In Jesus most dramatic moments in ministry: in the center of Jerusalem with crowds welcoming Him and gathering to hear Him teach, His followers stumble. Jesus is serious. He warns them of the details of His death the night before and changes the tone of the Passover meal in a big way. But even with the warning, Jesus followers are lazy–falling asleep instead of praying and running away from the guard, rather than joining Jesus in His persecution.

Those followers were such losers!

and yet…so am I. I often do dumb, lazy, selfish things right after my best moments. I fail to take Jesus seriously when He would desire me to most do so. And I am no more worthy of His love, loyalty or forgiveness than these followers.

But God loves me anyway. He still keeps me close to Himself.

And its that love that compels me to focus my time, attention, and resources on being an awesome follower of Jesus, for as much of my life as I can. And despite my failings, we are doing pretty well.

Judas had followed Jesus for years when he betrayed Him. It’s hard to believe someone so close to Him could do that. The one clue that I can find to that behavior is Judas theft. He had hardened his heart over and over for some time, taking money from the funds that they all shared.

That frightens me…because I don’t see myself as a big betrayer, but I do see small patterns of sin in my life. And if a small pattern of sin in my life has the potential to lead up to a big failure or a behind-the-scenes heart change where I begin living a different life privately than I do publicly, I will begin taking my small sins a lot more seriously.

Sin always takes us further than we want to go and spreads into other areas of our lives far more than we can ever realize at the time we are taking the action.

This week I look far more critically at my “small” sins and resolve to try to get everything I do to fall in line with my love for Jesus.

The king is coming back, and I have His investment to return. This is one of the most helpful and clear parables Jesus shares for me. I can understand investing and returning something to the king. I can understand His excitement or disappointment based on the servants’ actions. And I can rough out a plan for making something of my life.

I think the one thing that most causes me to miss the meaning of this story is that I underestimate the amount of wealth God entrusted me with to begin with: a great family, a strong body, a free country, a good education, more money than 90% of the world, access to a world of knowledge through books and internet access, fast transportation, and a great family. I am the steward with 10 talents. I need to get to work preparing a return for God’s investment in me.

I believe I’ve done decently so far…I don’t think I’ll disappoint God when He returns, but I hope to continue to build an impressive return for as many more days as I get.

I hope you’ll take this story to heart, evaluate your resources, and determine to work in extreme ways to make the most of what God has given you too!

Jesus spends a lot of time on the judgement to come. Israel, His people, have rejected Him, and God will send them the final step in love: tough love. He will remove His protection and drive them out of their land once again, in hopes that they will see it as a sign of their mistake in dismissing Jesus.

For the believers caught in the situation, that means some hardship will come to them too. It can cause fear and doubt…which is why Jesus tells them ahead of time. It’s nice to have a little time to prepare. It’s clarifying and comforting to know the way that Jesus will return too, so you don’t think He has snuck in again without warning.

The end of all things will be quite dramatic, as Jesus indicates here. It will also be a surprise, in regards to when it happens. If we could just stick to this promise, a lot of false religious movements would lose their influence.

But most important for us: the end of time is something we should be prepared for. I usually dislike this request from Jesus, because its hard to be prepared. However, this week as I read His words, I think of how I should work hard to live each day in the mindset that He is present. Treat each moment as incredibly important, and strive to use every opportunity I get to help people find Jesus as their spiritual life. This daily time in God’s word helps me remain prepared. I can do this! I will be prepared.

As the Pharisees continue to question Jesus, it seems to me that they are locked into a mindset that is focused on man-made rules, rather than listening to and responding to God. While that’s obvious to me in their situation, I constantly find myself slipping back into that type of mindset in my own life, without recognizing what’s happening.

A difficult night sleep, a lot of demands from the day, and soon I find myself going through the motions, checking stuff off a list, rather than looking for all the incredible things God can and wants to do in my day, if I will simply slow down and take things more thoughtfully.

There’s a thin line between the two mindsets, and it is difficult to stay on the proper side of the line. But that constant struggle is worth it to me…I just need some more practice at it.

“I love those who love me, and those who seek me, find me.” ~ Prov 8:17