Saturday 1 June 2024
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”
If you want to follow Jesus, learn to invest your life where he invested his!
You may be comfortable with your life that is focused on the other religious people around you who already know the Bible and are like you in many ways. But listen to Jesus’ sense of sentness when the Pharisees wondered why he was spending so much time with secular, non-synagogue-attending sinners: He said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17).
Jesus spoke of being sent “into the world.” Now put that together with his statement in our passage today: “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.”
Don’t make it your priority to keep your life comfortable. Make it your priority to get into the world, to spend relational time with secular, non-churched sinners. What you want is to just hang out with your fellow Christians, but that is not Jesus’ way. Don’t ignore your Christian friends, but keep your focus where Jesus kept his!
Who of your unchurched friends or family can you make time to spend with this week, to build your relationship?
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