“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” – Luke 6:27-28

Jesus is crystal clear here! In this era of deep, angry, toxic division over politics, public policy, race, culture, and values, true followers of Jesus don’t get to opt out of loving those who view us enemies, doing good to those who despise us, blessing those who publicly curse us, and praying for those who work against us.

Far too often today, Christians respond to challenges in exactly the same vile, ungodly ways and words of non-Christians. That isn’t the way of Jesus. Anyone who claims to love Jesus but whose words (spoken, written, or posted/reposted electronically) don’t reflect these commands of Jesus needs to repent. Now. Ask God’s forgiveness and stop dishonoring Christ!

Followers of Jesus are supposed to be completely different. Being different brings with it enemies, hatred, cursing, and abuse. Jesus showed us how to endure that Himself. He commands us to endure it like Him. And He lives within us to empower us to do so. Christian, follow Jesus!

“And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.'” – Numbers 20:12

Even the most godly of leaders can go astray at times! Rather than humbly following God’s instructions, Moses and Aaron unleashed their human anger, drawing attention and glory away from God and to themselves. Rather than speak to the rock to miraculously release water in a way that pointed the Israelites to God as their provider, they preached, rebuked, and struck the rock, focusing the crowd’s attention on themselves and their powers. That isn’t the behavior of godly leaders!

It might seem to us a subtle thing, but it wasn’t to God! God holds leaders accountable for the responsibility He has entrusted to them. Godly leaders must be consistently pointing people toward the Lord rather than themselves. Godly leaders must allow themselves to diminish as the people’s vision for the Living God increases. Godly leaders must be content in their relationship with the Lord rather than the adulation of human beings.

There is a humility and gentleness grounded in Christ that should characterize even the most influential godly leaders. If there isn’t, those leaders need to repent and their followers should hold them accountable, for God surely will!

“After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.” – Luke 5:27-28

Would you? Will you? The invitation of Jesus hasn’t changed in 2000 years: “Follow me.” Levi walked away from his lucrative and secure government job to follow Jesus. He left everything behind on the spot because he immediately saw in Jesus something infinitely more compelling than his continued earthly employment and wealth.

In this age of careful planning, we can get quite invested in our education, employment, plans, property, and assets. Would we willingly leave them behind to follow Jesus? If not, is it because those things are more important and compelling to us than Jesus? Is it because we’re afraid? Is it because our culture, training, education, or perhaps even family or religious background has closed our imagination to the extraordinary possibilities of truly following the divine Son of God wherever He leads?

As Jesus invites you to follow Him more fully, completely, and closely, what might He be asking you to leave behind? Will you? Is your interest, passion, and love for Jesus Messiah more powerful than your attachment to earthly things and situations?

“And Simon answered, ‘Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.’ And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.” – Luke 5:5-6

The primary focus of this passage is on Jesus revealing His divine knowledge and power over nature in a dramatic fashion as He calls Simon Peter into discipleship and ministry. However, these verses also vividly illustrate the difference between working really hard in our own strength and abilities and laboring in Jesus.

Simon and his associates had exhausted themselves fishing all night long with no results. Their frustration and perhaps even financial anxiety must have been huge! However, when Simon let down the nets where, when, and how Jesus had already been working, the outcome was dramatically different!

Often in our lives as Christians, we find ourselves working REALLY hard at things we believe to be Kingdom-building or Christ-honoring. We grow exhausted, frustrated, and perhaps even burned out as we serve the church, the Kingdom, or our community. In these moments, we must ask ourselves, were we truly working WITH Jesus? Or were we trying to impress Jesus, or the watching world, with our skills, smarts, strength, words, or accomplishments?

Jesus invites each of us to yoke ourselves to Him and labor alongside Him. But is that actually how we’re working? In our work, is Jesus leading, guiding, and doing the heavy lifting? Or are we trying to do all those things, while praying for Jesus to show up and bless our work? There’s a huge difference, but we can be blind to it in the moment. When we find ourselves growing exhausted, frustrated, and even bitter toward Jesus, we must stop and ask who we’re really letting do the work!

“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?’” – Numbers 14:11

All too often, God’s people struggle to walk by faith rather than sight. Like the Israelites, we get stuck thinking about the challenges we face in obeying God rather than thinking about the God Whom we’re called to obey. We play the “What if” game. We think about all the ways things could go wrong. We think about all that’s wrong about us.

In the Wilderness, this looked like the Israelite’s paralyzing fear of those currently living in the promised land rather than confidence in the God Who visibly went with them, working wonders. Their fear was so powerful they wanted to go back to slavery in Egypt rather than forward in faith!

Today, this looks like the excuses we (individuals and churches) make for not making disciples, not sharing the Gospel, not going to the ends of the earth, not taking up our cross daily to follow Jesus, not pursuing the holiness of Jesus. It can also look like running from God’s call on our lives rather than running toward it. It can look like delaying obedience until “a better time” when we have more money, more time, more energy, better health, a different job, or a changed family situation. But disobedience is disobedience…

In these moments, we must step back and consider the extraordinary faithfulness, power, and provision of God. He has already promised to be with us when we follow Him. He has made clear for centuries and in our own lives that He can provide miraculously beyond anything we imagine. He has made clear His will and His willingness to act to accomplish His will. When we do, we must choose to believe God and His promises over the fear of our eyes and hearts. Then, we must take whatever steps we’re called to take by faith rather than our own sight. The more often we do so, the easier it becomes!