The Habit of Fasting

The final lesson in our series of discipleship is the final word on what it means to apprentice under a cross-carrying Messiah. This is how all will know that we are His disciples. Doing rightly, acting justly, and living as ambassadors of the kingdom of love.

What is the call of Christ to one who wants nothing more than to faithfully follow the scorned Savior who loves the whole world? What does it mean to exchange my will for His…and at what cost?

What good is faith, if it has not works? What are words without deeds to match? What would it look like to live what we say we believe?

How might we approach evangelism? Come, walk with me. Share my life. And learn of Christ.

Jesus came…preaching (Mark 1:14). Just words? Words have conquered kingdoms and forged new worlds. And when it’s the word of the cross, the message of God’s glorious kingdom, the sword wielded by the Spirit to dispel the darkness and secure the faithful, it’s something greater still. Yes, we believe in the foolishness of preaching, for we know what appears so small, weak, and insignificant can rise from obscurity and be used by God to enlighten the nations and save the world.

Jesus loved tables. The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. And the Son of Man came…eating and drinking. Perhaps we can learn something about evangelism: who doesn’t love a table?

What is the goal of an apprentice? We have learned to be with Jesus and to become like Jesus. All of this is so that we can do as Jesus did…and does.

In a world full of lies, pride, and image control, there is a powerful alternative that is as counter-cultural as it gets. Confession, said Michel Foucault, is when we “go on record against ourselves.”

What if the way up is down, the way forward is backward, and the way to more happiness, contentment, and fulfillment…is less of self, less of stuff, and less of wanting indifferent things?

We noticed 9 of the 10 commandments finding their way into the New Testament…but failed to see the assumption lying behind Jesus (Matt 11:28-30), Paul (Acts 13, 17, 18), and Hebrews (4:9-11), that God-honoring people would value resting from work, to remember and honor God as the sole creator and sustainer of our lives.

We feel the need to be behind the wheel. To choose our future. To control our lives. But very little turns out the way we designed. Haven’t we learned by now…We are not masters and commanders of the universe. But we follow the one who is.

We are shaped by stories, habits, and relationships. What if, by the Spirit of God, these were changed to healthy ones?

Willpower, Knowledge, and a Zap from God: helpful, hurtful, or in need of something more?

We don’t wake up suddenly spiritual.

You are being formed every day in every way. But will you be formed into the likeness of Christ?

What if we thought of silence, rest, and solitude as spiritual habits?

What if we thought of reading Scripture as a spiritual habit?

What if we thought of our spiritual community as a spiritual habit?

Could it be that “doing more” is actually standing in the way of “being with”?

What if the reward for following Jesus…is Jesus? What if gazing upon the beauty of the Lord was its own reward? Welcome to the power of contemplative prayer.

Where is your emotional home? What if it was Jesus? And what if you practiced his presence so that everywhere felt like home?

We are good at working for or being for others. But maybe we need to learn how to “be with.”

We tend to think of our baptism as our day of choosing. But today…and every day…will we choose Christ or ourselves?

Recognize what God has done through Christ–the only source of power. Respond with love to become all that he called us to become through His power. And seek to imitate, so that we might bring up “little Christs.”

Be with your rabbi. Become like him. Do what he did. This is discipleship.

Everyone follows someone. The question is: who is your rabbi? And how can anyone tell?