Jason's Blog

I am back now from a week of travel. I learned a lot, was reminded of a ton of things that I all too quickly forget, and reconnected with some friends from around the country.

I’ve gathered up these ideas from listening to  B. B. Taylor -

Don’t listen to  stories that are too shallow.  They make life into less than it really is.

Let the Bible tell you what stories are most important.

Any story that I will take to make  my story must

1. Honor people not like me.
2. Let me argue with it.
3. Level with me about the cost of love.

The Bible tells us a story like this– where Jesus comes to honor, serve, wrestle, and ultimately love those who would follow him to death. After everything else, there is new life.

Today, I had the chance to hear Dallas Willard speak. He has such great insight. Here is the thought that I’d like to share with you– “people come to the kingdom of God through exile.”

When everything else falls apart, when our little kingdoms are ruined and lost, it is then that we can die and God’s life can live in us.

Unfortunately, most of us live like kings– making all our decisions based on what is best for us. We can be servants only when we have resolved that the only kingdom that matter is God’s. When his kingdom is before us, we can serve others fully and joyfully.

I am in San Antonio at the 2009 International Renovare Conference. I had the priviledge of hearing Eugene Peterson speak last night. He had a lot of great things to say about the Jesus Way and many of the ideas in the talk are covered in his book by the same name. But one thing he said really caught my ear. To be on the Jesus Way we have to be personal and immediate and relational. Jesus was all of these things. He called people by name, he was truly present to their needs and concerns. He made friends with his followers.

None of this is new but I find it to be a good reminder. We sometimes can drop down and make following Jesus, or his teachings into a program. Or we look at people as problems to be solved. Lord, forgive us when we do that (and when I do that).

In passing, Peterson noted that for children everything is personal, immediate, and relational. They are not interested in programs. They like to play. They live in the now. They give hugs, they crave being with friends, and even their parents. Sadly, over time they grow to be impersonal – less relational – more distant.

Maybe this is at the root of why Jesus said that we are to change and become like little children . . .

May you experience life the right way—the Jesus way.

It seems the older we are the less and less we think about what we do. We act on instinct and intuition. This is not entirely bad, as Dallas Willard points out, who would want to go back to childhood or adolescence when it comes to basic skills. Think about the first time you drove a car (a standard car at that) and all the decisions and calculations that raced through your mind. With more experience, we settle down and can handle the weight of the flood of information that comes with driving a car.

However, the painful truth is that Jesus says we must change and become like little children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. This teaching runs counter to everything in our lived experience. Running a business, succeeding in education, or advancing in politics usually depend on the wisdom of hard knocks and the accumulation of personal knowledge that comes with age.

But it is not that way with spiritual matters.

True inner transformation comes not from acquiring more experience or knowledge but by being childlike. This is a hard lesson and many cannot accept it.

I’m reminded of all this because Vacation Bible School is here. Don’t underestimate the power of truth.