Be Prepared

Southeast Christian Church

Nov 5, 2020

Jesus spent his last hours on earth preparing his disciples for what was to come. There was no way for them to fully understand what was to come, so Jesus spent time reminding them of the truth about who he is, so that they could be prepared for what was next. Jesus was honest about the kind of suffering that his followers would experience. He reminds them that they will have trouble in this life, and that things won’t be easy. In fact, he tells them not to be surprised when suffering comes. To truly follow Jesus is to go against the world. It will never be easy to go against the world, but Jesus knows they can be prepared for the suffering they will encounter, because he knows the end. Jesus knows that the earth isn’t their home and that their final destination is eternity in Heaven.

This is why Jesus asks them to keep perspective. He knows that when he dies, the disciples will be confused, hurt, and angry. Jesus reminds them to keep their eyes fixed on Him. He reminds them to trust in his words. He shares that he is leaving, but to keep their eyes on the coming Holy Spirit—God in them. As their eyes threaten to wander away from the truth, Jesus brings them back to what is true again and again.

We, too, can be prepared for the difficult life of following Jesus. We can be prepared for suffering, hardship, and persecution because we know that it will come while on this earth. Hebrews 12:2 says, “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne” (NLT). While our circumstances threaten to pull our focus to what is temporary, we can fix our eyes on Jesus to remind us of what is eternal.

Reflection/Discussion Question: How can you practice keeping your perspective focused on Jesus?

Community tags

This content has 0 tags that match your profile.

Lifestyle

Purpose

Growing in Faith

Comments

To leave a comment, login or sign up.

Related Content

0

Flee From Sexual Immorality

Jews used to believe that consuming or touching the unclean would defile them, but they paid little attention to what was inside of them. Jesus flips the script on them to say, “‘Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them’ . . . He went on: ‘What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person’ ” (Mark 7:19, 20-23, NIV). People were used to pointing out evil around them, but they weren’t used to pointing to the source of that evil: their own hearts. We can point to the sexual immorality all around us and try to run, but we will find that we have no where to go. It’s everywhere. Why? Because it’s in our hearts. The sexual immorality we see around us is a result of our hardened, rebellious, broken hearts. While habits and behavioral changes can sometimes impact our hearts, it can be like taking Tylenol for a severe injury. You may be able to lessen the pain, but the injury still remains. Changing behavior and habits can lessen the temptation, but the lust still has a grip on your heart. So, how do we get a heart transformation? Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (NLT). We know that Christ gives us a new life—and this transformation begins in the heart. While this is a glorious truth, we still struggle with sin on a daily basis. Paul speaks to this specifically in Romans 8, he reminds us that we are no longer controlled by our sinful nature: “Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” (8:12-13, NIV). Christ has given us a new heart; and while we may have an inclination to return to our old ways of living, we can trust in Christ to renew our transformed hearts in his grace each day. Reflection/Discussion Question: What does it actually look like to trust in Christ’s grace to transform your heart?

0

Who do You Listen to?

Our world is loud and full of “authoritative” voices. Scroll through social media for just ten seconds and you’ll find people claiming to be experts sharing their opinion (presented as fact) that you need to agree with (or else something terrible will happen to you, your possessions, your kids, or your health). It’s a battle for us to control what voices we are even hearing, let alone the voices we are actually listening to. Most of the time, we are too exhausted to filter what we are listening to, so we take in more negative voices than we intend. Our world is full of negative voices. On the road, standing in line, on social media, on the news—it’s everywhere, on repeat. All of these voices point us back to ourselves, our circumstances, our limits. Who will we allow to speak into our lives? We can follow the thousands negative voices or the one positive voice: Christ. We can follow the lies of the enemy or the truth of our Father. We can follow the fears of our flesh or the strength of the Spirit. This isn’t to say that we pretend that those negative things don’t exist. Joshua and Caleb didn’t ignore the threats or the negative voices in the Promised Land, instead they kept their focus on the Lord: “They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with use! Don’t be afraid of them!’ ” (Numbers 14:9, NLT). Because they listened to the voice of the Lord, they had the right perspective. It didn’t matter if the men were giants, the towns were fortified, or their armies were great. Joshua and Caleb realized that without the Lord on their side, they were helpless prey to God’s people. Nothing can stand in the way of God and his promises to us. Reflection/Discussion Question: What voices are you listening to most often?