He’s not one of us!!
I was reading Luke 9 today & got to verses 49-50. This isn’t a great theological post or anything but simply some comments & questions about these 2 verses:
“Master,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.”
“Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”
What would this look like in our day? The drunk guy on the street corner preaching in the name of Jesus? The lunatic doing the same? I wonder if instead of shunning them or making fun of them or even wishing they weren’t there “damaging the name of Jesus” we should pray for them & that something they say would provoke thoughts of Jesus in someone’s head, plant a seed, and for them to come to know Christ personally. I bet God isn’t intimidated by those people. Just a thought.
A Challenge
My son, Samuel, challenges me daily. Usually multiple times in a day. He challenges me to be more patient, more kind, more loving, more playful, but most of all more like Christ. However, I want to challenge you with something he does.
Samuel is great at learning songs & words from movies. He randomly says lines from movies & I only know what in the world he’s talking about because I’ve seen the movies 20 times myself. However a few weeks ago he came home from church one day with a little paper heart that said, “Trust in the Lord with all my heart. Proverbs 3:5” on it. I decided that since he could memorize songs & lines from movies there shouldn’t be any reason he couldn’t memorize a verse with a little help. It only took a couple of times and now any time you ask him what his memory verse is he says, “Trust in the Ward (Lord) wif all my heart” while making motions pointing to his head, then to his chest.
I took it a step further last week when one of his teachers at church said there was a new verse. He now knows his “second verse” – “Praise God for he is good” and nods his little head on the word “good”. Sorry I don’t remember the exact verse but it’s throughout the Bible & this one was referring to a verse in a psalm.
Basically, my challenge is this. If Samuel can memorize God’s word, you can too. Take a verse at a time, whatever you feel like you can do. Make motions, make up a song, but most of all let it sink in.
When Sam reaches for the Bible, I ask him to read it or ask what it says & he says, “Trust in the Ward wif all my heart” and smiles his huge smile. And yes, I do have a proud mommy moment. This is what it’s all about.
