1 Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. ² And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. ³ The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. ⁴ This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.

Hebrews 1:1-4

Dear God, this was the Verse of the Day on Bible Gateway this morning, and the beginning of verse two really struck me. You spoke through the prophets in the Old Testament, but you spoke through your Son 2,000 years ago. Part of what Jesus did by coming to earth was not only to live sinlessly, be martyred and then rise again, but also to teach. Sometimes, as amazing as it sounds, I don’t think we ingest the teaching as much as we should. I mean, sure, we look at some of the stories and parables Jesus taught, but do we really take and apply them?

So as I sit here this morning, I am wondering what I think, off of the top of my head, Jesus was mainly teaching when he was here:

• Worship you with everything we have
• Love our neighbors
• There will be a sorting at the end of the age. I’ve tried to get away from this one, but it’s there. He said it several times, and in different gospels.
• Worry about your own repentance first before you worry about the sins of others (and when you have repented, have mercy on the other like you have mercy on me)
• Have faith in you (God) and not in ourselves (consider the lilies)
• Have mercy while not sacrificing the standard you set (woman in adultery)
• Have self-awareness so that I won’t be hypocritical
• Don’t be oppressive to others from my own self-righteousness (Pharisees)
• Forgive (70X7)
• And this isn’t explicitly in there, but I think it is implicitly in there: Don’t worry about things you cannot control like the government, but serve in the sphere of influence where you put me
• Do not pursue wealth or the things of this world
• Sometimes even bad things happen so that you can get glory when they are redeemed, or the thing can lead to redemption itself
• Spend time alone with you in prayer. Even he survived his earthly experience by regularly getting alone with you (and Moses and Elijah here and there as well)

I would say that is a pretty good list. Of course, it’s not completely conclusive. I’m sure I missed a lot of things, but this is what I carry with me. Sure, I fail in all of them. I like to judge without repenting. I often don’t come close to loving you and worshiping you with part of my heart, much less all of it. I am hypocritical. I worry about things out of control and make idols of them. And I often fail to set aside time to just spend it with you.

Father, yesterday, I was feeling distant from you and really dry. One interesting thing I did was to go back and listen to some 1970s and 1980s Amy Grant songs that meant a lot to me when I was a young Christian. It helped me tap into that just a little bit. A little like playing certain songs from the beginning of my wife’s and my relationship brings a flood of affection for her. So even this morning, I was still listening to some of those old Amy Grant songs like “I Have Decided” and “Sing Your Praise To The Lord.” It’s good stuff. So let me just affirm to you in this moment, “I have decided I’m going to live like a believer. Turn my back on the deceiver. I’m going to live what I believe. I have decided being good is just a fable. I just can’t because I’m not able. I’m going to leave it to [you].”

I pray this in the name of Jesus,

Amen