The Way of Jesus - Rethink the Way You Live

On Sunday, we introduced what is going to be our theme for the next number of weeks at Callander Bay Church: The Way of Jesus.  We are looking at simple language to describe our journey with Jesus.  As a community we are endeavouring to respond to Jesus' call to "Follow Him".  We are growing in our understanding of what it means to do this.  

Like 7-strands of rope, this description is

• Simple
• Memorable
• Transferable, and most of all
• Practical to work with everyday life

As I spoke on Sunday, I left you with an assignment: "To rethink the way you live"  Most of us are quite habitual in the way we live.  We do a lot of the same things over and over again.  We are on cruise control or stuck in a rut.  The apostle Paul gave the same challenge in Ephesians 5:15-17 he tells his readers,

"Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."

Be very careful how you live.  It seems we have an option, we can live wisely, which in this context is carefully.  Or we can live unwisely, which means to not make the most of opportunities.  Pay attention to the details, or maybe I should say, let God into the details.  Really discipleship or following Jesus is not about adding more things into your life,  it is letting Him into the things you are already doing, it's about how you live.  So, the encouragement is to think about what you are doing.  To ask yourself why you are doing it.  And probably most importantly in light of  following Jesus what should I be doing?  We are all on a journey.  It's what you do on the journey that matters.

  I shared on Sunday, a moment of epiphany I had many years ago.  God revealed to me while I was brushing my teeth, that I was more disciplined then I was admitting.  The fact that I brushed my teeth twice a day, every day, was God's reminder that I could, as Paul wrote to Timothy, "Train myself in godliness." (1Timothy 4:8).  This morning I was brushing my teeth, like I always do, and I was challenged by my own message (Don't you hate when that happens! Ha!).  I was staring in the mirror at myself and I thought how could I invite God to be a part of this moment.  The thought that popped in my head was, "pray for your kids".  So, I did.  Then the moment was gone and I continued with my day.  It was not an earth shattering moment.  It wasn't that challenging, but the message was very clear to me.  I have lots of opportunities during my day to invite God into what I'm doing, but most of the time I am too busy or too distracted or just not even thinking about it.  My challenge to you and me is: Think about it.

  It seems the Apostle Paul  thinks that if we live in this way, we will discover something.  Miracle of miracles, we will understand what God's will is.  We will know what to do as we go on this journey we call life.  Sounds good to me!

John