Reflections on Mark 3.1-6

What does God want of me, really? Sounds like it ought to be a simple question to answer. God wants me to be _____ and to do _____. If it were only as simple as filling in the blanks. It just isn’t. The issue isn’t that I don’t have options for filling in the blanks in a simple and clear way. The trouble is that I have too many options, and they all seem to say something different.

If I were to ask my friends, I know they would have an opinion. Since they know me, they could probably tell me a thing or two that God wants of me. I could ask my wife or my kids. The later always seem to have a few ideas about what I should or shouldn’t be doing, particularly when it comes to my behavior in public when they are present. I could ask my co-workers or even my neighbors. I am sure they would have a thing or two to say. I could even ask the casual by-stander and I might discover that even they have a thought about what God might want for my life. The trouble isn’t that I am wanting for options. I have too many and am not quite sure which ones are right.

I do, however, have a guide in navigating the various choices that lie before me. I have religion. Religion is great insofar as it is pretty clear about what is “in” and what isn’t. If there is one thing that religion is known for, particularly Christianity, it is that it is far from ambiguous. It doesn’t take long before even the lightest shade of grey is quickly thrown into stark black and white. If I could go anyplace to discover what God wants of me, it should be to religion. Yet when I do, I get a bit confused.

When I turn to religion I get the message that what God wants for me is that I vote Republican. No wait. I meant Democrat. No, Republican. Wait. I think God is running on the Independent ticket this year. What God wants is that I make lots of money, or was it give away all my money? Oh yeah. God wants me to have lots of faith so that he can give me lots of money which I am then supposed to give away. I think. What God wants is that I sing the latest praise song at a volume of at least ninety five decibels with my arms high in the air, or was it a hymn on a pipe organ that is at least one hundred years old? Maybe it was that God wants me to sing hymns at ninety five decibels with my arms in the air. What God wants is that I take care of the earth by driving a hybrid car and recycle, or was it he wants me to use this earth and its resources to their fullest because he has given us the earth? No wait. I think he wants me to recycle my hybrid car. What God wants is. . .frankly I don’t know anymore. I can’t get a straight answer. Honestly, what I do get seems to be more about convictions, agendas, and opinions than what God might want. So is it simply impossible to know what God wants? Do we just throw in the towel and make it up as we go along? I don’t think so.

On a Saturday a couple thousand years ago, Jesus raised the question. What does God want, really? On that day everyone could have given at least a half-dozen or so opinions, none of which would have been in agreement. Complicating the whole mess was religion, at least the religion of the day’s claim that it had the market on what God wanted. Rather than answering the question the crowd was silent. Why? Fear? Anger? Resentment? Or could it be that they simply didn’t know? I happen to think the answer is closer to the latter. The truth is we don’t know, at least not in ourselves. Not even religion can give us a clear picture of what God wants. However, this doesn’t mean that we can’t know, for on that Saturday so many years ago Jesus made a pretty amazing claim through what he did. He claimed that we could know what God wanted, what God really wanted simply by watching him. If we would watch what he did, observe what he valued, pay attention to how he lived then we could know, really know what God wanted.

So what does God want, really? You’ll hear a lot of competing voices. You might even hear mine in the mix at times. If you really want to know, watch Jesus.

A fellow traveler,

Blake Shipp

Spiritual Formation Pastor

What is my next step?

I encourage you to consider the following as a way of handing off faith to your family. . .

Watch Jesus: The answer to what God wants, the life he truly desires for us is found in the person of Jesus. It is in watching how he lived and how he related to the Father that we discover what true life is. One way we can watch Jesus is by familiarizing ourselves with the Gospels, the first four books of our New Testament. Over the next few weeks, consider having a time in which your family reads the Gospels together. If you have older children, you might do this by reading a chapter a day from one of the gospels. You can share in this reading time together. If you have smaller children, you might consider using a Bible appropriate for their age such as The Gospel Story Bible by Marty Machowski. http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Story-Bible-Discovering-Testaments/dp/1936768127/ref=pd_sim_b_1 After you read, discuss what you learn by watching Jesus live. What is important to him? How does he live? What might this teach us about how to live today?

I encourage you to consider the following as a way of nurturing your own faith. . .

Allow Jesus to teach you to live: In Jesus we find life, life as it was meant to be lived. This week, consider responding asking Jesus to teach you to live as he lived by offering this simple prayer. “Jesus my king, lead me.” Attempt to speak this prayer as you breathe throughout the day. As you inhale, speak the word “Jesus my king.” As you exhale, offer the words, “lead me.” Do this as you move about your activities and relationships so that this prayer becomes woven into the fabric of your life. If you become distracted, begin again when you recognize your distraction. Do not beat yourself up or fret that you were distracted but be gracious to yourself. Rather, use your distraction as an illustration of your great need for Jesus as your king, as the one who can teach you how to live.