#scoured

Following the storm, the March wind scoured

the countryside like a brazen dream that wakes

us with its stark truth, leaving the debris of life

in its wake, tree branches and newspapers and

empty plastic recyclables tossed from a rolling

bin, appointments and expectations, interviews

and promotions, all brushed aside with leftover

autumn leaves ripped from gutters and gardens

to tumble down the street into elegiac disarray.

Found this flag flying near my neighbourhood. Photoing it wasn’t an option. Scoured google but only found ref to it in a pair of shorts.

Carefully Careless

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account.” Matt 5:11ESV

There is a very interesting series available online by Ray VanderLaan. It’s called ‘The Dust Of The Rabbi.’ I’d never considered before— Jesus was a Rabbi of THE Rabbi’s. His education was tremendous! At twelve, He held all of the Pharisees in rapt attention. That’s big!

Jesus commanded respect because of His robe, tassels, and beard. He appeared as His station dictated. Educated men stood in line hoping to be His disciple. With His popularity, He could’ve called anyone into His discipleship. But no, Jesus chose fishermen, the most ordinary of men. 

Disciples trained thoroughly! Trainees did everything exactly like the Master Rabbi— even down to using the toilet. There was a ritual for, yes, even the restroom. Every ritual was accomplished per the Jewish laws. Folks, that’s dedication to discipleship.

We call ourselves disciples of Jesus. Do we follow Him memorizing the  scriptures? In holiness? In purity? In the simplicity the role of disciple demands? Doubtful!!! 

A truer description of the word disciple is described in Oswald Chambers book, ‘Studies In The Sermon On The Mount’ pg. 17: ““The essential element in the life of a saint is simplicity, and Jesus Christ makes the motive of godliness gloriously simple. Be carefully careless about everything except your relationship to Me. The motive of a disciple is to be well pleasing to God. The true blessedness of the saint is in determinedly making and keeping God first. Herein lies the disproportion between Jesus Christ’s principles and all other moral teaching: Jesus bases everything on God-realization, while other teachers base everything on self-realization. There is a difference between devotion to principles and devotion to a person. Jesus Christ never proclaimed a cause; He proclaimed personal devotion to Himself— “for My sake.” Discipleship is based not on devotion to abstract ideals, but on devotion to a person, the Lord Jesus Christ; consequently the whole of the Christian life is stamped by originality. Whenever the Holy Spirit sees a chance to glorify Jesus Christ, He will take your whole personality and simply make it blaze and glow with personal passionate devotion to the Lord Jesus.””

Jesus’ disciples went from workers— the unlearned of Jewish society,— to standing before thousands, quoting scriptures. They didn’t stutter, saying, ‘I think this is from Isaiah, they knew where the scripture originated. Acts 4:13TPTB “The council members were astonished as they witnessed the bold courage of Peter and John, especially when they discovered that they were just ordinary men who had never had religious training.”

Two of my favorite preachers never finished Bible College, aka formal training. The passion of the Holy Spirit couldn’t be pent up long enough to finish. Instead, they’ve fed off of the spiritual tables of various godly men and women. They’ve studied and scoured the scriptures for the truths, they heard in teachings and in their spirits. Preferring the meat of God’s Word to the tenets of a denomination, they’re true disciples— ever growing stronger in passionate devotion, simply blazing, and full of Jesus’ originality. Because of their stance, they are reviled and ridiculed by many Christians leaders, and much of the world. Which qualifies them as disciples.

Do you and I qualify as disciples? Are we lovers of self or Jesus? Although a long way off, I’m closer than before. Where are you? It’s your choice. You choose.

PRAYER: Almighty God, We fall so short, forgive us I pray. Create in our hearts a blazing fire until we’re consumed by the stamp of originality, in Jesus’ name I pray. 

by Debbie Veilleux