Coffee With The Lord

It is interesting (even amusing) to simply listen to conversations and watch people in the “break room” on the job. Conversations abound about who is trying to do what on the job and why… Innuendo about their motives… Attempts to get the “inside scoop” from someone so they won’t have an advantage over you for the job later one… Strategies discussed about how to take a fellow worker who seems to be getting ahead a bit “down a few pegs”… A little drama for “image making” – either playing the part of “tough guy or gal” or “sweet as pie” – whichever the situation calls for… Psychoanalysis of the “management” and their motives or thinking… Got to get ahead – the inside track – the advantage over others… AFTER ALL, “IT’S A DOG-EAT-DOG WORLD OUT THERE!!”

Jesus had apparently been at a few drinking fountains – had listened in on a few break room conversations. And His disciples had personally participated in a few. In fact, the Bible describes a scene when the other disciples overheard a conversation with Jesus in which they felt James and John were trying to get “the inside track” with Jesus in his coming kingdom… The Bible says, “When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John!”

Jesus quickly called a “team meeting!” He had to nip this in the bud – He realized He had to deal with this attitude quickly and decisively. Here’s what he said to his disciples… “You know that those who are regarded as rules of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them… NOT SO WITH YOU! Instead whoever want to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all! For even the son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10.41-45 NIV)

Authentic Christian living – living as a devoted, obedient, follower of Jesus – has an entirely different set of values than the culture at large! The phrase Jesus used in this passage that is translated “NOT SO WITH YOU” is a very powerful one in the Greek language… In fact one could translate it “It should not be that way at all among you!” It’s called “SERVANT LEADERSHIP” and our Savior and Lord, Jesus – the Christ perfectly modeled it. With God’s help I want to avoid participating in the water fountain and break room conversations that are nothing more than attempts to get ahead in a “dog-eat-dog” world.

Listen, I want to be like the One who “did not come to be served, but to serve, and give His life for others!” Help me Lord! I want to be more like Jesus!!

I remember as a small child learning to float in the lake near our home.  My swimming instructor urged me to “just lay back in the water!”  She said, “LeRoy, don’t be afraid, it will hold you, you’re not going to drown, you won’t sink!  Just relax and do it!”

As a small child, I was so afraid!  This was a totally new thing!  I had never done anything like this before!  But she had – she said she had tried it and it works!

I KNOW THIS IS A SIMPLE ILLUSTRATION, BUT IT HELPS ME UNDERSTAND MY FEAR OF DEATH.  I’VE JUST NEVER DONE IT BEFORE!  I need someone who has heard from God – someone who has experienced it – to reassure me about what happens after I close my eyes in death.  Dying will be a totally new experience for all of us!  The apostle Paul had heard from the Lord!!  Like my swimming instructor he encourages us…

^“For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands… For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. (2 Corinthians 5:1-9 NLT)

 So, I guess I’m a little like I was as a child learning to float on my back in the lake when it comes to death… I’VE NEVER FACED ANYTHING LIKE THAT BEFORE!  I’ve got to trust the reliable testimony and assurance that God’s word provides… And I will!!  When the day comes that I close my eyes in death, I believe I will have a new body and experience all that “eternal life” means.  Jesus, my Lord and Savior has been this way before!! 

WHAT A POWERFUL THING A TESTIMONY IS!  It encourages, challenges and builds the faith of fellow Christians!

I remember my Sunday school teacher as a teenager, Marg McCready, standing in response to the invitation “does anyone have a testimony” in our little church in Western Montana.  She’d begin fairly composed as she began to recount the goodness of the Lord in her life, but before she was finished telling the story of God’s grace in her life or a recent event in which God had helped her, she was in tears (and nearly everyone else was in tears as well)!  Some testimonies are memorable!  Hers was – and PERHAPS YOUR STORY OF GOD’S GRACE IN YOUR LIFE WILL BE JUST WHAT SOMEONE NEEDS TO HEAR.  YOU (AND I) NEED TO SHARE THOSE STORIES WITH OTHERS!

Thought of Marg this morning as I read Psalm 66.16-20…

“Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me.  I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer.  Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!”