The Jesus Way

And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. —Hebrews 12:1b-2a NLT

Hi friends! I don’t know where February went, and now, we’re halfway through March! It seems like it was just yesterday that I wrote my last blog. Time flies. This weekend marks a year since I started this website. Happy Birthday, nicoleelsey.com! If I’m being honest, having a public platform is still a little out of my comfort zone (you can read more about that in the blog called “Christ Only, Always.”) But hey, following where God leads doesn’t always mean staying in your comfort zone; in fact, where God leads is rarely in our comfort zone. It’s worth it, though. Always.

My faith journey over the past few years and following God into new and unfamiliar territory has broadened my horizons in a lot of ways and illuminated scriptures and things in different ways. The season of Lent always feels like a good time for reflection and learning more about Jesus, and this Lent has been no different. My church history has always included observing Lent. If that is not something you’re accustomed to, I recommend checking out some resources on Lent here and here. The season of Lent is similar to the season of Advent leading to Christmas; it’s a time to reflect on Christ’s life and ministry and prepare our hearts for Easter.

So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” —John 5:19 NLT

This year, I’ve been thinking on Jesus’ practices and habits on earth. It seems there is a lot of emphasis put on how Jesus interacted with others, but not as much emphasis on his relationship with God and his personal practices. Some denominations might label this as social holiness versus personal holiness. We can learn a lot from Jesus’ example of both. We know that social holiness is important. Jesus spoke about it multiple times and named “Love your neighbor as yourself” as the second greatest commandment (Matthew 22:39, referencing Leviticus 19:18). But our faith journey would not be complete without also honoring what Jesus named as the first greatest commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37, referencing Deuteronomy 6:5). The second greatest commandment (and all of our life) should flow out of that first commandment. I’ve mentioned before that this blog is a way for me to process and share some of what God has been teaching me, and this one is a continuation of that! So, for the remainder of this blog, I want to focus on what Jesus’ life teaches us for our own personal holiness journey.

So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.” —John 8:28 NIV

Dependence. Our society does not usually paint dependence in a good light. We typically hear boasts of independence. We’ve all heard the saying “God helps those who help themselves” which was popularized by Benjamin Franklin in his Poor Richard’s Almanac. The roots of this phrase go back much further than that though. Some think this is a quote from scripture, but that is not the case (read more here). I think the idea of God helping those who help themselves is just another tactic of the enemy of our souls to keep us from right relationship and unity with God. If we feel solely responsible for taking care of ourselves, then we miss an opportunity for relationship with God as Jesus has. At first, it may seem odd that Jesus said he couldn’t do anything without the Father, he was and is fully divine, but John 5:19 and 8:28 show us that Jesus was operating of God’s will and instruction. He didn’t try to just live his own life while he was on earth. In his Enduring Word commentary on John 5:19, David Guzik puts it like this: “Jesus explained that He, as God the Son, does nothing independently. He was and is fully submitted to the Father’s will. This submission comes by choice, not by coercion or by an inferior nature.”

The goal of our Christian journey is often summed up as this: To be more like Jesus. But if that is our goal, then that also means our goal is not to need God less. We were made to wait on and depend on God alone for all of life. Andrew Murray writes that waiting on God “is simply and truly our restoration to our original destiny and our highest nobility, to our true place and glory as creatures blessedly dependent on the All-Glorious God” (Waiting on God, p. 25). So, why does it sometimes feel like we should be growing more independent as we mature as Christians? Even in Christian culture, there is often a—spoken or unspoken—stigma placed on dependence and needing God. It’s time for that to change. We should measure the health of a ministry by it’s dependence on and surrender to the Lord. We should value true relationship with God over rituals or number of people in a service. As individuals, we should feel free to embrace our need for God, and allow him to lead us in every aspect of our lives. It’s time to unashamedly declare our dependence on the Great Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer. Let’s order our lives after the example of Christ, whether society approves or not.

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” —Mark 6:31 NIV

Jesus also sets an example for rest and communing with the Father. I’m sure I read Mark 6:31 at least half a dozen times before it jumped off the page for me a couple years ago. Does that ever happen to you? Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the word of God is alive and active. One day a few years ago, during the height of the pandemic, Mark 6:31 came alive for me. Did I just read that right? Jesus and the disciples were really busy doing ministry, and Jesus says come get some rest, inviting them to take a break while there was still ministry to be done? Really? I read it again. I don’t know how I had missed that Jesus prioritized rest and ministering from a place of rest in the Lord. Jesus didn’t say ‘run yourselves ragged and don’t stop to take care of yourself or spend time with God.’ No, we read multiple passages where Jesus withdrew to a quiet place to pray. If the Son of God took time to pray and commune with God, why do we feel like we can’t or don’t need to? This is another area of our lives that we need to focus on Jesus’ example. Society, and sometimes even the Church, gives the impression that we just need to keep pushing and hustling to “make it” or achieve greatness, even in ministry. Jesus, however, invites us to follow a different model, and God is always ready and waiting to spend time with us.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” —Matthew 4:1-4 NIV

Finally, Jesus teaches us about knowing and operating out of the truth. During Lent, we reflect on Jesus’ time in the wilderness. We should note that Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit, and Jesus was willing to follow. We often feel (or we're told by others) that we are in the wilderness because we've done something wrong. This passage shows us that a wilderness season can be an opportunity for preparation and growth and a chance to recognize God as our keeper and sustainer. Sometimes the Spirit leads us to places that stretch us for our own good. The enemy will use anything to draw us away from the Father, including quoting scripture. It is important to know and hold onto the truth at all times, especially if we find ourselves in a wilderness season. Jesus dismisses Satan's taunts and rebukes him by reciting the actual truth of God’s Word.

In our own lives, the enemy might seem a little more distant with less specific/obvious jabs than this passage from Matthew (4:1-11 for the whole interaction). We may hear whispers in our mind like 'you're not loved' or 'you're alone, nobody cares,' etc. Maybe we know those are lies, but they still seep into our hearts and minds, leaving us to question how God really feels about us when we're having a rough day. But take heart! And take a lesson from Jesus' wilderness journey! God has already armed us with strength (Psalm 18:32) and given us his truth to combat Satan's lies. See below for a few verses to hold in your heart, so that you can stop the enemy in his tracks with your own "it is written" phrases.

For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. —1 Peter 2:21 NLT

Following Jesus’ example for both personal holiness and social holiness will not always be easy, but we can be assured that the Jesus Way is the best way. We know where the Lenten journey is leading, so we know that Jesus gave his life for us so we would never have to be apart from the Father again. We know that our eternity is secure through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. This Lent, I encourage you to dive a little deeper into what that means for us in the day to day as well. We can fully depend on God as Jesus did. We can rest and spend time with God as Jesus did. And we can certainly guard our heart, mind, and soul against the enemy with the truth of scripture as Jesus did.

Let us pray,

Oh Great and Gracious God, thank you for loving us enough to send Jesus to save us, so that we wouldn’t have to be apart from you. Thank you for all the ways Jesus showed us how to live while he was on earth. Thank you for sending your Holy Spirit to live in us to guide us and comfort us. Thank you for wanting to have a real relationship with us. Help us to become more like Jesus every day. Help us to embrace our need for you. Help us lay down the pressure or allure of self-sufficiency and run into your open arms. Thank you for the invitation, Lord. We love you.

Amen.