You are .... I am not....

I think it's so funny that the people thought Jesus might be suicidal. That is the level of disconnect they have with Him. He sees the world so differently, understands values so inherently opposite of theirs, they assume He is depressed, mentally ill, and suicidal. That is a serious disconnect.

If you look in John 8:21-30, you see that Jesus explaining His relationship with God, and warning the people that if they don't shift their focus and hearts from what is going on here to what is going on with God, they will miss it all. He tells them where He is going, they can't go, because they are from below, and He is from above. He's not talking about the fact that they are humans, or born here, because so is He. He is speaking to the fact that their focus, their main concern is whether or not things on earth are going in their favor. What do other people think about them? How much power and prestige can they leverage? Are they influential and important?

Jesus doesn't care. He says so over and over. It's because He is living for another realm, another kingdom, another set of values. He knows where He is headed. He's going to return home to be with His dad. He knows that what goes on with His Dad is what is real, everything else is a shadow, a whisper, a wish. So, He lives life here to match what is important there. And He calls them to come along. But they miss it.

They think He must be off-kilter. What else can explain His disconnect, His blatant lack of care about what is "important". Only a crazy person, or someone who has given up, would live like that. He must be suicidal. He's given up.

They are so close, and yet so far. He has given up. But He's given up to Hope, Love, Life, and a Future. It is actually them, the one's chasing puffs of smoke disguised as power, who are living for death. But they can't see it.

Aren't you glad we aren't like them? Aren't you glad that we never live for someone else's approval? That we never live to try and leverage our "power" over our friends, co-worker's, or our family? Isn't it great that we never look at God's way, and think that He is crazy?

Why do I have to find myself aligned with the Pharisee's so often? Why do I read the Bible, only to see the way Jesus doing things is completely opposite of what I'm doing? Please Lord, change me. Change us. Help us to look more like You than anyone else. Help us to see Your stories in the Bible, and instantly see ourselves, aligned with You. Make us Your people today.

I simply don't want to miss out.