Consider Jesus!

      “Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession...” (Heb.3:1)

      We just studied this in Bible study this week, so for those of you who were there yesterday, this will be redundant!  But I thought it was worth repeating, because yours truly is a world champion “forgetter!”  I need constant reminding about what I should already know full well...but tend to forget in the stresses and struggles of daily life.  And this concept of daily “considering Jesus” is one of those bedrock principles that we cannot hear too often, because let’s face it--we forget.  In our mad rush to get everything done...or to absorb the obscene amounts of information thrown at us everyday in the form of email, twitter, internet, TV, newspaper, magazines and on and on, we (or at least I) tend to quickly forget what’s really first and most important.  (Important as opposed to urgent--the old “tyranny of the urgent”)  

      So here goes!  I love how The Message translates this verse. “So, my dear Christian friends, companions in following this call to the heights, take a good hard look at Jesus.  He’s the centerpiece of everything we believe, faithful in everything God gave Him to do.”  And the NIV describes same idea as “fixing your thoughts on Jesus.” 

      We’ve got to consider or fix our thoughts or take a good hard look at Jesus daily by examining Him in His Word.  But it’s not just reading the Word--it’s also thinking about, pondering, meditating upon those words as we go through our day.  God’s Word is meant to be part of the warp and woof of our day.  

      To consider Jesus means we don’t just read the Bible in the morning and then promptly get busy with life and forget about it.  No, we might write out a few verses and look at them over the sink while we cook or in our car as we drive to work.  We might speak a verse out loud as we pray...or as we clean up the house.  We turn it over in our minds as we weed the garden (well, that is if we actually weeded our garden!) or as we run errands.  

      There are so many practical ways to focus on God and His Word even as we go through our busy days.  But here’s one example  that really encouraged and challenged a number of us when we went to the house of one of my dearest friend’s, Ashlie Mann.  Her high school daughter, Lizzie, decided to write Bible verses and inspiring quotes all over her bathroom to encourage her to focus upon and follow the Lord Jesus--

      This is a high school senior who has recognized early on in life that the more she surrounds herself with God’s Word, the more she’ll consider Him.  And the more she considers Him and His Word, the more He’ll shape and transform her into His likeness.  As Ann Ortland once said, “It’s the look that saves...but it’s the gaze that sanctifies.”  True transformation occurs when we spend time gazing at Jesus and pondering His Word.

      I’m guessing this might be first time you’ve seen a picture of a bathroom in a blog!  But boy, it sure convicted and encouraged me that I need to do all I can to keep God’s Word all around my family and me so it will soak inside us. 

I recently heard Nancy Leigh DeMoss share a letter written by her aunt and uncle to their children.  Here’s part of what she shared:

      “When you children were young, one of our main goals was to get each of you to love Scripture, to read it each day and to have your own devotions.  We’re so grateful to God for leading each of you into this life-giving practice.  One related practice we’d like to see each of you consider is to post Scripture all over your walls in your home.  In bathrooms [Go Lizzie!], bedrooms, kitchen, everywhere...The adversary works 24/7 to tempt us to discouragement, selfishness, complaining, or whatever [can I just add a hearty ‘Amen!’].  The best counter-offensive not only keeps the devil on the run but additionally enriches our lives each day.”  

      And what is that counter-offensive?  It’s constantly considering Jesus and thinking about His Word. The letter goes on to explain, “Yes, I know you can open the Bible any time day or night, but to actually see God’s Word as you enter and exit your home each day, as you look in the mirror each morning, working in the kitchen, and anywhere else in the home you go, this makes for a living context of swimming in God’s Word.”  

      I love that--surrounding yourself with God’s Word will help you meditate on it day and night.  Here’s how one old-time commentator described the value of meditating on God’s Word: “Meditation is to reading the Word what digesting is to eating.  Without the slow and lengthened process of digestion, food would not nourish the body. Without meditation, the Word read will not nourish the soul.”  

      Now considering Jesus and meditating on His Word does NOT refer to some strange Eastern practice of closing your eyes and humming some mantra till you go into trance!  Not at all!  

Here’s how JD Greer explains meditating on God’s Word: The word “meditate” literally means “to mumble over and over.” JD says, “It’s like a cow chewing it’s cud.  A cow wakes up in the morning, eats some grass, and then lays down to take a nap.  After his nap, he regurgitates the grass he ate, chews on it a little more, extracting more nutrients, and then he takes another nap and wakes up and regurgitates again and continues this process until all the nutrients are gone.”  

      (I hope you’re not eating right now, and I’ve totally taken your appetite!  If so, I apologize--and if it’s chocolate, please don’t waste it.  Just drop if off at my house.  But I digress--)

      Seriously, what a vivid example of what it means to meditate and chew upon the Word so that God can nourish and equip us for whatever we’ll be facing each day.  Nothing is more critical if we want to enjoy the strength, joy, peace, hope, and power that Christ promises to those whose minds on fixed upon Him.  

      You know, I want to absorb every single bit of what God has for me so that I can daily grow more and more into His likeness...and less and less like my all-too-often selfish, silly, sinful self!  The more we’re swimming in the healing, convicting, empowering, revealing waters of His Word, the faster and more complete the transformation.  

      Today, will you consider Jesus?  There’s nothing, absolutely nothing, more important. To God be the glory.