Jesus's Life

 I've been thinking a lot about Jesus's life.  Jesus was a sinless man, yet he still encountered trying times.  There are many times I just scream out to God, "Why us God?" Why is it although we are trying  to do right and we are trying to be fully devoted followers of Christ and we try to follow His will but yet we are still ridiculed, overlooked, betrayed and hurt.  Why is it that it feels at times we can't catch a break?  Then my thoughts turn to Jesus.

 Jesus didn't have a lot of money growing up.  He wasn't born in a palace but rather in a barn.  His parents weren't executives or big time celebrities but rather a carpenter and a stay at home mom.  He didn't have the best money could buy but He was better than anything money could buy.  He grew up and began his career turning water into wine.  He started getting 12 guys together and they went around teaching about God.  He’d often stop to heal the sick, to play with children, talk to the down-trodden, give sinners hope, walk on water, calm storms and waves, make enough food to feed multitudes out of a few loaves of bread and some fish,  and even brought the dead back to life.  There are many reasons to see Jesus was pretty cool.

But ultimately his passion led to his pain.  Proclaiming who His father was, lead those who knew Him to betray Him.  The High Priests and the Pharisees believed Jesus to be blasphemous and couldn't be the Son of God.   Their disbelief of Jesus’s claim caused others to believe them and somehow this wrong way of thinking entered into Jesus’s disciples.  First it came from Judas, who plotted with the high priests and captains for Jesus’s capture.  Then slowly as things began to unravel even Simon Peter began to deny Christ even though He had promised He would never do such a thing.  

In Jesus’s final days He was ridiculed, overlooked, betrayed and hurt.  He didn't deserve any of the treatment He received yet it was all in God’s Will and all in God’s Plan for Him to go through this. So if Jesus who was the only sinless man to ever live, went through that kind of treatment and pain why do  we question when we are going through it ourselves?  It ultimately is God’s will.  Perhaps the key to understanding how to handle our problems lies in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus went to pray. Luke 22:40-44  Knowing what was to come, He sought His Father And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and ^vknelt down and prayed, ⁴² saying, ^w“Father, if you are willing, remove ^xthis cup from me. ^yNevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” ⁴³ And there appeared to him ^zan angel from heaven, strengthening him. ⁴⁴ And ^wbeing in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Jesus may have been without sin but he still felt pain and anguish.  The only way to find comfort and strength was to pray.  He did ask for the pain to go away but He ultimately asked for His will to be done and not his own!  That is what each of us must do when we face the things in life that just don’t seem fair.  And because God sent Jesus  to walk among us in flesh, it meant Jesus too would have to endure the things of life each of us go through.  The cross was not just about Jesus dying for our sins so that we could have eternal life but it was also for God  to send the Great Counselor (The Holy Spirit) and to be the one we turn too when this world doesn’t seem fair.  Jesus knows how to navigate through this messy world and He is there for us!  He died for us after sweating blood fighting his own will for God’s will to be done.  Perhaps when we find ourselves struggling with God’s will we need to keep praying until we sweat blood if that’s what needs to happen! 

However, recently I tried to pray this fervently and I ended up falling asleep just as the disciples did !Luke  22:45  When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.".  As hard as I tried, I fell asleep just like the disciples.  My sorrows exhausted me.  I am falling into the temptation of wanting my will to be done and not God's.  My first reaction when I woke up was disappointment in myself  but then I remember even the disciples failed in this and the best that I can do is to keep praying and know that although I may not accept it at first, it will be God's will and not mine that will be done. A hard pill to swallow at times when you realize the desires of your heart may turn again into hope deferred. 

               

5 Things Tennis Taught Me About The Christian Life. . .

     1.  The one you serve to is the one who decides what is permissible and what is not.  In junior high and high school tennis there are no officials.  The one you serve too determines if the ball is in or out.  Just like in life, who you serve determines your belief about what is right and what is wrong.  If you are serving to the world and bowing down to its standards more things are permissible and are “in” for you to do.  But if you are serving God then the calls are made tighter and the things that are riding the line are called “out” for your benefit.   

2.        Love -  In Tennis everyone starts out 0-0 which 0 in tennis is called “Love”.  We all start out with love but the score changes with the serve.  In life we also start out with love in this world but unforgiveness,  hardness of heart,  and the circumstances we are served can take our love away but our love can also grow through service to others,  forgiveness, and a heart for God.  With each moment you either serve God or the world with your love

3.        Serving and Being Served -   In tennis to be successful you have to know how to serve and how to return the serve.  In life, you have to know how to serve God and how to serve those around you but you also have to know how to accept others service.  I know a lot of people who are incredible at serving others but when others try to help them by returning the favor they become uncomfortable with it.  We have to learn how to serve others and how to accept the blessings of others serving us.

4.       . You can lose some battles but still win the war.  In tennis you can be down 0-5 in a set and rally back to win but to do that you have to let go of your mistakes and keep a positive attitude that you can do this.  Just like in life, you will make mistakes but you can’t let your mistakes negatively impact your present or your future.  You have to shake it off and keep battling back to win in life.  If you are a christian you know ultimate victory comes when you reach Heaven!  You'll lose some battles here but you will ultimately find victory!

5.        Tennis Etiquette -  It’s customary for fans and coaches to be quiet through a match.  While a player is serving and throughout the point it is so quiet.  Tennis demonstrates how important having quiet times are in life.  Times where you only hear your own thoughts.  Times when if one person is talking to you that you clearly can hear them without any outside noise.  Tennis demonstrates how to keep boundaries in place in order to keep things calm and quiet.  In life taking the time to be quiet so that you can clearly hear from Him is of the utmost importance.