The Life
From the Series—Jesus
October 18, 2002This evotional concludes our five-part series on Jesus. Thomas a’ Kempis, the medieval mystic, said, “We must imitate Christ’s life and his ways if we are to be truly enlightened. Let it be the most important thing we do, then, to reflect on the life of Jesus.” That’s what this series of evotionals is all about.
Last week we looked at one element of personal magnetism: authenticity. Jesus was “real.” That’s what “the Truth” means. He was “conforming to reality” and “free from pretense.” People found his authenticity irresistible. In the words of Bruce Barton, “The essential element in personal magnetism is a consuming sincerity.” This week we explore another element of personal magnetism.
The Life of the Party
In John 2, Jesus saves a wedding party by turning water into wine. In Luke 5, Jesus makes a house call on Levi and it turns into a house party. In Luke 7, Jesus turned an evening at the home of one of the Pharisees into a dinner party. You may have never thought of him in this way, but Jesus was the life of the party. He was so full of life that people loved being around him.
Most of us know people who are deenergizing--after you’re with them it feels like the life has been drained out of you. But most of us know “energizers” as well. They’re so full of life that they energize everybody around them.
Inhuman Energy
In his biography, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Edmund Morris describes Roosevelt’s famous “presence.” He says it “seems to charge the air about him.” In the opinion of one political pundit, Roosevelt had “unquestionably the greatest gift of personal magnetism ever possessed by an American.” The English statesman John Morley likened Roosevelt to Niagara Falls. “Their common quality, which photographs and paintings fail to capture, is a perpetual flow of torrential energy.” I love the way Morris ends the first chapter. He describes Roosevelt’s ritual at the end of the day. It usually involved reading a minimum of one book before bed--he averaged about 500 books per year. After he finished reading he would brush his teeth and put his revolver beside his pillow. “Then, there be nothing further to do, Theodore Roosevelt will energetically fall asleep.”
Morris said that Roosevelt had “inhuman energy.” If anybody had “inhuman energy"--in the literal sense--it was Jesus. When I read the gospels it seems like Jesus never stops. He was always in high demand--the word “crowd” is repeated 101 times. He was always casting out demons or healing the sick or teaching the crowds or defending his actions to the Pharisees or adjudicating the disciples’ infighting. That is an unbelievable expenditure of physical, emotional, and spiritual energy. But even after a full day of ministry, not to mention miles of hiking through mountainous terrain, Jesus would often get up early, stay up late or even pull an all-nighter. He was always burning the candle at both ends.
At one point, his family is so concerned about him that they try to stop him. Mark 3:20 says, “Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind’.”
In John 4 there is a fascinating dialogue between Jesus and his disciples. Evidently, Jesus hadn’t eaten in quite some time. His disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat you know nothing about.” The disciples were clueless. They said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” Jesus said, “My food is to the do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work..”
Nothing is as deenergizing as sin. I don’t know if you’ve ever thought of it in these terms, but sin is a waste of energy. When you sin you end up wasting lots of energy on things like guilt and anxiety. It sucks the life out of you! But the flipside is true as well. Nothing is as energizing as doing the will of God. It’s no wonder Jesus was so full of life and energy. He was sinless.
Heartfelt Energy
In his book, High Energy Living, Dr. Robert Cooper talks about two kinds of energy: surface energy and heartfelt energy.
Dr. Cooper says, “People with surface energy may be blessed with Hollywood smiles and schmoozing words, but the energy is self-centered and shallow.” Heartfelt energy, on the other hand, is energy that comes from meaning and purpose in life. Dr. Cooper says it is the energy that “awakens and empowers” us. How do experience “heartfelt energy”? It’s a byproduct of doing the will of God. Dr. Cooper says, “Without heartfelt energy, life exists out there, not in here.”
We start dying when we have nothing worth living for. Vaclav Havel calls it “the temptation of nothingness.” Dorothy Sayers says it is the sin that “believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, loves nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and only remains alive because there is nothing it would die for.”
We start living when we find something worth dying for. Followers of Christ are fueled by heartfelt energy--the energy that comes from doing the will of God. We are energized from the inside out. Jesus said in John 3:14, “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Half-Alive
The psychologist William James said that most of us are half-awake. He said, “Compared with what we ought to be, most of us are only half awake. Our energy is far below the maximum.” C.S. Lewis said most of us are half-hearted. In his book, Weight of Glory, Lewis said that the Lord “finds our desires not to strong, but too weak.” He says, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered us.”
Let me add something else to the mix. James says we’re half-awake. Lewis says we’re half-hearted. I think most of us are half-alive. We’re alive physically, but all of us have relational or emotional or spiritual parts of us that have died. You were abused as a child and part of you died emotionally. Your parents divorced at a critical juncture in your life and part of you died relationally. You struggle with a habitual sin and part of you dies spiritually. None of us is fully alive, but God is in the resurrection business. That’s what being “born again” is all about. God wants to resurrect those parts of us that have died and bring us back to life.
Ezekiel 37 isn’t just a prophesy to Israel, it’s a promise for every believer. The prophet Ezekiel visits the valley of dry bones. The Lord asks Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?” Ezekiel says, “You alone know.” Then the Lord says to Ezekiel, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.”
That is exactly what God wants to do in your life. He wants to breathe new life into you. He wants to resurrect those parts of you that have died.
In John 10:10, Jesus summarizes his life mission this way. “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come that you might have life and have it to the full.” The word “full” means “to superabound in quantity and quality.” God wants us to be 100% alive.
A few months ago I wrote these words in my journal. “I have a growing sense of aliveness.” That’s what happens when you have a relationship with the one who is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” It’s in Him that we find fullness of life.