Until Full Light

Instruction, inspiration, and resources to help you understand and apply the Bible in your life.

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The Great Commission—forget the world, how’s it going in your life?

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Don’t forget the world for very long, but for a few minutes, think about the Great Commission and how it applies to YOU.

Just you.

Let’s review the Great Commission:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)

Because you are reading this site, there is a good chance you have made a decision to follow Jesus. Most likely you’ve also already been baptized.

The question is, how is your obedience to the rest of it going for you? Are you a disciple of Jesus who obeys everything he taught?

If the answer is yes, you can stop reading and keep doing whatever you are doing, but if like most of us a you feel you are far away from obeying everything Jesus taught, read on.Continue Reading

God’s love language and why we should pay attention

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Imagine this: a husband wants to show his wife how much he loves her, so he buys her things: jewelry, flowers, candy, lots of little gifts of things he thinks are cute. He loves to shop; he has the money so he buys her more.

The wife  is a minimalist. She hates junk, doesn’t like candy, and wears no extra jewelry. She tries to remind herself that her husband is trying to show her he loves her, but her irritation increases with each unwanted gift. She begins to wonder if he really cares for her at all because he doesn’t seem concerned with what she really wants.

Dr. Gary Chapman wrote a very popular book several years ago to discuss situations like this. He called it Love Languages and in it he talks about how different people have different ways of expressing love and how if we truly love someone we will learn their love language and use it to communicate our love.

God also has a love language

God expressed His love for us by sending Jesus to die for us, that is the core reality of the Christian faith. In gratitude for that, we want to show our love back to God, but here is where we are challenged—what can we do to express love in a meaningful way to the Creator and Sustainer of life?Continue Reading

What Jesus wants his followers to be

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John Stott, in his book, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, begins by describing the Sermon on the Mount in this way, referring to the words of Jesus:

It is his own description of what he wanted his followers to be and to do.

What an odd concept today, to think about, to study what Jesus wants his followers to be and do. So often when Jesus is mentioned, if people have a question about him, it’s often along the lines of  “What can he do for me?”

The Beatitudes do answer that question. Jesus will give the Kingdom of  heaven, satisfaction, comfort, the inheritance of the earth, mercy, a vision of God, being called a child of God, a great reward in heaven. Extraordinary blessings, truly, but blessings with conditions.

The conditions come first: that we be merciful before we can expect mercy, that mourning comes before comfort, that persecution on earth comes before reward in heaven, and so on through all of them.

At our church we are starting a study on the Sermon on the Mount, I look forward to this time to focus intensely on what Jesus wants me to be. As I start this study, my mind jumps to Jesus words at the end of the sermon:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’  Matt. 7:21-23

Perhaps in this tiny, terrifying story Jesus is asking, “Have you been listening to me?” Perhaps it is the practical heart quiz after the lecture. He has just told his disciples what he expects and he began with the Beatitudes. He began describing people who are meek, hungry, persecuted. He continues through the sermon talking about those turn the other cheek,  love enemies,  pray and give in secret,  fast,  give to the poor, and who trust God for their daily needs—hardly extravagant miracles.

It isn’t the big things (casting out demons, miracles) that Jesus is asking us to do to show we are his disciples, and in fact, a focus on the extravagant can keep us from knowing Jesus. Perhaps that is because miracles can be counterfeited and performed with no reliance on Jesus. There are many spirits and much deception in the spiritual world and this story adds a whole new meaning to the saying, “It isn’t what you know, but who you know.”

True gentleness, meekness, forgiving grace under intense persecution—we’ve got to be close to Jesus for these to be a part of our lives. In ourselves, we can’t live the Beatitudes without moment-by-moment reliance on Jesus. The key to obeying the Beatitudes and the other parts of the Sermon on the Mount isn’t teeth-gritting observation of a list of rules. It’s about being close to Jesus.

When we are close to someone, we know what makes them happy. I know what my husband likes to eat and I delight in making him meals he enjoys. I don’t plan my menus based on “Happy Husband Menu Rules” but on knowing my husband–I’ve spent time with him; I’ve asked him what he likes to eat. I remember meals he especially liked.

Jesus is telling us here, “This is what is important to me.”

Reread the Sermon on the Mount with the one goal of getting to know Jesus better.