The flesh is weak, but Jesus is strong

So here goes. Another embarrassing truth about me. I can’t believe I’m telling you this, but after the last devotional, what’s one more dirty little secret?

When I was a new Christian, I had a saying. It’s pathetic and I am reluctant to tell you because I don’t want it to become your new mantra, but for the sake of this devotion, here goes. Are you ready for this? I’m certainly not…

Jesus loves you, but I don’t!

Isn’t that awful? I’m shaking my head in disbelief of my once theology. I tell this embarrassing truth to make a point. We can “love” Jesus and choose not to be like Him. It’s easy to have this theology in a world full of troublesome people, but it’s a false theology. Jesus has not called us to love only Him, but scripture is very clear that if we love Him, we will love others (John 14:15, 13:34-35), and make disciples of them (Matthew 28:19). Jesus did not invite us to know about Him, but intimately know Him and reflect Him to a lost and dying world.

Sad truth.

When I worked in food services as a teenager, I was not a Christ-follower. I grew up in the church so I knew how Christians should act and how they should represent Christ, but it never seemed to happen that way. The Sunday church crowds were some of the most hateful, impatient, and cheap crowds I would serve all week. Listen, I’m all about the food I pay for being prepared correctly and piping hot when it lands on the table in front of me. That’s our right as the consumer of the almighty cheeseburger, but there is a gentle, Jesus kind of way, to treat your server in this situation. Yelling, flinging food (or knives, if you’re really furious), and embarrassing people to get your way is not how we show Jesus to a teenage, soul-sick server. It is our calling to disciple others (Matthew 28:19-20), but unless we truly grab hold of Jesus, we often end up discouraging others from even wanting to know Him.

I feel like this is a good time to clarify what a disciple is? According to my Strong’s Concordance and some really wise, way wiser than me theologians, disciple means to teach or instruct. Essentially, it’s saying we are to go out into our world, where we live, work, and play, and teach people about Jesus and to follow Him.

Great! That sounds simple enough. Right?

Simple, yes. Easy, no. We can’t teach someone something we ourselves do not know. So if I want to make disciples for Jesus, I have to first become a disciple of Jesus. I have to learn who He is, His character, and how He lives.

If you have ever flown you probably remember the long and boring, yet life saving instructions the flight attendant shares before every flight. If you fly often, you can probably recite it word for word. But there is one instruction that always seems selfish to me; the instructions on oxygen if the plane is ever to lose pressure in the cabin. The number one thing they teach is to first secure your mask before helping anyone near you secure theirs, including your children.

What!?

That goes against every mother’s nature, am I right? But the airline understands that if you don’t first care for yourself, not only will you die, but those near you who need your help. Same is true of Christ. We can’t disciple others if we are not first discipled.

We can’t share what we don’t know and what we do not possess. I can’t show Christ’s love to my neighbor until I first learn the love of Christ. I can’t offer His joy if I lack His joy. We must take care of our spiritual self, before we can care for someone else.

So, how can you know you are His disciple? How will others know you are His disciple? How can you represent Jesus in a way that gives life to those around you?

According to Jesus, our love for one another is our proof.

“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

— John 13:34-35 (CSB)

Now you can understand why my theology was so off-base. I believe love is the root of all fruit. And according to Galatians 5, the fruit, the character of Jesus looks like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. It’s the fruit growing in our life that people recognize Christ in us.

Friend, this is what I know about catching Jesus, grabbing hold of who He is. Lives change, moods change, situations change. The mood of my husband and children, the lives of my family and friends, the situations of telemarketers and grocery attendants. The lives of the airline attendant and even the stranger in seat B with bad breath. Point is, when I grab hold of Jesus, like a woman with issues, I look more like Him and less like me; He changes everything.

Sounds great, Cassie! But how do I catch Jesus?

Catching Jesus is about knowing Him and letting His power work in and then through us. We get to know the teacher and abide with Him. He is our power source.

Together we will learn how to look less like the world and more like the one who created it. We will put on the character of Christ so that we can feed hungry souls good fruit, fruit that lasts and satisfies. We will learn to abide in Christ so that we too will experience the goodness of God in a way we never have before.

Though the flesh is weak, Jesus in us is strong, and through Him we will become less like the world, more like Jesus, and show some lost people who He really is; loving, kind, and compassionate.

To be continued…

Cassie Downs, formerly of the Ellsinore area, is a speaker and the author of Chasing Jesus. Connect with her online at cassiedowns.com. Her book is available online where most books are sold.