Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Focus On Jesus

One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?” -- Luke 10:25

How do you decide what’s right and wrong? It was a question from yesterday. Did you think about your answer? Did you consider what would honor God? Did you contemplate what the loving thing to do would be? Did you ask yourself how you would feel if you were wearing the other person’s shoes?

You probably came up with a good answer, albeit one that was influenced by your very human self. And, certainly, these questions help us know and understand what Jesus would do or what He would have us do.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, came up with something we know as Wesley’s Quadrilateral. As Adam Hamilton writes, it gives us four bases of authority by which we can answer important questions.

The first is pretty basic: Read the Bible. Study the Bible. Know what it says. That will help guide you in all aspects of your life.

The second is what Wesley referred to as Tradition. That’s a fancy way of saying to pay attention to the Christians around you. Listen to your pastor. Discuss issues with your Christian friends. Ask questions. Open yourself to what others are saying even as you ground yourself in Scripture.

The third is Experience. By this Wesley meant the experience of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, our Wonderful Counselor, to live within us and guide us in all things. And He did.

The fourth and last thing we’re to use is Reason. Yeah. That’s right. We’re to use the minds God gave us to understand and make decisions based on the Bible, the views of respected Christians and the Holy Spirit. All those together -- along with the questions from yesterday -- help us live our lives based on the words of Jesus.

It’s so easy to get overwhelmed by all the issues of our day. What political positions should we take? What should we compromise on and what should we hold firm on? How do we determine the right thing, the moral thing, to do? Sometimes we get so caught up in the hoopla of the political parties, the conservative versus liberal views, that we lose sight of Jesus. Taking time to focus ourselves back on Him will help us sort it all out.