e166  Jesus Lived All the Life We Need to Give Ours (prep your heart for His birth through His life) 

This is Faith to Witness 99, motivating us to hear God and share the Shepherd.  

Season 3 Episode 166  Jesus Lived All the Life We Need to Give Ours (prep your heart for His birth through His life)  

Here’s the gist, human. Jesus is enough. He lived all the life we need to give ours. In the middle of this season make him enough. Settle in to why he came, how he walked, and what he did that is the only gift any human needs. Read through the gospel of Matthew to prepare your heart for this giving season. I am asking us to do this because this is the season that always wants more of everything. It beckons us to buy one more gift, bake one more batch, complete one more project, more wanting, needing, stressing, all kinds of things that shortchange us from loving others with spiritual gifts money cannot buy, deeds cannot complete, and human nature cannot redeem. Let’s give what has been given to us. And I just might have a little something for you, an inspirational guide, The Perfect Gift to Give for Christmas, to take your spiritual gift-giving to next level living in Christ.

E166. Thanks for listening.

In the second quarter of this year, during my own personal intertestamental period between reading the Old Testament and the New Testament, I spent time in Rediscovering Israel, author Kristi McCelland, considering and learning about the 1st century world Jesus was born into. A Herodian world with very strong Greek moral and cultural influences. And a world he engaged in every day, in the midst of pagan worship, telling his Father’s story, no, fulfilling his Father’s story, as only he could do. Born in Bethlehem, living in Egypt, back to Nazareth of Galilee, and living in Capernaum. Ministering within a 100-mile radius, among the people, working in a Roman world.

I’m Kathryn Bise, your host.

As I made this year’s Bible trek I had been thinking about, praying about entering into this time period, when Jesus walked our earth. I always enter with some spiritual trepidation. I think it’s more reverence, because the words of Jesus, are literally “the word became flesh.” The nature of God in human form. My journaling approach evolves when I make the transition into the New Testament. Along with my commitment to stay true to keeping pace with God’s narrative as he sends his Son to save us, I hold firm to a focus on the heart of Jesus’, how his earthly walk, his presence illuminated the origin of our relationship with his Heavenly Father.

It’s a heart thing.    

Prepare Your Heart for His Birth through His Life

Matthew wrote to a Jewish audience. He was a Jew. So, he wrote from the point of view of the Jewish tradition, the lens of the Jewish law, the Jewish prophecies. I tagged some heart references, but I have to say, what took center stage at the end of this reading surprised me.

I felt so victorious when I finished the gospel of Matthew for this reason: I can read about Jesus’ life over two days (realistically) anytime I want. It’s 30+ pages split into two. Reading 15 pages of any book is not very hard to do, and if I read this gospel as a narrative, it is not too much to ask. The life of Jesus is that accessible. I can pray over the questions he asked so many people that illuminates his heart, his wisdom. While each parable, each healing, each conversation holds the promise of eternity, I can curl up and trace his steps from birth to resurrection every week. It’s physically doable. Spiritually conceivable. And divinely anointed.

Why wouldn’t we do this, human?

How might this practice deepen our relationship? It’s not unlike touching his robe… you know, like the woman who did that, I can push my way through the earthly crowds of distracting naysayers and glory-seeking, self-serving social media foragers.

I can immerse onto his dusty path and touch his glory robe. This year’s 2^nd quarter reading of the gospel of Matthew illuminated a spiritual thread of how powerful the authority of Jesus was, how it played out from all the points of view. That’s episode 140 in this podcast, if you want to check it out.

But today, I want to prep our hearts for celebrating Jesus’ birth by letting God persuade our hearts to read through his life. All for the purpose of creating a mindset that answers to this:

Jesus is enough. He lived all the life we need to live ours. In the middle of this season make him enough. Settle in to why he came, how he walked, and what he did that is the only gift any human needs. I am asking us to do this because this is the season that always wants more of everything. It beckons us to buy one more gift, bake one more batch, complete one more project, just more wanting, needing, stressing, all the kind of things that shortchanges us from loving others with spiritual gifts money cannot buy, deeds cannot complete, and human nature cannot redeem.

In chapter five of Matthew’s gospel telling, Jesus sits on the mountainside and turns the Jewish world upside down, speaking of a different way, a counterculture, a divine way to live on earth, moving away from what people “see” to the matters of the heart, and the intent within.

Matthew 5:14-16

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

 

In chapter two we read about how obsessed Herod was with the exact time the star appeared on the night of Jesus birth. This was the light of the Savior of this world. No wonder we are the light of the world.

So, I am committing to and asking you to do the same. Carve out the time over the next seven days to read through the gospel of Matthew. By my count it might look like this:

15 pages per day, for two days. (that’s my route, to let the narrative of Jesus wash over me)

Or maybe you do 7+ pages per day, over four days.

Or 5+ pages per day, over six days

The point of this is to let the Holy Spirit take you through the earthly journey of Jesus to prepare you for celebrating his glorious beginning on the earth. Let embracing the narrative of Jesus’ life refresh your heart for this season of giving.

Because it is truly glorious. And hey, this week’s episode is a little shorter to give you a few extra minutes to get started now. You have an extra 5 minutes today to start this. You’re welcome. I promise you through the power of the Holy Spirit that this will prepare you for your best giving season ever.

And consider this:

On the night of Jesus’ arrest, Philip made a request of the Lord:

John 14:8-9

“Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

“Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”

It’s human nature to seek one more lesson, one more word of encouragement, one more revelation, that this will put us over the finish line to claim that we spiritually have enough. But we already have all the gifts we need in Christ.

Spiritual Gift-Giving from the Fullness of Christ

We can give from his fullness.

The next step is to prepare our hearts to give to others what they most need. Jesus, and how we abide in him. I have some ideas on the perfect gift to give others for Christmas. I created an inspirational guide to prompt you for spiritual gift-giving that counts this season, titled, The Perfect Gift to Give for Christmas.

A guide to help you expand your giving path, your giving condition and your giving capacity.

You can request it by contacting me at deeperwater@kathrynbise.com. After December 3, download this free guide, by going to kathrynbise.com/resource shop. Feel free to pass The Perfect Gift to Give for Christmas to others as well. And you can also watch for a social media prompt and receive this complimentary guide by subscribing to receive my work. Right now, that’s a weekly alert for this podcast and early announcements on additional resources I am creating.

Do your shopping, push through year-end work hours and projects, complete your baking, attend your parties, but above all, enter this giving season with a commitment to giving what has already been given to you. I suppose it is a divine take on re-gifting. Because Jesus is the one who gives us our capacity to bring others to him. It starts in how we treasure our relationships.

So I note from Matthew’s gospel in closing today, something to look forward to as you read this verse in the context of his mountainside sermon.

In Matthew 6:21 Jesus says” For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Is this not true, that we can and should be gathering treasures of the heart to give to others?