Day 4 – Saturday after Ash Wednesday

”He went about doing good ….for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:38)

  To preface my question today, I ask that you not get all quibbly about dates, and accuracies of time frames, and seasons, and all that….just hang a bit loose with me for a bit.  

  Jesus knew he was going to die. In about 35 days. Suppose you knew that you were gonna die in 35 days. Basically, a month. Four weeks. Would you even want to know? Stop and think for a minute about what you would do these next days – would you do anything differently than normal? Would you quit your job and sit at home in a bleary-eyed funk? Would you spend quality time with family and friends? Would you travel and spend every cent you have?  How would you handle these next [very] few weeks?  

  We have a pretty clear picture from the Scriptures of what Jesus’ schedule was during that final week, but not so much for that last month. I think it was a lot like the scripture above. Jesus simply continued to go about doing good. No fanfare. No marching bands. He simply did what He was here to do. Love. Heal. Teach. Encourage. Disciple. We’ll get to that last week when it’s time, but for now, think about those last weeks leading up to the cross. 

  Hmmm. What would I do? I’d like to think that I would go out with my chin up, head high, singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. I’d like to think I would spend my time witnessing to those I come in contact with each day with whom I have failed to share my faith. I’d like to think I’d at least stand up more for my faith. Yet, in all honesty, I feel like I would be huddled behind the sofa in a fetal position bemoaning my state in life. Basically, I would be channeling Job’s wife to just “curse God and die.”   

  I became involved in a series of events this week that turned nasty in a heartbeat. Several good people who proudly and publicly profess Christianity became unrecognizable to me as pride, ego, secret agendas and disrespect began to invade the conversations. My stomach is still in knots and my mind and heart are hurting over the scene, yet, there is not a thing I can do about it. It is not my business, and I have no right to speak my mind, but I did lose some respect for them. People who represent the Church. None of us are guaranteed the next 35 days of life…or the next 35 minutes. If I go to meet my God tonight, I would not want my last thoughts and actions to be mean, nasty and ugly. I would not want people to remember me that way. My mind and heart keep going back to that basic word of LOVE. Are my actions and words from LOVE, or are they from my ego and prideful self? Do I harm my witness by things I say or do? Do I put the feelings of others ahead of mine? Ever since I was 12 years old and told the preacher’s daughter to go to hell, I have had to battle my anger, my attitudes and my words. And yes, I did apologize. But, I hope that many years later that she remembers better things about me than that one moment. That time, and others since then, I have not always walked in LOVE.  

This is the type of transparency I am going to have to have with myself and with you if this journey is to mean anything to me. If I am to grow. Today I pray for the strength of Jesus in my life to go about doing good in His name. And, I shall pray for you. 

 And for today my friends, this has been the gospel according to Jimmy.