Equipped and Fully Engaged

The gospel saves, equips and engages us in a universe-altering mission of mercy. The benefits of someone in a position of influence showing and telling God's truth in Christ are amazing and life-changing. God's Word applied by God's Spirit in and through the lives of God's people produces dramatic results. Who knows what may transpire today by God's sovereign grace and His children's cooperation?

God will use His chosen instruments for His glory. He will send them and situate them for maximm effectiveness. He will change and rearrange things as they unfold. He will be honored. He sends and His servants serve Him, a counter-culture for the common good. And they go to places like Bali, Stockholm, Vladimir, Mulia, Cudahy and Orange, in the name of the Lord Jesus. With the high praises of God in their mouths and a two-edged sword in their hands they go, singing and savoring the goodness of God above all rivals to His throne, the greatness of God above all earthly powers, and the preeminence of Christ above all lesser pursuits.

God uses the small and the great. He puts up kings and tears down thrones. God's hand of providence must be our guide and stay. The firm foundation of our inheritance. The bedrock of our supplication and interaction. "Sovereign Lord Jesus, my Savior, You alone are impeccable and immeasurable. May You be praised above all."

My Gospel Manifesto

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." Romans 1:16-17.

I have been saved by Jesus Christ and entrusted with the gospel, responsible to care for others, sharing what I have been given, aware that it did not originate with me, grateful to have the opportunity, considering no cost too great, for God's glory and other's good.

Therefore I will live humbly, speak boldly, and do mercy, going about my daily tasks with a holy calling, knowing God is Sovereign and I am His instrument for good in the world. I will pray in faith, walk in love and introduce others to the glorious freedom of the children of God in Christ.

So be it. And may it be so.

Friend or Foe?

Mindful of me are You O God
Such mercy beyond measure
The cross my friend and sin my foe
I seek You as my treasure

The Beginning, the End, Suspense and the Sword of the Spirit

I don't like suspense. I need to know. Tell me how it turns out, then I can watch the movie, read the book, follow the game. I want to know the conclusion, the bottom line, the final score. I skip to the end of the book to see how it turns out. Why watch a prerecorded sporting event? It's the way I am 'wired' (Yes, you can also spell 'weird' with the same letters).

Most people are confused and polarized regarding spiritual things. Debates rage on Facebook, Twitter, texting, over the phone and face to face. Stones are thrown, literally and figuratively, over God, the origin of the universe, and heaven and hell. Why are origins and destinations such hot topics? If you can convince people of your version, those two bookends define everything else. They hold things in place.

God is not keeping us in suspense. He has revealed the plan and it is unfolding as He has decreed. This is what we see in Matthew 13:47-50. It’s about the fate and final destination of those who reject Jesus Christ. It speaks of the reality of hell, and the destiny of those who refuse to believe and be saved.

Heaven and Hell are hotly debated. Rob Bell’s recent book “Love Wins” suggested that the church has had it wrong for 2000+ years. Two upcoming books attempt to answer Bell’s errors. Mark Galli’s “God Wins: Heaven, Hell and why the Good News is better than Love Wins” and Francis Chan’s “Erasing Hell: What God said about Eternity and the Things We’ve Made Up” will hopefully be scripturally-sound answers to Bell's slippery "posing questions without declaring Biblical truth" approach.

We live in a culture that portrays believing the Bible as outdated craziness, but nonetheless objective truth must be given greater credence than subjective opinion. Nothing but the Bible, the Word of God will suffice. Do we believe God’s Word or not? The Bible will weather the test of time. It will last (Is. 40:8). The Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, slices and dices everything. It defines reality. It all points to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.

Fulfill Your Ministry

Fulfill your ministry not by focusing a microscope on your earthly activities but by training a faith-driven magnifying glass on Jesus. Peripheral details will fall into place because you got the One Big Detail right.

Saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, revealed in God's Word alone, for God's glory alone.

Before and After the Cross

You need a Savior. Always.

Before the cross God sent His prophets to tell people that Jesus was coming. The message was fact whether they believed it or not. These prophets said they had better get ready. They needed to respond in faith, which is a gift from God. These prophets didn't use the name Jesus, but names like Emmanuel, the Lord's Anointed, and other identifiers of God providing a way of salvation by grace through faith. Dripping with mercy and bounded by love, this salvation to be given would radically change one's relationship to and standing with God. It will make the dead live, the blind see, the deaf hear and the lame walk. A humanly impossible transaction would take place. God would do what man could not. Some responded in faith and others stood condemned by their unbelief.

After the Cross God sends His Church to proclaim a message of a coming Savior who will return to judge the world in righteousness. All who will believe will be accepted into the fellowship of the King. Their destiny drastically changed from hell-bent sinners to heaven-bound holy ones, whom God frees to love and serve Him as His representatives to a lost and dying world.

Before a person comes to faith in Christ they need the only Savior. Afterwards they need the only Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. For in Him we live and move and have our being. He is the Author and Perfector of our faith. He is the Leader and Sustainer of our faith. He is the Beginning and the End of our faith. He starts us on the road to heaven, and takes us there and is our sole sufficiency forever. Before the Cross the gospel was preached, and after the Cross the gospel is preached. It is an eternal gospel of the grace of God in Christ.You always need a Savior and that Savior is always the Lord Jesus Christ.The window of opportunity is only open while you live, but its effects are lasting. To say it is eternal means it has eternal ramifications, eternal sufficiency, eternal worth, eternal power as it works forever in those who are saved. Getting them saved, keeping them saved, bringing them into the glorious freedom and joy of the kingdom of God.

Misguided people continually look for functional saviors apart from Christ that actually bring death. Only Jesus gives life. He will not be mixed with anything to become more effective. He stands alone as all-sufficient Savior. The message is true whether you believe it or not. Reality has been revealed to the believing. The Cross is always our glory and our hope. Jesus is our only hope, our Savior, Lord and Friend forever. May God alone be praised.

Saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, revealed in God's Word alone, for God's glory alone.

By Grace We Are Saved

Man's original identity was firmly rooted in being made by God in His image, enabled to think, feel, reason and decide; enabled by God to be and do what He desires. Man's original purpose was to do something in response, to glorify God His Maker and Sustainer. As he did what he was made for he would reflect the glory of God while working for the good of others. But that image and purpose was marred in the Fall. Man tried to go independent and in the process lost what God had given him. Rejecting God and deceived by the enemy, mankind's bent turned from seeking God to self, replacing God with the many idols the human heart now had a propensity to cling to. Seeking God became a counterintuitive impossible pursuit rather than a natural one. Man's lifelong passion due to sinful rebellion against God became obsession with self. No one seeks God, all have gone to their own ways. But God did not leave man without hope, He had promised a savior back in the garden (Gen. 3:15) and from then on, as the creation groaned under the burden of sin, people waited for this savior, who would deliver them from bondage to decay to the glorious liberty of the children of God. Along the way God sent many to call people to turn from sin to God, to leave their selfish ways and live by faith, but most persisted in unbelief. And when He arrived in God's perfect time they rejected Him too. Man's love affair with sin continued. Unable to pull himself out of the mire man only sunk lower. Only by grace, God's undeserved kindness, could men go free. Jesus took the wrath our sins deserved. When God awakens us to that reality, making the dead live, we see. Until then we are blind, deaf and dumb. Dead. Unable due to sin to make a move towards God. But God, being rich in mercy, with great love, makes us alive together with Christ. By grace we are saved.

Christlike Manhood

God is good. His grace is amazing. Jesus is Lord. And Sunday is Father's Day. My heart goes to men saved by grace through faith in Christ who seek to imitate Christ.

I am well aware that the trend is to comfort the ladies on Mother's Day and hammer the men on Father's day. I wanted to refrain from that line of reasoning this year but God's Word got a hold of my heart coupled with the manhood wasteland so evident today. All I can say men is man up. Stand up and take it like a man. We were made for challenge, hardship, courage and battle. And we were called to follow the crucified, risen and coming One.

There is role confusion on the part of many men, due in part to concepts of manhood that have gained prominence in recent years. It is like there are three portraits set up before us; one from the world (foolishness), one from fellow believers (well-meaning but often misguided), and one from God in His Word (100% accurate). By His Spirit and through His Word God enables us to cut through the brush, so to speak, to get a clear vision of what Christlike manhood is, and how to foster it in daily life.

The world says..."be weak, you are weak, you're a fool, be womanly if you want, make up your own rules of what it means to be a man. You can be metro sexual, passive, angry, confused, or a bumbling fool. Whatever you want." There is just as much confusion amongst believers regarding what manhood should look like. With fellow believers it is a toss up as to what you will get. Traditionalists have a certain kind of man in view...strong, stoic, non-emotional, a man's man ala John Wayne, or Russell Crowe's Gladiator. Non-traditionalists have come up with their own versions of manhood, from the promise keeper, to the rugged individualist to the courageous, humble, quiet man; all well-meaning but often lacking the substance of the Crucified. Many will say "keep your promises, do your duty, don't be weak. Be rugged, be strong, be a warrior, you were made for adventure". While at the same time coddling the cult of extended adolescence and saying "don't be too hard on yourself".

There has been a recent resurgence of Biblically based manhood coming from the church at large. It is a good thing. The world says look to yourself, the church says man up, God says look to Jesus, the Author and Perfector of faith. Look to Jesus, the real Man.

Jesus, Real Man

Widespread confusion abounds today regarding what it means to be a man. There are a lot of boys walking around in men's bodies, unsure of themselves or what it means to be masculine. The world says men are losers. The world says "men, you can be a woman if you want". Role confusion runs rampant. The church fares little better with most of her men, putting unrealistic expectations on them. Keep your promises. Reach for great adventure. But God has something to say regarding manhood, and Jesus is His definitive speech.

No one would deny that in Jesus we have the perfect model man, the epitome of manhood. But is there a definitive model put forth in Scripture? One that we can point to and say, now there is a man. One that transcends cultures and generations, one that fits every man? Yes there is. It is found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who said "I am gentle and humble in heart", I have come to "seek and save the lost", the One who "came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many".

Beauty and Joy all Around

The oceans are His. As are the cattle on a thousand hills. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. O for that day. Until then, life under the sun. People working, playing, interacting, investing, reacting. In everything give thanks the good Book says. Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, joyously giving thanks through Him to the Father. Every good and perfect gift is from God above. We are made in His image, to reflect His glory. Joy follows.

I was on a BIG boat today on an immensely bigger ocean, no land in sight in any direction, when the thought hit me like a big object lesson, how immense the sea is. And immediately after, like a rolling wave, the next thought, how Awesome and Amazing God, the Maker of the sea, is. With beauty all around, and an awareness of the Maker of that beauty, all I can say is God is great, good and holy. He blesses us with life, and the capacity to engage and enjoy His gifts. What a God. What amazing joy He gives. In all things. All because of Jesus.

The Glory Question

Glory is weighty. Glory is significant. Glory is strong. When referring to God it is life altering, transforming, earth shattering. Quite literally. "He raised His voice, the earth melted" (Ps. 46:6). Glory is the story of the Bible from first to last. God's glory in Christ redeeming a people for His own possession. Jesus is the glory of God in full bloom. We beheld His glory. John 1:14 says "And the Word became flesh, and  dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."

What does glory mean when referring to God? What is God's glory? Simply put, it is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. By God's grace I will boast in nothing else (1 Cor. 1:31). He is the crucified Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:8). "He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and  upholds all things by the word of His power" (Heb. 1:3). Jesus Christ is where glory is at. Crucified, risen and coming again, He is the glory of God. Mankind boasts in many things, I will boast in Christ my King. Forever. To God alone be glory.

Sweet Reunion

Our family joined the Hughes family and a big group of friends at the airport tonight to welcome Sara home from almost a year serving the Lord in Italy. it was a sweet reunion. One we have been waiting eagerly for. A touching sight seeing mother and daughter embrace, then father and daughter, and brother and sister, followed by many friendly greetings and embraces. Safe and sound. Home at long last. One reunion among many we experience here on earth.

We waited eagerly for the slightly delayed flight to land, then a bit more as one by one people disembarked. No Sara. Finally she appeared and we rejoiced. Makes me think of another reunion to come. One that every true believer longs for. That coming day when, at long last and perfectly timed, the Lord Jesus Christ will appear.1 John 3:2-3 says that when He appears we shall be like Him and we shall see Him as He is. Only God knows the day and hour. It fast approaches. We await our sweet reunion. Come Lord Jesus.

Amusing ourselves to Death: Brave New World or 1984?

Neil Postman was right, in part. We are amusing ourselves to death. We are living in Huxley's Brave New World more than Orwell's 1984. In the former, people medicate themselves into bliss, voluntarily setting aside what they were made and meant to do for trivial pursuits; in the latter, totalitarian regimes take things away from the helpless masses. This alternative 'world' of our own making we now live in is neither brave nor new. Just a recycled version of what the God of the Bible highlighted centuries ago in the language of Psalm 49, "man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish" and Psalm 14:1 "the fool says in his heart 'there is no God'". "Do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked, a man reaps what he sows" (Gal. 6:7) and "do not be misled, bad company corrupts good morals" (1 Cor. 15:33). We are either firmly planted in the fields of truth or not. God sees through lip service. Functional atheists and agnostics abound, even in Christian circles. We toss out God-talk like it was an offering to appease the gods for a time, then we go back to our 'diversions'. We'd rather play than engage the enemy. The heart is laid bare.

What am I getting at? The propensity of professing Christians to play the game but not buy in to the game plan. We do it so well. Say all the right things at all the right times and the rest of the time just do whatever you jolly well please. Like the gifted player who hangs out on the sidelines while the rest of the team practices. And he wonders why he isn't starting and why his skills are diminished. We all put the time in somewhere. Many insulate themselves
from reality by multiple diversions, thinking somehow that in losing themselves in the momentary they might escape the inevitable reality. Like little children running around a playground we have bought into the extended, perpetual adolescence that says we don't need to think about or grapple with weightier subjects. Just pretend they don't exist.

This is no playground, its a battleground. Souls are at stake. You'll be tempted to say "don't be so hard on yourself, or me". With all due respect, you don't have to read this. You can back to your diversionary tactics or get in the game. The choice really is yours. I for one want to focus on the gospel with the likeminded. Not being ashamed (Rom. 1:16) means not being embarrassed of, disgraced by, hiding from the realities of, the gospel. Too often where the rubber meets the road in life we are all three. Bonhoeffer said that when God calls a man he bids him come and die. Jesus said "deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me." Deny yourself, repudiate self, be sick of your Christ-contrary ways, die to selfish ambition, and follow the path of the crucified. We are either running from or to the gospel and all it's glory.

The heart is laid bare. I am left lying in the dust at the foot of the cross. Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or just maybe God is sensitizing my soul, once again, to the glorious realities of the gospel of the grace of God in Christ. OGK (Only God Knows) and He, in His Sovereign grace, restores what locusts have eaten. He redeems, enabling us to redeem the time. May the Lord Jesus Christ be praised. A mentor of mine, Wayne Anderson, taught me "As I'm saved by grace, so I live by grace and lead by grace and serve by grace". As yesterday's post alluded to, if I love Jesus above all I won't be bending or twisting grace into something it's not.

Love God and Do as You Please

We really know how to twist a phrase don't we? We are expert at finding a way to turn something meant for the glory of God into an opportunity for the flesh. Love God...love Jesus over everything, supremely, in first place in everything. And do as you please...you will want to please Him. Your desires will be in line with His (Ps. 37:4). We spin it like this...like God, give Him a quick nod, and then do whatever, whenever, with whomever, you please.

We all walk this tightrope between legalism and license. Like tiptoeing on the steep ridge of a roof with sharp slopes on either side, the delicate balance of grace-based living can only be balanced by God Himself. It's Proverbs 3:5-6 once again, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Truly love God, and you will do what pleases Him without fear, stress or regret.

The Beauty of Roles, Goals and Desires Meshing

Roles, goals and desires. We all have them.

We all have roles we fulfill in life. What you get, and need, and hopefully want, to do. In mine, primary are being a Christian (I love Jesus! I am saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as revealed in Scripture alone, for God's glory alone), husband (I love my wife of twenty years!), father (I love our five kids!), pastor (I love the people of Grace Church!), and so on, including son, brother, friend, citizen and others. There is a priority to those roles that needs to be in place so that things don't get too out of balance. Jesus Christ has, and must be given, preeminence over and in everything.

Then there are the goals we have in life, what we are working towards. What we are trusting God for as we live in light of our roles. Christ's disciples must be sure they hold biblical and Christ-exalting aims. If our goals are off-base we run the risk of disobeying God and harming ourselves and others. A goal achieved, even the most Jesus-focused, can become a cause of boasting in ourselves rather than the cross of Christ. Praising God over milestones achieved and remembering His faithfulness is sweet to the soul.

Also in the mix are our desires, what we really want. There are times that these can clash and collide, and times when they mesh and converge beautifully. It is a tough and delicate challenge that can only be won in the trenches and slugged out in the grind of daily, seemingly mundane, living. God is good. He gives grace to withstand the onslaught of sin and mercy to deal gently with the need to realign ourselves around biblical truth and away from self-serving ends. It is amazing how God will at times bless us with a measurably greater awareness of His presence and His working in our lives, especially when our roles, goals and desires blend.

Psalm 37:3-5 speaks of trusting in, delighting in, and committing ourselves to the Lord. I'll address it more in detail in another post but let me just say that when we trust in, and commit our ways to, the Lord, delighting in Him is a glad surrender that takes us to before unknown depths of the grace of God in Christ.

Do You Need to Follow One Set Pattern or Formula of Preaching the Gospel for Someone to Be Saved?

NO! One size doesn't fit all. Try anything and everything to reach people for Christ! Be willing to spend and be spent for the souls of others. I think it is only superstition and fear of man that keeps us from wholehearted, joyous, bold, outrageous redemptive interaction with others for the sake of the gospel. Here's some ways to start taking steps to get the message out cross-culturally and within your sub-culture. Others have done these and more, there's nothing new here. Feel free to add to the list...

1. Pray. Ask God where He wants you to go today and who He wants you to engage for the gospel. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send you into His harvest. Pray for those who do not know Christ. Pray that your interactions would be significant, real, sincere, honest and engaging; and that God would keep you from inadvertently doing something to pull the rug out from under your witness to the grace of God in Christ.

2. Adopt. Adopt an ethnic people group living in your area. Frequent their neighborhoods, businesses, and stores and restaurants. Build friendships that cross continents, while not having to go further than the nearest subculture residing nearby. Most people have only a few miles to travel to be in "another world" these days. "The nations" live right next door.

3. Remember where you came from. Don't neglect your own. Don't leapfrog over your own people. Go where God leads but don't stipulate too much based on your preferences. For example, I love ethnic foods and have a selfish tendency to not want to eat American food. So I frequent many ethnic spots and get to know many people in different cultures, but I need to be mindful not to neglect my own culture, whatever that is!

4. Ask. Take time to ask good, leading, engaging, honest, appropriate questions. How long have you lived here? Did you know the language when you arrived? How many languages do you speak? Tell me about your family. What was the weirdest thing for you in this new culture? The toughest thing to get used to? What do you miss most (and least) about your homeland? What do you do for fun? What are your future plans?

5. Choose the harder way. Go somewhere you don't necessarily "want" to go. Find a place of service that isn't your first choice. If you have two options before you, choose the harder of the two ways, just to mix it up. We often gravitate to our comfort zones, get out of yours and see what God does. We profile way to often even within our own cities, towns and neighborhoods. There are places we just won't go and people we just won't talk to. Break out of that limiting trap and explore.

6. Be inviting. It is one thing to engage and then walk away. It is another to invite others into your life. Invite others to family gatherings and everyday activities. Be with people where they live and where you do. Yes, it costs, it is an investment in people. Two things last forever: God's Word and people. Invest heavily in both, especially at the same time.

7. Get collectively creative. I don't know how many people have told me they aren't creative or they have no imagination. Then you get talking and they are a wealth of both! They just need the confidence and assurance that they have something to offer that is uniquely them and they need to exercise that option. Don't always go alone. Get together with a few likeminded souls and talk amongst yourselves. Then go out with the gospel. We are the packaging the gospel comes in. God uses many different ways and people to lead others to Him who is the only Way of salvation.

8. Don't profile. You know what I mean. Everyone does it. The nations live next door and so do people from your own culture that for one reason or another you may not like. Ask God to change your attitude towards them and reveal your hidden (or not so hidden) biases, breaking them down and shattering them for the sake of the gospel.

The gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified is "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" (Rom. 1:16). Take it, boldly, unashamed and without fear, to the streets. Because Jesus is coming soon to a city near you.

These ideas barely scratch the surface, I know. What are some of yours?

Do You Need (to Hear of and Believe in) Jesus to be Saved?

YES! Let the Word of God speak and take great care not to refute it purposely or inadvertently. Acts 4:12 says "there is salvation in no one else, for there is other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved". Jesus said "no one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). He is called "savior" many times in Scripture, the "one mediator between God and man", His name itself declaring to us the saving acts of God and our need to believe in Him. John 3:17-18 say that whoever does not believe in Jesus is condemned already. People reject Jesus because their deeds are evil. In Christ alone our hope is found. There is no other way to be saved but through faith in Christ. Romans 10 says that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ". Acts 16:31 says "believe in the Lord Jeaus, and you will be saved..."

Hundreds more scriptures can be cited, upon which thousands of observations can be and have been made. All who have ever been saved and all who ever will believe are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for God's glory alone, according to Scripture alone. Everything points to the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified as our sole reason for boasting and the only basis by which any sinner who repents receives forgiveness of sins, is declared righteous, and is eternally secure. God, Philippians 2 tells us, bestowed on Jesus the name that is "above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee would bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father".

Don't let anyone tell you that the Jesus of the Bible isn't necessary or needed for a person to be saved. Stand firm on the gospel of the grace of God in Christ. Preach (in any and every way imaginable to any and every person available) the absolute necessity and sufficiency of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

God Speaks, We Listen

Psalm 46:6 says that God "utters His voice" and "the earth melts". Sheer power. In Isaiah 55:8-13 God declares that His thoughts and ways are as high above ours as the heavens are from the earth. That means there is no comparison between our puny thoughts and God's. His Word reveals His thoughts and ways. So why is it we have the audacity to raise our thoughts and ways above His by saying things like "I would never believe in a God who would do such and such" or "I'd never be a part of a church that does this or that"? When did our preferences and opinions get promoted to such an exalted position? What arrogance to assume that just because we think it or feel it it must be gospel truth. We had better make sure that the things we encourage, discourage, cling to, or stay away from, are things the Bible encourages, discourages, says to cling to or stay away from. We do not want to be found opposing God with our blanket declarations. If scripture truly is your only rule for faith and practice, if you truly believe it is the all-sufficient authoritative Word of God, then make sure the definitive statements you make are found there. Here's the way it is supposed to be: God speaks and decrees, we listen and respond.

What Does it Mean to be Saved?

What Does it Mean to be Saved? In the general sense it means to be rescued from danger. In the biblical sense it means to be rescued from the wrath of God that our sins deserve. It signifies rescue from sin, death and hell and the power and penalty of sin. Romans 3 and Titus 3 speak of God's work of saving. We cannot save ourselves because we are dead in sin apart from Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2). Only God can make dead people alive. When a person comes to saving faith in Christ they are rescued from the power and penalty of sin. One day they will be rescued from the presence of sin.

Hidden Treasure, Costly Pearl

Knowing Jesus is a gift of grace from God. Following Jesus is a process dependant on the grace of God. In Matthew 13:44-46 we find the parables of the hidden treasure and costly pearl. They are about costliness, commitment and more. Several questions come to mind: What am I most motivated by? What drives my life? To whose agenda am I most committed? As I follow Jesus am I driven by guilt and obligation or by joy and grace?