the jesus campaign.
"...Jesus, knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." John 13.1
This verse exposes an error in my thinking about my purpose in life. According to this verse, and all the ones before and after it pertaining to the life of Christ, my life is an offering to the Lord to be used as he sees fit. But, you see, somewhere along life's path i've picked up a way of thinking that tells me I must save the world. And not just that I must, but that if i don't, i'm lazy, worthless, and somehow being disobedient to God. In various ways, this incredible mindset has driven me to a certain way of life, to certain behavior, and to certain life choices that I now look back on with a bit of regret. I can see how everything works out for good in the end, but I've been met with much pain, heartache, loneliness, and loss because of this faulty thinking.
Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with wanting to change the world. But, as Christians, I think we quickly fall into a way of thinking that places all the power and responsibility on us as people, rather than into the hands of a loving God who is faithful to all that have come before us and all who will follow us. His purpose in the world includes us, but doesn't rest fully upon us.
Christ's life touched many people for a day or a moment. He healed many and I'm sure their lives were marked by that moment of transformation connected to meeting Christ. But according to this verse, he was committed deeply and daily to a very small amount of people, 12 to be exact. Loving them "to the end, to the uttermost, eternally", as various translations explain it. This is not because Jesus' power would max out after 12, but because human lives are significant to God and he does a job thoroughly. He doesn't do half jobs. To transform someone well, to give them the amount of attention and guidance and affirmation that they need, Jesus couldn't in man-form be committed to 3,000 people. He had to stick with 12, pray for the 12, and the 12 after that, and on and on as his message touched the world.
Christ's message is not a quick-fix message. If it were, he'd probably have had a very different game plan on earth. Maybe he would have done a worldwide evangelical campaign, recruiting the finest minds and most eloquent speaker of his day to convince people of his truth. He would have traveled, toured, campaigned, and spent himself differently. But the call on Christ's life was to love, and love well. To model for us what loving well looks like to God.
So, he loved them to the end. He ate with those who would betray him, washing their feet and warning them of things to come. He loved in word and in deed. He was committed to those the Lord had given Him.
I've spent so many years trying to save the world with my own two hands. And for some, perhaps their calling is like Paul, who lived a certain lifestyle after a very intense intervention staged by Jesus Himself. But the older I get, the more simply I want to live. I see value in things I didn't value before. My thinking is changing from that of a child to that of an adult. I want to love well, care well, provide well, and disciple well. I want to give my life to God as an open-ended essay, rather than telling Him how He should use it by providing a set of multiple choice answers from which he can choose. I want to stop being manic about every world issue I see. I want to stop talking alot of talk, and just do things well. And for some of us, doing things well means simplifying, minimizing, narrowing the focus, praying in faith that prayer does just as much as us running around the city in a tailspin trying to help people. Isn't there value in rest, peace, and operating from a place of leaning upon Christ who is the source of power and strength?
Maybe from that place of leaning, some of us are used radically to change nations and communities. Maybe some of us become writers whose books touch generations for Christ. Maybe some of us become preachers or teachers and we send the message out through spoken word. And maybe some of us live and love well in the place God has us, trusting Him and facing our own demons because in our overcoming, we carry a message that the world God placed us in needs quite desperately. The world needs overcomers. The world needs authenticity. Maybe if we are fighting for both of those, we come out all right in the end.
This verse exposes an error in my thinking about my purpose in life. According to this verse, and all the ones before and after it pertaining to the life of Christ, my life is an offering to the Lord to be used as he sees fit. But, you see, somewhere along life's path i've picked up a way of thinking that tells me I must save the world. And not just that I must, but that if i don't, i'm lazy, worthless, and somehow being disobedient to God. In various ways, this incredible mindset has driven me to a certain way of life, to certain behavior, and to certain life choices that I now look back on with a bit of regret. I can see how everything works out for good in the end, but I've been met with much pain, heartache, loneliness, and loss because of this faulty thinking.
Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with wanting to change the world. But, as Christians, I think we quickly fall into a way of thinking that places all the power and responsibility on us as people, rather than into the hands of a loving God who is faithful to all that have come before us and all who will follow us. His purpose in the world includes us, but doesn't rest fully upon us.
Christ's life touched many people for a day or a moment. He healed many and I'm sure their lives were marked by that moment of transformation connected to meeting Christ. But according to this verse, he was committed deeply and daily to a very small amount of people, 12 to be exact. Loving them "to the end, to the uttermost, eternally", as various translations explain it. This is not because Jesus' power would max out after 12, but because human lives are significant to God and he does a job thoroughly. He doesn't do half jobs. To transform someone well, to give them the amount of attention and guidance and affirmation that they need, Jesus couldn't in man-form be committed to 3,000 people. He had to stick with 12, pray for the 12, and the 12 after that, and on and on as his message touched the world.
Christ's message is not a quick-fix message. If it were, he'd probably have had a very different game plan on earth. Maybe he would have done a worldwide evangelical campaign, recruiting the finest minds and most eloquent speaker of his day to convince people of his truth. He would have traveled, toured, campaigned, and spent himself differently. But the call on Christ's life was to love, and love well. To model for us what loving well looks like to God.
So, he loved them to the end. He ate with those who would betray him, washing their feet and warning them of things to come. He loved in word and in deed. He was committed to those the Lord had given Him.
I've spent so many years trying to save the world with my own two hands. And for some, perhaps their calling is like Paul, who lived a certain lifestyle after a very intense intervention staged by Jesus Himself. But the older I get, the more simply I want to live. I see value in things I didn't value before. My thinking is changing from that of a child to that of an adult. I want to love well, care well, provide well, and disciple well. I want to give my life to God as an open-ended essay, rather than telling Him how He should use it by providing a set of multiple choice answers from which he can choose. I want to stop being manic about every world issue I see. I want to stop talking alot of talk, and just do things well. And for some of us, doing things well means simplifying, minimizing, narrowing the focus, praying in faith that prayer does just as much as us running around the city in a tailspin trying to help people. Isn't there value in rest, peace, and operating from a place of leaning upon Christ who is the source of power and strength?
Maybe from that place of leaning, some of us are used radically to change nations and communities. Maybe some of us become writers whose books touch generations for Christ. Maybe some of us become preachers or teachers and we send the message out through spoken word. And maybe some of us live and love well in the place God has us, trusting Him and facing our own demons because in our overcoming, we carry a message that the world God placed us in needs quite desperately. The world needs overcomers. The world needs authenticity. Maybe if we are fighting for both of those, we come out all right in the end.
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