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Oswald pointed out something today, I've been thinking about for the last several weeks...

"Jesus did not commit Himself to them...for He knew what was in man." John 2:24-25

"Many of the cruel things in life spring from the fact that we suffer from illusions. We are not true to one another as facts; we are true only to our ideas of one another...The refusal to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering in human life. It works this way - if we love a human being and do not love God, we demand of him every perfection and every rectitude, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; we are demanding of a human being that which he or she cannot give. There is only one Being who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ."

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My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. - John 4:27-38

The Samaritans were ready to believe. They believed because of the woman's testimony. Then they believed because of their own experience with Jesus. He stayed with them two days! These outsiders! These inconvenient, unlovely neighbors. That neighborhood most would travel out of the way to get around, that you chose to deliberately travel through. Then stay there two days! Most of the time in Scripture, Jesus is quick to leave a place. This is the first time you stayed! Why? Because your food was this kind of thing. You got jazzed up at life change. I love that. I'm that way to.

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John 3:30 "He must increase; I must become less."

My eyes gravitate to these words. They captivate me. John, the famous Baptist, is talking about popularity, influence, and power. He chose to diminish his own in order to increase Jesus's. Wow! Jesus in his character would not have sought this outcome for himself. In a sense, he needed to be given it. And John, in his humility, freely offered what Jesus did not ask for.

It is not in God's character to seek fame. It is up to his believers to make him famous.

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http://bstrait.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/a-miracle-inside-the-the-aurora-shooting-one-victims-story/

this is the story of Petra Anderson, who survived the Colorado shooting last week.

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John 3:1-8 "the wind blows where it pleases."

I'm thinking about how a seed is planted by the wind. I'm thinking about how the wind catches a sail. I'm thinking about how wind shapes rocks, mountains, the ground we live upon.

The invisible wind is one of the most powerful forces on earth. And you, Lord, say that you work like it. You are unpredictable. Strong or gentle, you are always at work. Always moving. Slowly shaping all that is.

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Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it! - 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 Message

Or maybe I spoke too fast...because we've come to my favorite part: "I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!"

There is something wild and wonderful and exciting and adventurous and beautiful and significant and, well, pleasurable in living all out for Jesus. There is. 

Nothing's holding you back. Nothing really. Go for it! 

Get in on the action! Go!!!

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Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it! - 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 Message

"I did it all because of the Message."

What motivates you to be a Christian? I confess much of mine is selfish. It makes me feel good. I think it is good for me...I don't think that this was Paul's motivation. I'm just guessing. 

It was true. And it was life and death. I think that was enough for him. 

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Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it! - 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 Message

I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view

This is what Atticus teaches Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. To learn to see things from another person's porch. To walk around in their skin for awhile. 

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Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it! - 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 Message


Does the scope of your life encompass all people, every kind of people, or do you edit your evangelism...thank God those before us did not. 

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We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the Gospel of God but our very lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. - 1 thessalonians 2:8


Gospel living is genuine living. Living life genuine. Nothing hidden. Nothing held back.

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John 2:18-25

"destroy this temple"

Jesus knew from the beginning what would happen to him. It's a strange response to the people
s question of his authority. I guess what Jesus is saying is that his actions will prove his authority. Actions speak louder than words. I need to act what I want to say.

Then there are these words "Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man." Again strange words. What amazes me is that Jesus knew our hearts and yet he still came! He still loved us! He still went through with his mission.

Maybe he knew our hearts better than we do. Maybe he knew how helpless and broken they are. Jesus could not stand idly by when God had given him the power and authority to save us.

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John 2:12-17

Jesus knows how to make and use a whip! How does that knowledge inform my day to day understanding of who Jesus is and what he is doing in my life?

I don't know what to make of your whip skills other than the fact that you are not passive. You are not weak. You are not intimidated. You are not a coward. You do not stand idly by in the face of injustice. You stand squarely on the side of justice. You do not flinch.

I am such a fearful man. I cower in the face of injustice so often...too often.

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John 2:12-25

"Zeal for your house will consume." I love your passion Jesus. Your passion for God, your Father. For how little we make Him. For how we take Him for granted. For how we think and try to manipulate and abuse His mercy and grace. Help me experience and live in and through and out of your passion.

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John 2:1-11

Six jars to the brim = 150 gallons!

150 gallons of wine! That's a ridiculous, wasteful amount. You couldn't drink that much in a month. That's like 300 two liter bottles. Over 600 bottles us wine.

What are you trying to show us Jesus?

That you have the ability to accomplish and provide vastly more than we could ever need, ask, and even imagine...

Thinking about the wine you used to symbolize your blood during the Last Supper. Was this miracle at the Wedding at Cana a foreshadowing? Were you saying my blood is more than sufficient. More than even your parched, broken soul could ever need, ask or even imagine...yes, Jesus, your blood covers all our sin. Amen

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John 2:1-11

"You saved the best till now."

We hear it said to "save the best for last." But you, Lord, saved the best till now. I love that, Jesus. I want to experience your best now in my life. There's no reason to save it when you give your gifts to us from a limitless storehouse.

Forgive my ingratitude. May I be a good receiver today, in Jesus name.

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I apologize I have not been nuggetting very consistently lately. I've been attempting something new. Something old actually. A conventional quiet time. Coffee. Prayer. Journalling. Read Scripture. Study what it says. Let God draw me to a verse, a phrase, a word, perhaps something else altogether. Sit with it. And Pray some more. It's been fantastic.

I'll be sharing nuggets again starting tomorrow. But wanted to offer this encouragement to you to try a good old fashion quiet time today.

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“Seeking the face of God in everything, everyone, all the time, and his hand in every happening; This is what it means to be contemplative in the heart of the world. Seeing and adoring the presence of Jesus, especially in the lowly appearance of bread, and in the distressing disguise of the poor.”
― Mother Teresa, In the Heart of the World: Thoughts, Stories and Prayers