Line in the Sand
I wait quietly before God,
….for my victory comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
….my fortress where I will never be shaken. Psalm 62:1-2 NLT
John 6:41-59 (<<click here to read the passage)
About six years ago, Karen and I traveled to Texas to spend some travel time with Massey. One of the many places we visited was The Alamo in San Antonio.
Here is Wikipedia’s short synopsis of what legend says brought it into infamy.
In the waning days of the Battle of the Alamo (somewhere during March 3–5, 1836), with Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna having the Alamo completely surrounded, Santa Anna sent a messenger to Colonel William Travis, commander of the Alamo defense forces, demanding surrender, or else everyone in the compound would be killed. According to legend, Travis called the Alamo defenders together, explained that defeat was almost certain, and read the letter of surrender; Travis then (having chosen to die instead of surrender) reportedly pulled his battle sword, used it to draw a line in the ground of the Alamo, and asked for volunteers to cross over the line and join him, understanding their decision would be irreversible. Legend states that all but one of the defenders (including Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett) joined Travis on his side of the line.
The meaning of the idiom “line in the sand” is that of a point beyond which, once the decision to go beyond it is made, the decision and its resulting consequences are permanently decided and irreversible.
Many see this discourse of Jesus from the synagogue in Capernaum (v59) to be a “line in the sand” moment. Jesus in essence drew His line in the sand asking for volunteers to cross over the line and join Him. Verse 66 gives the response He received, “At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him.” NLT
We have to understand that Jesus was saying some things that were very hard for the average Israelite to just accept. Words of eating His flesh and drinking His blood went against what they had been taught. It was repugnant to them. Just reading it myself, if I took it literally, it is difficult to comprehend. Honestly, that was one of the early labels that followers of Jesus bore, that they were cannibals.
But we must also understand that eating His flesh and drinking His blood means accepting Christ into our lives and becoming united with him. We are united with Christ in two ways: (1) by believing in his death (the sacrifice of his flesh) and resurrection and (2) by devoting ourselves to living as he requires, depending on his teaching for guidance and trusting in the Holy Spirit for power. *
The literal was tough. But in reality, what Jesus is truly saying is just as tough. Yielding ourselves to belief and devotion – basically stepping out of the position of control in our lives and allowing Him to take that responsibility – is not a decision to be lightly made. But…it is one that once made, once that line is crossed, is more rewarding and fulfilling than any decision we could ever make! Believe you me…it is worth it!
*Life Application Bible New Living Translation
June 6th, 2021, Sun, 7:58 pm
Summer Break Is Here!
Just so everyone is aware. I am now on summer break and while More than Useless will continue to post at 5:00 AM, it will only be doing so on the actual website. If you would like to get More than Useless delivered directly to your email, click on any post, and in the top right-hand corner is a Like to Subscribe box. Just fill in the blank, hit submit, and you’ll be set. Otherwise, it will post on Facebook and Pinterest a little later in the morning. Have a great summer!
Bread Collector
To You, O [God] my strength, I will sing praises;
For God is my stronghold [my refuge, my protector, my high tower], the God who shows me [steadfast] lovingkindness. Psalm 59:17 AMP
John 6:28-40 (<<click here to read the passage)
What if you decided that you were going to start collecting bread? You found a way to keep it perfectly whole and as fresh as the day it was baked. You became so obsessed with it all that it came to the point where you were spending all of your resources on bread…but the thing is, you never ate any of it! In your mind, your collection was so wonderful that you couldn’t possibly bring yourself to delve into your collection.
It’s silly to even think about…but isn’t that the way we live spiritually?
Jesus emphatically proclaimed, “I AM the Bread of Life.” v35 He continues, “Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
We talk about Jesus. We go to church. We try to be mindful of how we think and act. In a way we collect “spirituality”, but we can never quite bring ourselves to partake of it.
At my one church, we observed communion by intinction. The congregant would pinch off a piece of bread and dip it in the cup and then partake of it. I found it humorous that on occasion an individual would get a far greater chunk of bread than they had anticipated, and you could tell they were embarrassed. They felt that they had taken too much!
I’ve thought about preaching a sermon on “you can’t take too much of Jesus”. For us to be spiritually satisfied and healthy, we must partake of the Bread of Life! We need to grasp handfuls! We have to spend time with Him – praying without ceasing as it says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. That doesn’t mean we pray the Lord’s Prayer over and over and over again. It means we spend time with Him. A decision needs to be made – any decision – and we stop and ask for His guidance. A friend’s name, out of the blue, comes to mind – and we stop and say a prayer for them. We have no idea why they came to mind, but we allow the Holy Spirit to work through us to spiritually lift them up. Throughout our day we bring everything before God, we ask for His blessing on all that we say and do.
Jesus, the Bread of Life, wants us to partake of his blessings and guidance. He gives us what we need to maintain our spiritual health and wholeness. We must faithfully go to Him to satisfy our hunger. Believing in Him will quench our thirst! Oh, Lord Jesus, may it be so!
June 3rd, 2021, Thurs, 6:48 pm
The Right Focus
A very full day Father, and I am grateful that You were part of it from start to finish. Early this morning I thought to “expect the unexpected” and though it didn’t cross my mind again – it’s a start. I felt Your hand upon my shoulder numerous times throughout the day. Thank You, Father.
John 6:28-32a (<<click here to read the passage)
One of the most difficult aspects of following Jesus for many believers is struggling to do all the things that we think we should be doing. For many, it includes a fairly hefty list of things we are not supposed to be doing as well.
Growing up the list of “do nots” was more prominent in my mind than the list of “dos”. (I wrote about my experience with do not go to movies a couple of years back – clink on STAR WARS – My Downfall?) Besides movies, and the Ten Commandments, we weren’t allowed to dance, and early on the list forbade billiards (pool), circuses, wearing jewelry, no pants, or makeup or short hair for women, no long hair for men, boys and girls couldn’t swim together, just to name a few of the many “do nots!
I truly believe that those who came up with these lists were honorable in their intentions. They were trying to place a hedge of protection around followers of Christ. If all those things were shunned, you wouldn’t be exposed to the temptations they could bring. But like many who placed great emphasis on those types of legalism, it led to believers being very judgmental of others who didn’t closely follow their list of “do nots” – believers and non-believers alike.
My Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation as this to say,
Many sincere seekers for God are puzzled about what he wants them to do. The religions of the world are people’s attempts to answer this question. But Jesus’ reply is brief and simple: We must believe on him whom God has sent. Satisfying God does not come from the work we do, but from whom we believe. The first step involves accepting that Jesus is who he claims to be. All spiritual development is built on this affirmation. Declare to Jesus, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16) and embark on a life of belief that is satisfying to your Creator.
We surely must shun evil, as it is always lurking about attempting to lure us in with all kinds of enticing appeals. But in the end, the most important aspect of our relationship with Jesus is not about what we do or don’t do…it is about whom we believe.
Lord Jesus, may we truly come to believe that You are the God in the flesh, the Chosen One of the Father. By our sin, we disconnected ourselves from You, but You came here to enable us, by sacrificing Yourself on the cross, to be reconnected to You. May our focus be not on the doing but on the believing and may we let Your working in us take care of the rest! Amen.
June 2nd, 2021, Wed, 9:41 pm
A Shift of Perspective
A day of getting things done…thank You, Father, for the ability – physically and mentally – to accomplish the tasks at hand. I am thoroughly blessed!
John 6:22-27 (<<click here to read the passage)
Some two thousand years later, Jesus’ words still confront us. A goodly portion of adult life – even my time in the ministry – has been about providing for my physical needs and desires. And surely there is nothing wrong with being gainfully employed to make sure there is a roof over our heads, food on the table, and clothes on our backs. But what do I do with Jesus’ statement in verse 27,
“…don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food.
It’s important to take things in perspective, Jesus was making a very pointed statement to those whose main goal was to fill their stomachs. In truth, many who followed Him after His miraculous feeding of the 5000 were hoping for another dinner and a show! And Jesus, by no stretch of the imagination, had not come to earth to simply meet our physical needs of nourishment and entertainment. He had come for so much more. And thus, the challenge…
“…don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.” v27 NLT
And that is where our perspective needs to shift.
Throughout my lifetime how many hours have I spent in a concerted effort to meet the needs of my life here on earth? That would be a pretty big number that I could not even begin to compute but the bigger question is, how would that number line up with the number of hours I have spent in a concerted effort seeking the eternal life that [Jesus] the Son of Man can give you.
I don’t believe my tally in column B would be negligible but, in all honesty, at least in my early years, I would say it would fall far short of column B. I have been a follower of Jesus from my childhood and, yes, I have worked for food that endures [and leads] to eternal life, as the Amplified Bible translates this same passage.
I think one of the things with which we will be confronted at the Last Judgement will be all of the things that we didn’t accomplish that we could have. How much time, the precious commodity that it is, have we wasted? How many hours have we spent on inconsequential things?
I am taking this not as something to tear me down…to knock me down a notch or two…but as an encouraging challenge! The past is the past, and I can do nothing to change it…but I can sure set my heart and mind on a different course as I move forward. I also realize that even as each new day begins, I will not be a master of working for food that endures to eternal life, but I have to begin! And Lord willing, that’s exactly what I will do! Amen!!!
June 1st, 2021, Tues, 7:29 pm