring. One of my favorite preachers is the great Baptist, Vance Havner. In one of his sermons based on this story, Havner gives four characteristics that happen to someone who has a genuine experience with God.
First, their experience is based on the Scriptures. As Luke 24:27 tells us, “He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” Men who part company with the Old Testament also part company with Jesus. Moses wrote Genesis. Jesus promoted Genesis.
Second, it stirs their hearts. Luke 24:32: They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” A genuine experience with God has its foundation in the Bible, not in our feelings, although that does not mean our feelings aren’t affected. We are not saved because we feel saved, but being saved makes us happy. As Havner said, “There was never a real revival that did not produce heartburn and hallelujahs."
Third, Je
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