The main focus of today's podcast is the importance of adopting a positive mindset rather than a negative one as we seek to become more like Jesus. I discuss how behavior change is rarely motivated by negativity, and I emphasize the need for a joyful and constructive attitude during the Lenten season. Drawing from the teachings of Jesus, I highlight that His mission was not to condemn but to save, encouraging us to model this approach in our own lives. Throughout our reflections, we explore the idea that true transformation comes from cultivating virtue and extending love and acceptance to others. As we navigate this final week of Lent, I invite you to consider how we can embody this positive spirit by growing in our walk with Jesus as we spend time with Him and other Christians.

Takeaways:

1. Emphasizing a positive attitude during Lent can lead to genuine behavior change, unlike negativity.
2. Jesus demonstrated acceptance and love without condemning, showcasing his deep connection with people.
3. To embody non-judgmental love, we must spend time learning from Jesus and his teachings.
4. Being part of a supportive community helps us grow in our faith and practice acceptance together.

Links referenced in this episode:

1. www.bible805.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

1. John Mark Comer
2. Bible805

Hi. Welcome to the Hobo Soul podcast of road advice from the Bible. And from me, Yvon Prehn, someone who's a little further down the road of life.

I'll talk to you every weekday for about five to 10 minutes, with periodic longer talks on serious Saturdays.

Let's get started with our topic today, which is episode number 34, Be positive, not negative.

When was the last time you changed your behavior when someone yelled at you or nagged at you or made you feel bad about yourself? Unless you're three years old, behavior change probably didn't happen from a negative situation.

Our quote today is from Fulton Sheen, who says,

"We can think of Lent as a time to eradicate evil or cultivate virtue. A time to pull up weeds or plant good seeds. Which is better is clear, for the Christian ideal is always positive rather than negative."

Now here's our challenge.

"Jesus said he didn't come into the world to condemn it, but to save it.

In all our Lenten meditations, may we have a joyful, positive attitude to make the changes that reflect salvation and not condemnation."

As we go into this final week of Lent, let's keep that attitude in mind. Now, let's just look at this whole idea of no condemnation a little bit more.

When I think about that, I think about how I would have loved to have gone to a party with Jesus. Now, we don't get that many descriptions about him at parties. And to be honest, the ones that we do have really aren't very detailed.

And I'm not sure, though, even as much as they tell us that it was even about his specific actions that made him such a great guest. And. But there was something, something about him, something that made people, even the worst of people.

And remember that a common accusation against him was that he was a friend of tax collectors, sinners and women of ill repute. People like that. Everyone wanted to be around him. It wasn't that he joined in on sinful activities.

Sometimes we think, oh, if we want to fit in, we need to do that. But he didn't do that at all. He was extraordinarily holy, but from all the reports about him, we never see him doing that.

And he even challenged his enemies when he said, can you accuse me of sin? And they couldn't. If there would have been evidence of it, they would have brought it up, but they couldn't. It wasn't that he condoned sin.

He frequently told people to go and sin no more, or to leave your life of sin. So what was it?

I think Jesus himself identified it when he said, as we quoted earlier, he didn't come into the world to condemn the world, but to save it.

Now, I'm not sure why we tend to skip or forget the verse that talks about that, because it seems like the church as a whole has a reputation for condemning people.

Again, it's odd that we miss the verse that talks about it, because the one just before it, and they're really part of the same talk by Jesus, is probably the most quoted verse in the New Testament, John 3:16, where it says, for God so loved the world that he gave his One and Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life without even taking a breath.

If you're reading the passage as a whole, it goes on to say, for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Again, Jesus didn't come to condemn, but to save, and we should model him in that. Most people, ourselves included, know we deserve condemnation.

We haven't lived up to our own standards, let alone God's. We can list our sins in great detail to ourselves. We seldom need someone else to point him out.

What we do need, what people needed in Jesus day, and what we need now, is someone who can remove the guilt, not pile it on. Somehow, in some way, I think people knew they could get that from Jesus. They brought in their sins and brokenness.

And it's interesting as I read it, one of the things that's really interesting as I read it is that Jesus didn't require them to go through some long, lengthy, ugly public recitation of their shame. They just came to Him. Sometimes their bodies were incurably broken.

I'm thinking here of the story in Luke 5 of the man who was so crippled he had to be let down on a stretcher from the roof by his friends. Jesus simply said to him, your sins are forgiven. Take up your mat and walk. And he did. Of course, this turned loose a firestorm from Jesus.

Enemies who were watching, of course, and were furious when they see this. And they scream, no one can forgive sins but God alone.

What's kind of funny about that, of course, is it's an accusation that Jesus agreed with completely. They kind of missed the point. Jesus was is God, and He could and did forgive sins.

But moving along in that passage, I never noticed it before, but the context of this whole chapter is that right after telling this story, Luke immediately talks of Jesus forgiveness and inclusion of someone who may have looked pretty good on the outside. He talks about Matthew, the tax collector To Rome. This was a real stand up guy. He was the best to the Jews, of course, he was just unforgivable.

Jesus ignored both evaluations of Matthew and simply called him to join him. Now after that, what does Matthew do? He gives a big party.

Again, what was there about this man who joined a party of what the Bible says the Pharisees described as such scum? Matthew. The first thing he did, he didn't invite him to a sermon, he didn't invite him to a prayer meeting, he invited him to a party.

We tend to think of holiness, of godliness, of those sorts of things as really off putting. But Jesus wasn't like that. I talked about this in a past podcast and it usually has a very negative connotation.

But somehow, again, Jesus wasn't like that. He radiated a love and acceptance that was inviting and irresistible.

He simply didn't project condemnation, all the while not denying who he was or the reality that sin needed to be left behind.

I'd like to think there was some sort of list of how tos that maybe he left us in the Bible that says do this, do this, do this, then we'll be like Jesus and people will know that we love them and all that kind of thing. But there isn't really a list like that. And I think that's the point.

If we want to be a non judgmental person like Jesus, the only way to do it is to spend time with Jesus, really spend time with him.

Reading his word, talking to him, thinking about him as you go through your day, saturating your life with his life so much that the same characteristics of acceptance and love that he expressed will rub off on you.

John Mark Comer has a lot of good material on this process and he describes it as the life of an apprentice of Jesus, which he talks about in his book and through sermons, podcasts and all that sort of thing. But in his book that's entitled Practicing the Way, he has three goals that he recommends for a person who wants to become like Jesus.

Number one, he says be with Jesus.

Two, become like, work on becoming like Jesus.

And three, simply do as he did.

Comer recommends not just reading about these things and giving them mental assent, but building them into our lives to create a way of life that consistently helps us become more like Jesus. Now we can work on this ourselves.

But even better, this kind of identification with Jesus was more often than not pursued as a group from the earliest disciples on. If we look at church history again, we see the disciples going out in teams early on.

Then the early church monastic communities, we tend to think of some of the church fathers alone in their little cells, but no, more often than not they were part of a larger community.

And now John Mark Comer is doing quite a bit work on this whole idea of practicing the way of getting people together in groups, watching videos, committing to various spiritual disciplines, all with the whole idea of becoming more like Jesus. Now if you aren't in some sort of small group, one that's working to help all of you grow like Jesus, really consider finding or starting one.

Interacting with a group of growing apprentices to Jesus will not only teach you lots about how to become a loving, non judgmental disciple of his, but it'll give you plenty of opportunities to practice non judgmental acceptance and love during Lent and always.

That's all for this podcast, for transcripts, links to related material and much more to help you learn to know, trust, apply and teach the Bible, go to www.bible805.com for now, let me end with this benediction and prayer.

May you walk each day surrounded by the gracious love of the Father, guided by the gentle wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and conscious of the astoundingly real presence of Jesus, who will walk with you until you're no more a hobo soul, no more a transient wandering heart, but at home in the kingdom prepared for you with your God forever. Amen.