December 11, 2013
“… and found everything just as Jesus had said …” Luke 22:13 NLT
Everything that Jesus says about your life .. the way you live .. the way you’ve lived .. and the life He will be in you is true. He sent his own disciples to a stranger who had all the arrangements ready for his last meal. He told them they would be harassed in their lives because they were identified with Him. They didn’t understand what that meant at first. Just like you don’t understand all the things that Jesus is speaking into your life. It’s hard to imagine how God can take all the pieces of your life and make you whole. We think: “If only I hadn’t done so and so .. If I had made a different choice .. If God would only give me another chance I would be different.” Jesus planned a very simple meal and used that last meal to tell his disciples that the way they loved each other would identify them as his followers. You have to live intimately with Jesus to understand and grow into the intimate trust that his words are true and his life is the way you become whole. If not, you’ll try all kinds of substitutes but they won’t last. Jesus isn’t trying to make your life narrow and confined into cramped spaces. The words that he uses to describe your life: grace and truth .. freedom .. forgiven .. no longer condemned .. not forgotten .. adopted in love .. once and outside — now an insider .. a fresh start .. a clean slate .. a man or woman who walks with Jesus .. and a life filled with His indwelling life all mean that Jesus is setting your life together. Just think .. there are no limits to the wholeness he brings into your life. And He is doing all of that while at the same time forming and fitting your life to fit together as His body on earth. You don’t listen to what the world around says you should look like or act like as a follower of Jesus. You’re to listen to Jesus. It is so easy to start a day without Him. It is even easy to just take over running your during the day. What is He telling you to do today? Wait? Step out in faith? Speak out truthfully with grace? Ask for forgiveness? Reach across and forgive when it is least expected? What is Jesus telling you today? It only takes a moment …
” .. and there’ll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.” Isaiah 9:6 The Message
Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F Walking Wonders of Wholeness following Jesus and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)