Tag Archives: john mark comer

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Letting God Love You

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Photo by Rod Long on Unsplash

One of the things I love to do each year in my own life and a small group I lead is to ask everyone this simple question: If you were to look more like Jesus a year from now, what would that mean? What changes would you make? How would you know if you became that person?

Many people miss what God has for them because they lack a vision for their spiritual growth. 

Many of us miss what God has for us because we don’t have a vision for our spiritual growth.

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But make no mistake, God has a vision for who we are becoming. 

In John 15, Jesus tells his disciples what some of that looks like: to abide in Him. 

To abide means to dwell, remain, make your home in, to be held and kept.

To abide in Jesus means to dwell, remain, make your home in, to be held and kept.

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A simple heart-check question is, “What or who am I abiding in?” We are all abiding in something or someone. We all look to something or someone to keep us and hold us. We look for love and security from someone or something. We are making our home somewhere. That might be in our career, political party, relationship, kids’ sports, or lives. But we are all abiding in something or someone. 

The question is, are we abiding in the right thing?

I have often struggled to know what it means to abide. Abiding sounds passive, but it isn’t. 

When we think of the Christian life, we usually focus on the commands to go, do, make, etc. 

And those are all over Scripture. 

But John 15 also says that part of the Christian life is abiding, dwelling, remaining, being held and kept. 

For that to happen, we must choose it. 

In many ways, abiding is letting God love me. 

In many ways, abiding is letting God love me.

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How do we do that?

One, we must choose it. We must actively believe and trust that God loves us. We must believe that we can make a home in God and that he will hold us and keep us. 

If this is hard, ask God to help you. Ask him to show you that you are loved and that he is keeping you. 

3 truths from John 15.

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Two, dwell with him. 

Jesus tells his disciples in verse 3 that this happens through the word. 

Third, submit to the pruning that the Father brings into our lives. 

We don’t know the fruit we need to grow in as well as the Father. 

3 ways to let God love you.

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1 Thing Every Follower of Jesus Needs to do This Election Season

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Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

In talking with lots of people in my church and watching the endless scroll on social media, the anxiety levels around this election seem to be at record highs.

There are many talking heads and candidates who say that if this or that person gets elected, this is the end—the end of our country as we know it—the end of our democracy.

Many pastors I talked to this past year agonized over what they would preach leading up to the election cycle. More than one pastor said he wished he was on a sabbatical this fall to skip the election and return for Christmas!

As I prayed and thought through it, I kept hearing, “The end.” And I wondered, what did Jesus say about the end? What did He say at the end?

Immediately, my thoughts turned to what is known as “The Upper Room Discourse” in John 13 – 17. It was the night of Jesus’ betrayal, the last night He spent with His disciples, 24 hours before His death. What did He say to them? What was the mood in the room that night? Knowing that Jesus knew what lay ahead, He chose His words carefully and purposefully.

As I dug into it, I was struck by all that Jesus said and the things He shared with them. It is startling as you read, especially when Jesus washes the disciple’s feet, knowing what will happen that night.

In John 13, at the very beginning, we see the one thing that followers of Jesus need to do this election season.

1 thing every follower of Jesus should do this election cycle.

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This isn’t the only thing they need to do, but it is one thing we should always do.

What is it?

Serve.

Serving is all over Scripture, deeply connected to another theme Jesus calls us to: surrender. To live in the kingdom of God, we must surrender our lives to King Jesus, but the picture of the kingdom of God is seen through the servant hearts of Jesus’ followers.

Which Jesus shows us in John 13.

But what is surrender?

John Mark Comer says, “Surrender is the foundation of the spiritual life.” And “discipleship is a lifelong process of deepening surrender to Jesus.”

Surrender is the foundation of the spiritual life. -John Mark Comer

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When Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, he surrenders his status as the leader and rabbi to serve them. In the first century, the lowest servant or slave would wash guests’ feet. The head of the family or the Rabbi didn’t wash feet; that was for someone else. In many ways, Jesus does the thing that is seemingly beneath him.

Not only that, but he washes Judas’s feet—the one who, later that night, will betray Jesus.

In doing this, Jesus is showing us what real power looks like and what power is in the kingdom of God compared to the kingdoms of this world.

In the kingdoms of this world, power is about money, charisma, votes, looks, and star power.

In the kingdom of God, power is seen in serving.

John Ortberg said, “Jesus did not come as a servant in spite of the fact that he is God; he came precisely because of the fact that he is God.”

Jesus did not come as a servant in spite of the fact that he is God; he came precisely because of the fact that he is God. -John Ortberg

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What does it look like to serve those around you?

One is to decide that you will be a servant to everyone. This is Jesus’s call. He tells his disciples, “I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done for you.” In this room are people with different political opinions, Judas, who will betray Jesus, and people who are difficult to love and often say the wrong thing at the wrong time. 

Each morning, we must consciously decide to serve those around us.

What might this look like?

This might mean biting our tongue when words come to mind.

It might mean going the extra mile at work when you aren’t asked to. 

Stop keeping score with your spouse or child at home. 

As you scroll through social media, keep your opinion to yourself. 

On that subject, I’d encourage you to spend less time reading about the election, as that will help your heart in this season. 

Ask God if you are struggling to find people or ways to serve. I know He’d love to answer that prayer!

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One Thing that is Harming Your Spiritual Growth

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Photo by Andrik Langfield on Unsplash

Every follower of Jesus is trying to grow in their spiritual practices. But what if our personalities get in the way? What if you are an introvert or an extrovert? You are stunting your spiritual growth because you only do certain spiritual practices instead of ones you tend to dislike or find uncomfortable.

I kept hearing people like Jon Tyson and John Mark Comer talk about a book I had never read, “Invitation to a Journey.” They kept saying, “It’s the best book on spiritual formation.” They were right. 

There were so many insights that stood out but easily, one of the biggest aha moments came when I read this:

Each of us will tend to develop models of spiritual life that nurture our preference pattern. If extroversion is our dominant preference, we will select models of spirituality that bring us together with other people in worship, fellowship groups, prayer groups, Bible-study groups, and spiritual-formation groups. We will want corporate spirituality and not get as much out of private individualized spirituality. If our preference is introversion, we will adopt models of spirituality that emphasize solitude, reflection, meditation, and contemplation. -Robert Mulholland Jr.

As I thought about my own life and preferences, Mulholland was right. You can see in your own life how you make your spiritual life and practices around the ones you enjoy the most. 

Now, that doesn’t mean you abandon the ones you prefer, but it does mean that we need to look at our spiritual lives and see if we are doing what we prefer or engaging in places that are not our preference. 

You might wonder, does this matter?

One thing we are often unaware of that harms our spiritual growth.

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I would say yes. 

If we only do what we enjoy or find comfortable, we will not grow all our spiritual muscles. Much like a weightlifter who only does an upper body workout, eventually, their legs will weaken. 

Think about how you experience a church or a community. Based on your preference, it is easy to elevate one practice over another. Maybe you wonder why others don’t do more of _____ or why your church doesn’t emphasize ______. Without realizing it, our preference gets elevated, and we begin to judge other Christians because they don’t do what we think is so important. That doesn’t mean it isn’t important, but we can elevate worship, prayer, or solitude over something else because it has helped us or we enjoy it more than other practices. 

This is especially important for pastors to understand. 

Unknowingly, for pastors, we create our churches around our preferences and expect others to grow the way we do. So, as a leader, you must know what you are most likely to emphasize, to make sure you are creating a well-rounded process of developing disciples. 

One thing pastors are often unaware of in their churches.

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