SMELL THE CROSS
Genesis 19:26 But Lot’s wife looked back.
Acts 3:4-5 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us.” So the man gave his attention, expecting to receive something.
Acts 3:12 Why do you stare at us as if by our own ability and piety we had made this man walk?
Pay attention, pay attention, pay attention! There is a reason that looking backwards doesn't pay anything forward. Jesus said, “The one who puts his/her hand to the plow and looks backward is not fit for kingdom work.” Looking backward while plowing causes crooked lines! Lot’s wife looked backward after being instructed not to, and she turned to a pillar of salt! That's hardcore, but it teaches two things: disobedience never ends well, and looking backward often doesn't pay off.
Peter and John, after three years of training with Jesus, started year four paying attention to the business of the day, hands to the plow, so to speak. Approaching a crippled beggar, they bent down to him and produced the spirit fruit of generous concern and kindness. They raised him up on his feet in the name of Jesus. Peter and John paid attention to an opportunity that was right in front of them.
Straying too far into the past or too far into the future will distract from disciple-training opportunities today. Only God knows the future, and He doesn't need my help with it. What He does need my help with is taking care of the sheep. Producing fruit can actually help lost people find their salvation in Jesus. The journey of the unsaved often begins with a connection to fruit-producers like Peter and John.
What can we learn from the life and times of Peter and John, first-hand disciples of Jesus? They were definitely not the Fat Brain Pharisees, religious and studied, people most interested in impressing others. They weren't the Curious Crowd, people who followed Jesus everywhere for the free vending machine that Jesus seemed to be. Peter and John were disciples of Jesus, learning to walk just as Jesus walked, with Compassion and Humility, not too proud to bend down for a beggar.
Church-attenders have been feeling their way in the dark for centuries, trying to manufacture a metric for conduct that is suitable for believers. Attend, give and serve (the Ecclesial Trifecta) has seemed to be where everyone has landed. But that misses the mark and has falls way short of a bar that has been set by Jesus.
Matthew 16:24 “If you want to come behind me, he/she is renounced, his/her cross is raised, and imitate me.” This is the call to discipleship.
Curious Crowds follow. Cross-raising, renounced disciples in training imitate. The Crowd got close enough to smell the fish sandwich and wanted more. The disciples got close enough to smell the cross and raised it...
