Journey Revolution Podcast

Nero burned Rome in July of A.D. 64. Shortly thereafter, persecution broke out against Christians. The Apostle Peter wrote to a scattered group of Christians to encourage them and to instruct them on how to live in incredibly difficult times. What Peter wrote to these Christians is relevant to us today, more than 2,000 years later.

Christians in the first century were not only a minority group, practicing their faith was a challenge. Sometimes they grew discouraged and simply stopped engaging in the community of the Church. This is one of the issues the writer of the New Testament letter of Hebrews was addressing. What can we learn from their experience?

People who were not like Jesus liked Jesus, and he liked them back. Since the church is the body of Christ, people should be drawn to Jesus followers. Even if they don’t agree with the message of the church, they should like the church. So, why isn’t that true?

There is an assumption that good things happen to good people, and bad things happen to sinners. But clinging to that myth will cause your faith to eventually be ground into dust. 

We live in a world of conflict between nations, political parties, classes of people, friends, and even between family members. Jesus taught that those in his kingdom would be characterized as peacemakers. So what kind of peace was Jesus talking about, and how can we grow in this characteristic?

Of all the Beatitudes, the statement of Jesus about “the pure in heart” may be the most difficult. It isn’t hard to see ourselves as spiritually bankrupt, mourning, meek, hungering and thirsting, merciful, peacemakers, or even being persecuted. But being “pure in heart”? Probably no one goes around thinking of themselves as being pure in heart. So what does Jesus mean and how can we pursue this “purity of heart”?

Jesus said that people in his Kingdom will be merciful. This characteristic of disciples of Jesus makes Christianity attractive, for at one point or another we all need (and want) mercy. So, what is mercy and how can we grow more merciful?

Solomon, the third king in Israel, was one of the wealthiest people in world history. He pursued happiness in every way imaginable: education, work, sex, power, wealth, influence, architecture, agriculture, gardening, just to name a few. Yet he wrote that it was all vanity, or emptiness. It didn’t bring him fulfillment. So, where do we find fulfillment? Jesus promised fulfillment to those who pursued righteousness.

We aspire to be a lot of things in life: productive, loyal, honest, hard working, and generous, just to name a few. But one characteristic that is not very high on anyone’s list is that of meekness. What is meekness and why did Jesus include it as one of the defining characteristics of those in his Kingdom?

We live in a fallen and broken world where we experience loss, pain, and suffering. We appropriately respond to brokenness with grief and mourning. We understand this dynamic. What is sometimes missing is a grief and sense of mourning over our own sin and brokenness. The promise of comfort from Jesus in the Beatitudes is more directly related to this experience: brokenness over personal sin.

It can be easy to see someone else self-destruct and think to ourselves, I would never do that. But truth be told, we’re all capable of ending up where we don’t want to be. Even Solomon's son—the heir to the throne of Israel—blatantly ignored a principle that we should all pay close attention to.

We can talk ourselves into anything. Our internal narratives justify our beliefs as well as our actions. But when those narratives are not true, they lead to destructive thoughts and behaviors. We can choose to carry around false but comfortable narratives—or we can look to destroy them.

We all face dilemmas in which circumstances point us in one direction, but our consciences point us in a different direction. At times, we ignore the tug of our consciences and sell ourselves on a questionable decision. King David found himself in such a position, and his example can help us navigate our own dilemmas.

Perhaps nothing characterized the life of Jesus more than his pursuit of people whose lives and lifestyles did not look like his. If we fail to listen to people who don't experience the world the way we do, we will never bear their burden.

How is your stress level these days? Are you on edge? Frustrated? Worn down? Anxious? Is your soul burned with cares? We’ve all been there. Some of us have sought the help of a counselor, psychiatrist, or doctor and have found a measure of relief from anxiety as a result. But even then, there are still things only God can alleviate.

You may not be able to avoid anxious thoughts from time to time, but you don’t have to live in the prison of anxiety. In Philippians 4:8, the Apostle Paul gives us another powerful tool that, when used, will help us rid our hearts of perpetual anxiety.