[RE]FOCUS Day 6
Week 1: [RE]FOCUS
Day 6: Redeeming…Everything
By Pastor Chris Troxel
READ:
Matthew 16:21 – “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
I am a difficult person to please. I make it difficult because I love to paint pictures of possibilities with my mind. When I get in my mind the way something could look like, reality never lives up to those absurd beautiful impossible expectations. It took me almost forty years of life, love, letdowns, and hurt to be able to write this paragraph. It also took an absurd beautiful impossible amount of grace to lead me, and those I have hurt, through all of that to call a thing what it is: unrealistic expectations and the sin I inflicted on others because of it. Can you relate to that?
A wise man once shared with me: “I know what God’s Word says. I’m still learning what God’s Word means.” I think the disciples were in a similar situation. Here is Jesus their Messiah, the One who will restore the kingdom! Except, they are focused on the wrong kingdom, their kingdom. What a letdown Jesus is to human pride. How could Jesus possibly let anyone down? He didn’t put humanity front and center. The disciples wanted Jesus to elevate their idea of “kingdom” above everything else.
I do the same thing. I elevate what I want to see in myself, my family, my neighborhood, my church, my mission, my job, my country, my world – the “Me-monster” is raging. On the cross, from the empty tomb, in baptism, in communion, through His World, Jesus puts the me-monster down and raises something else to life. He separates the “me” from the monster. Jesus puts pride in the grave, and raises me in faith, in life, with a new heart. He gives me descriptions of the future and turns my attention and effort toward my neighbor.
Jesus redeems everything, including my expectations.
PRAY:
Holy Spirit, keep calling, gathering, opening eyes, and setting apart people to know and love Jesus. Forgive us when we confuse our Kingdom with Yours. Refocus our faith on Jesus for our sake, and for the lives needing Jesus here and now. Amen.
LIVE:
What is your idea of “the kingdom”? When does that distract you from God’s Kingdom?