Oct 25. John 12. Dwayne Blai

JESUS, OUR KING

It's interesting how different our priorities are when we recognize Jesus as our king.

Mary decided to give her best financially to Jesus. It was a very expensive sacrifice, yet to her it seemed like no sacrifice at all. There are so many ideas that run through our minds to justify our lack of giving - our own needs, our own hardships, our issues. We convince ourselves of other purchases that we MUST make for whatever reasons. But in that dialogue we have with ourselves, Jesus is usually not in the conversation. When the rubber meets the road, is it really about Jesus? When we simply see him as King, he becomes the priority in our budget and everything else. Judas' justification appeared spiritual, but he had his own plans in mind. But Jesus doesn't even address Judas' heart, but only Judas' comment about needing it for the poor. Jesus never chose to expose Judas' selfishness. That's interesting mercy on Jesus' part.

The crowds recognized Jesus as being the Messiah, the King of the Jews. Do I see Jesus as my King? Not myself, not my own Will, not others, but Jesus intimately? When Jesus is my King, it makes all of my decisions easier - tougher, but easier.
For they loved human praise more than the praise of God (John 12:43).

This is a scary truth about me. I love human praise. Human praise is such a strong motivation that it can be so difficult to determine whether my decisions are faithful or whether they are out of fear of people, fear of hardships, of going against the grain. This is why I need relationships and advisors. So that I can honor Jesus as King and decipher when I am in fear. My own hearts can be very deceitful.

Lastly, Jesus being my King means I follow Him in his death. Jesus uses the seed analogy to explain the need for him to die in order to save others. "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives." (John 12:24)

Notice that Jesus so often stresses the harvest of saving souls. I understand evangelism more from Jesus' life and teachings than I do anywhere else in the Bible. He said his food was to do his Father's will (chapter 4) in referencing the harvest and reaping lost souls for eternity. Sure his soul is troubled about his death, but he doesn't want to be saved from this moment. He wants to honor his Father and reap the rewards. Evangelism for me is a way of honoring my Father and doing to myself in order to see a greater reward.
Ultimately it is the truth of Jesus that will judge us. We need to walk with him and on his truth.

These are all takeaways from living a life where Jesus is King and no one else.