Welcome to Buoy, a Life in Deeper Water podcast.

Episode 24. What is My Jesus Revolution? (insert your name here) (originally published March 15 2023)

Hello human.

A recently released movie, The Jesus Revolution is playing right now in theatres.

A did-see, will-see for some. But not a must-see for many.

In brief, the high school kids, the Greg Lauries’, were turning away from drugs and alcohol, toward a life that gave them a lasting spiritual high through following Jesus. The revolution—the change—was away from that which harmed them, to a Savior that healed them.

They weren’t perfect. The revolution wasn’t perfect. But they sang, prayed, read their Bibles, and turned their focus to love. It started with a small group and a chapel. It ended up inspiring thousands. I grew up in that era. I didn’t know anything about it at the time. I had a hippie gene in me though, with rose-colored corduroy bell-bottoms, a brown suede fringe belt, a headband.  And a denim cover for my journal that I had embroidered Philippians 4:13 on:

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

The Asbury University worship revival in February started with 20 students. Yet inspired campuses all over. The people who participated experienced a revival, a revolution. Hearing them try to describe it, well, it was a heart thing.

The Scale of a Revolution

This all got me to thinking about the scale of a revolution, and the expectations our culture of followers puts on it, how a revolution is valued, how it endures.  What makes it trend, go viral, blow up.

That made me wonder about all the people in the Bible.

How many people are there in the Bible?

There were 76 generations, from Adam to Jesus. The ancestral river.

There were 48 prophets. Speaking from an omnipresent God.

There were 12 disciples. Following a 33-year-old man who guaranteed eternal life.

There were 83 apostles mentioned in the New Testament, including the 12 disciples.

Of those, the 72 that Jesus commissioned in Luke 10:1

10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.

 

Was this the original Jesus revolution? The story of God—from Genesis to Revelation—was written by 40 authors over 1500 years. They spoke about 1700 distinct personal names.

1700 people born into 76 generations who became part of God’s story.  A story that rested on one amazing man. One amazing Savior whose life became the GOOD NEWS for every person.

What is My Jesus Revolution?

And the story is not over. We are in the story.

From that epic Bible cast of wandering, struggling, seeking humans to my lone, little life. Right now.

The one car length I take up in our 2007 Jeep Commander going 25 mph on the South 12 beach road. One sand dune away from one massive watery Atlantic horizon.

1 marriage to my human, sharing our spirit walk for 38 years.

1 family of sons, daughter-in-laws, and granddaughters.

1 oceanside church.

1 weekly connect group.

1 tattering Bible, tattooed with penciled notes.

1 grateful writer looking to stay in one divine will.

All of this one-ness, held together by one Savior.

What is my Jesus Revolution?

What I know is that when I accept God’s grace through the faith He has given me… one amazing thing happens.

Love starts a revolution in my heart. Because one act of love leads to another.

The world defines revolution in several ways.

One way, that a revolution is a fundamental change in a political organization, or in a government or constitution; the overthrow or renunciation of one government, and the substitution of another, by the governed.

Another way, that a revolution is a radical change; or a revolution in one’s circumstances or way of living.

I can relate to both of those, my renunciation of the world view for a life with Christ, and a radical change inhow I live for Jesus.

But a third definition illuminates my journey with Christ in a less familiar way:

A revolution is the motion of any body, as a planet or satellite, in a curved line or orbit, until it returns to the same point again; as, the revolution of the earth about the sun; the revolution of the moon about the earth.

What if I view my life as my revolution around the Son of God? Making my circular journey back to who I was created to be by God.

Aren’t we all returning to Him? Stuff like this inspires me, but it doesn’t easily lend itself to practical application, but consider it this way: 

That instead of a linear way of thinking or thinking about how we can “progress” forward to a better way; rather, that we return to our Maker at the original point of creation, through the Son. And it is completing a circle to return to our Maker, a point that will be divinely familiar.

I am in love with orbiting in His universe. Completing the revolution to bring me back to Him.

It’s not a line.  It’s a circle.

It’s not a march forward. It’s the journey around, back to my Creator.

The Cool Thing About Gravity

And the cool thing about gravity, it gets stronger the closer objects get to each other. This speaks to how one act of love leads to another. It is not about accruing love acts; it is about staying in God’s orbit. His spiritual gravity pulls me closer and closer to Him when I love. The closer I am to God, the stronger the gravitational pull is. One act of love leads to another.

In John 15:9, Jesus says:

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.

Jesus says to “remain”, in some translations, it says “abide in my love” – the Greek word indicates to stay (in a given place, state, relation or expectancy): —abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand.

My Jesus revolution is about making my way around to completeness through His love. It is not about speed, who is faster or slower, or when I should get there.  It is a revolution that when completed, has no beginning, middle or end. It closes the circle. I am then, timeless, as created in the image of God.

As if God is saying:  “Remain in my orbit.  Remain on the spiritual path I set you on, and you will come back to who I created you to be.”

The WHY Behind a Revolution of Love

And Jesus tells us the WHY that inspires our love:

1 John 4:19

We love because he first loved us.

 

How did Jesus show that love?

Sacrificing everything He left, all that is the divine glory of His heavenly home.

Sacrificing everything the earthly world had to offer Him – prestige, authority, wealth, comfort. He began to gather a following, he knew the Word and could have risen to a level of religious prowess within the Jewish faith.

Suffering to His breaking point. When He was on the Mount of Olives, he said,

Luke 22:42

42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

 

At that point, His human nature and His divine nature stood face to face, squarely at the crossroads of MY salvation.

So, my love is an offshoot of all that. Heavenly sacrifices He made, earthly sacrifices He made, and the ultimate suffering for the sake of His Father’s Will.

For every person on my path, I am to sacrifice all the status of this world, to not let any earthly treasures and comforts get in the way of loving every one of them

When I suffer, it is for those I am loving on His behalf, really. There is nothing I will suffer that is too intense for God; He will deliver me, one way or another. Because it is within His Will.

When we bring love to a conversation, a relationship, any human encounter, we bring our commitment to sacrifice as our Savior did:

What do I need to give up that is in the way of loving the person on my path?

What does this person need that may impose on my comfort?

How do I bring WHY I love, that Jesus first loved me, to this person in a tangible way?

Reclaiming God’s Goodness, 50 Years Later

My Love is a Revolution verse is:

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,

    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  (Psalm 51:10)

My prayer:  Bring my heart back to where you started with me, Lord. Give me spiritual gravity to stay the course, pull me closer to you. Because the closer I get to you, the more I love. The closer we get, the more we love, the closer we get, the more we love, and so on.

One more thing:  The power of spiritual gravity also shines a light on why returning to people in our spiritual orbit should be expected. Ours is a God of opportunities to reclaim His goodness, no matter how many times we go around, missing it before we recognize it.

Episode 25 will mark a “faith” milestone on my beach. We are one quarter of the way on mywitness99 journey. I want to celebrate one of the joys of this BUOY journey by sharing the first of a series of witness connections I am making along the way.

And why reclaiming God’s goodness is such a powerful blessing, even after 50 years. A best friend reclaimed.