Marching First When God Calls Will Always Require Us to March in 2nd Place

I awakened this morning with the same thought pattern as yesterday…

It’s March 2nd. How might lives change if I let this date forever become a reminder that I am called to march second?

Mark 10:32 begins with a visual that is forever a call to our positioning this side of heaven. Jesus & his disciples are making their final trek to Jerusalem, for not long after, Jesus would be betrayed, arrested, beaten & crucified for the sins of the world. 

What’s most notable about this verse is that He is walking AHEAD of the disciples. It doesn’t say why, but the very next sentence says that the disciples follow in awe & the people following behind them are overwhelmed with fear.

Every step He takes on the uphill climb to Jerusalem is taken with a resolute following of the Father’s will. He knows the suffering that lay ahead, but He does not hesitate or waiver. In fact, He pulls the disciples aside & tells them the specific details of the bitter cup of suffering He is about to drink.

Somehow the disciples hijack the conversation & make it about themselves, essentially asking which of them will be favored in heaven.

Unlike the rulers of our day, the economy of heaven seems upside down & backwards. Jesus reminds them yet again that if any want to become first, they must FIRST become a slave of all! And if we are going to follow in Jesus’s footsteps, we need remember where they led:  He gave up His life for the ransom of many! Will we?

Marching when God FIRST calls will always require us to march in 2nd place. Its not glamorous nor does it usually bring accolades & notoriety…at least not this side of heaven😉

Following Jesus will involve suffering & sacrifice, but the return on investment is far beyond anything we can fathom or imagine! I don’t know about you, but some days I let my mind wander into the heavenly realm & wonder what sort of life eternal might result from seeds sown in suffering?🤗

Father, give us ears to hear your call & feet to follow first. Remind us of the nature of Your Kingdom’s economy. It sometimes doesn’t make sense, but Holy Spirit, help us to choose 2nd place of serving so we might become 1st place in the apple of our Father’s eye 💝 

#OneYearBible

March 2nd One Year Bible Readings

LEVITICUS 25:47-27:13

MARK 10:32-52

PSALM 45:1-17

PROVERBS 10:22

How Might Lives Change (Including Mine) If I Marched 1st When God Calls?

Today is March 1st. As I opened my One Year Bible to the page, this thought surfaced:

What would my life look like if I marched first, without hesitation or question, when God calls?

I have witnessed dear friends do this over & over & then seen how favor seems to follow. Hear my heart-I don’t think it’s a do-this-to-get-that mindset, but rather a Kingdom-minded principle that has a do-this-SO-that effect on today AND in the Kingdom come!

Mark 10 tells of a man who runs to Jesus & falls to the ground breathless before Him to ask:

What must I do to inherit eternal life?

Jesus tells him all of the things he must NOT & ends with a command to honor his parents.

I can only imagine the man’s excitement as he replies, “I’ve obeyed ALL these commands since I was young!”

Then, v22 tells us that Jesus looked at the man with genuine love (I can almost feel the pause in the air) & He says, “There's still one thing you haven’t done. Go & sell everything, give your money to the poor. Then come, follow me.”

Upon hearing this, the man’s face fell for he was very rich. Then he went away sad.

Marching first when Jesus gives clarity can feel like a camel squeezing through the eye of a needle-at least that’s the gist of what Jesus said.

And yet a few sentences later, He also says this: 

“Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”

I’m not sure what you are facing today. Maybe you have an unction to do something that has impossible plastered all over it, but deep down, you know it’s the Holy Spirit telling you to “go” into the land of impossibility?

I’m facing this very thing😬 I’ve got a decision to make & it will require a bit of sacrifice & a whole lotta faith!

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be like the man who obeyed all of the “must nots”, only to miss the mark in sadness because the “must” feels impossible!

Father, sometimes You ask us to do things that are humanly impossible, but with You ALL things are possible!

Thank you for the times You call us to march first, without hesitation or reservation, as it provides the perfect opportunity for our faith to grow & for Kingdom impact, here as it is in heaven!

#OneYearBible

March 1st One Year Bible Readings

LEVITICUS 24:1-25:46

MARK 10:13-31

PSALM 44:9-26

PROVERBS 10:20-21

Learning to Lead by Choosing to Follow

I love it when Jesus asks a question. He already knows the answer so I think the aim is connection with the one who answers…or in the case of Mark 9:34, the ones who DON’T because they know they are about to be corrected 😳

The disciples argued among themselves who is the greatest. When Jesus asks what they are discussing, He gets crickets. When the men don’t answer, he sits down & calls them all together. What He says next HAS to blow their minds because it’s confirmation that He knew what was on their hearts! He says:

Whoever wants to be first must take last place & be the servant of everyone else.

I love His approach. He stops, sits down & calls the 12. It sets the stage with love and grace so that He might speak Truth which may otherwise be difficult to swallow😬

What’s cool about the verse is the word “wants”. It doesn’t say whoever IS first place, but whoever WANTS to be first. He doesn’t condemn the desire to be first, but He does address the why behind it!

That word “servant” comes from the root “diaknos” which is where we get the word “deacon”. Unlike “slave” which refers to a  CONDITION  of the person, “servant” denotes the ACTIVITY of a person - & it’s voluntary.

Real greatness, true first place success can only come with feet CHOOSING to follow Jesus!

Years ago we co-founded a K-12 school. Our hope was that it would become a leadership academy that trained & equipped students, “in the way they should go.” The tagline is still one of my favorite sayings on the planet: 

Learning to Lead by Choosing to Follow

If we desire to be a leader, then we must become like a child who doesn't jockey for position. A child simply follows His Father & trusts Him to provide all things…even the opportunity to lead in anything in life.

It’s the heart-stance that matters! There is nothing wrong with the disciples’ desire to be great! It’s the why behind it that matters to Jesus.

Father, we are all in positions of leadership in our lives - as a parent, in our job, in friendships…we DO want to be first SO THAT we can lead people to the Hope we have in You! Humility can be hard, but it isn’t even a thing when we learn to lead by choosing to follow Your footsteps.

#OneYearBible

February 28th One Year Bible Readings

LEVITICUS 22:17-23:44

MARK 9:30-10:12

PSALM 44:1-8

PROVERBS 10:19