I have noticed a trend among people I associate with over the last few months. I think it seems to happen as New Years comes around. Perhaps it is seasonal. I am going to list below several statements I hear during this time. Hang in there. I am going somewhere with this.
1- I am on "such and such" bible reading plan. You should do it too if you want the things of God in 2016.
2- We didn't see you at the extra services we are having. We're in revival, we have a fresh wind, time to set aside things to be there every time instead of just a few times. It hurts me to see people who aren't willing to give it all up for God and only coming sometimes. Hope you can free yourself up soon.
3- I am doing "such and such" fast, you aren't ?? I am going after God and fasting is how I am kicking it off or this is how our church is kicking it off corporately.
These are prime examples of the "Jesus Juke". They are examples of trying to shame others to show you are better than them. A backhanded comment designed to show their level of spirituality but also attack the individual. What it truly reveals is the sayer doesn't love people or trust God as we should. If you love people you never want to shame them and if you trust God you know he will develop his children based on his plan.
Not everyone is the same and not everyone is being tasked for the same things by God. My response to the following could have been. (And almost was)
1- I am not on structured reading plan. But that doesn't imply that I don't read and study my bible. I am working the devotional routine that has provided years of stability in me.
2- God provided me with a grant for school and a job to support my family. Stewarding his gifts means I cannot always be at every service. God knows I am tending his gifts and he is proud of me. I don't have to be at every service because my relationship with God is not about attendance it is about love and stewardship of his presence and gifts.
3- God has impressed on me to fast before, but never as a new year event. I also have never done it at the prompting of someone else. I have never felt convicted that this was wrong or an inaccurate way to fast.
Instead I decided that response could be seen as my very own attempt to do the same thing to them. My own Jesus Juke. So I decided to be quiet and not speak. So you ask, why the post. Why be quiet and then tell the world........
........Because in this I learned something that I feel God wants me to share. In my silence I have realized that as we do life we develop relationships with people that are in our circles, some Christian and some not. Of those believers some are vocal and some are quiet. Some burn hot and fall away. Some are constant. I begun to watch those Christians around me who were quiet. Who didn't feel the need to Jesus Juke people and maintained there responsibilities. Who preferred to be devoted in silence, causing no offense in the body of believers and who set a example that would make non Christians take notice. As I noticed them I noticed maturity. I began to desire that which they had reached. That level of "in Him" that gave peace and order.
Just as Jesus would often shy away from the crowds and noise to the wilderness, I am trying to do the same. Jesus left his disciples and focused on waiting for the woman by the well, I am focusing on who crosses my path in the day to day of the path God has me on. I think we need less people caught up in hypes and fads and more people caught up in quiet simple devotion. I hear a lot about mass harvests of souls, and I am all for it. But knowing how things multiply if we all shared Christ and disciples one person there would be more added than any service will provide. If we all got quiet long enough to see the one person God had placed in front of us. Oh how the world would change. What if the mass harvest is meant to happen on at a time by each of us getting quiet with one person, not loud with many?
I hope what God has impressed on me will help someone else.
- MZG
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