by Andy Stanley
After the dramatic introduction of Jesus by John the Baptist, no one expected Jesus to architect something New. Just the opposite. If He was indeed the Messiah, His role was to extend something old. If He were a prophet, His task would be to shepherd the nation back to the old ways. If He had been satisfied with the mantle of rabbi or teacher, His role would have been to clarify and apply the ancient words of Moses. Whichever role He chose, New wasn’t part of the script. Improved? Perhaps. But not New. There were three facets of the New that Jesus unleashed in the world. First, was His New movement, the church. Then, He explains to His disciples the terms and conditions of the New covenant, a New arrangement between God and humankind. Finally, He gave us a New command – a single command that was to serve as the overarching ethic for His New movement – as I have loved you, so you must love one another. Jesus came to fulfill and replace much of what was in place. New things don’t generally bother us until we realize it means letting go of old, comfortable things. As I read this book I focused on these three facets. The church for instance it had to be hard to convince people to follow Jesus without any scripture to substantiate the facts. The apostles were passionate and believable is why the church made it out of the first century. The terms and conditions Jesus outlined them with the apostles over His 3 year ministry. Think about it what a privilege it was to be with Jesus everyday for three years. Finally, the New covenant was put in place because Jesus was the fulfillment of the old covenant. The New covenant is based on love. We are to love one another like Christ loves us. Before reading this book I gave the Old Testament the same weight as the New. But, Mr.. Stanley opened my eyes to realize further that the Old Testament was for a nation. While the New Testament is for us.
I intend to keep reading and studying the Bible. I want to learn as much as I can about the History and what Jesus did for me. I further want to open my heart to be more forgiving where I can follow the New covenant like Jesus intended.
Hope this finds you doing as well as possible. I can’t pretend to say that I know what you are going through, God spared me so many things and your situation being one of them. Be praying for your early release. Love you.