Kurt Bennett's Blog

God Running is a place for anyone who wants to love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

It’s just a few days before Thanksgiving, at the time of this writing. And I want to share about how thankful I am and how grateful I am for the way God communicates the love of Christ through family and friends. And I count you, dear reader, as a friend. I’m so extraordinarily blessed by the people who read this blog, and I’m blessed by my family members who serve as a sounding board and encourage me, and who have helped me to put it together. And, very recently, I’ve been blessed with a team of people who help me to write this blog and get the message out to the world on the internet.

I know every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father. So I thank God for how rich I am in relationships. Relationships are the fuel of life, and God has given me an abundance of fuel. (James 1:17)

I seem to find His great love everywhere I turn, in the people He puts in my life.

Especially when I turn to Jesus.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Kurt

God Running is a place for anyone who wants to love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

In our last post from Romans, we looked at what Paul said about injustice in the world. If you’re interested, you can read more here: Is There Injustice on God’s Part?–Romans 9:6-24. In today’s post we’ll look at the contrast between Adolf Hitler’s ideology and the ideology of Jesus and Saint Paul.

Romans 9:25-33

As indeed he says in Hosea,

“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
    and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
    there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” (Hosea 2:23, 1 Peter 2:10)

And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” (Isaiah 10:22-23, Hosea 1:10)

And as Isaiah predicted,

“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
    we would have been like Sodom
    and become like Gomorrah.” (Isaiah 1:9, Deuteronomy 29:23, Isaiah 13:19, Jeremiah 49:18, Jeremiah 50:40, Amos 4:11)

What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
 and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” (Psalm 118:221, 1 Peter 2:6-7, Isaiah 8:14, Isaiah 28:16)

The Ideology Behind Adolf Hitler’s Atrocities

Today I watched an excerpt from an interview with the historian Tom Holland. Holland is an atheist who set out to write a book about how his own Western values were formed by ancient Greece and Rome. But as he started his research for the book, it wasn’t long before he realized the idea that Western values came from ancient Greece and Rome wasn’t true. What he found was that Western Values came from Christ and his teachings. The result was his book titled Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World. I read it a year or so ago and found it to be brutally honest. Both the virtues and the sins of the church are shared without reservation. I also found it fascinating and I highly recommend it.

Anyway, after watching this excerpt with Tom Holland, I was inspired to do a little research on Hitler’s ideology. We all know the horrors that were committed by the Nazi regime. But how did Hitler and the Nazis come to believe their approach was the “right” approach, from their perspective?

What I learned was that Hitler was a committed social Darwinist. That is to say, a big important part of his ideology was the concept of “survival of the fittest.” He believed, as did the ancient Greeks, that goodness was defined by strength and beauty. Hitler also believed the Germans were the strongest and most beautiful race of people on the planet. The social Darwinism that Hitler believed in, though, went a step further; because of his belief in survival of the fittest, he said it was not only the right of Germans to kill and subdue other races, but it was their obligation. So he, and others like him, took the idea of “survival of the fittest” to “might makes right.” In order for the strongest race in the world to flourish, Hitler said, the Germans must dominate all other races. And, in order to keep the German race pure, human beings with physical or intellectual disabilities were executed. Hitler’s goal was world domination by the pure and strong German race, which, in his mind, was in perfect harmony with survival of the fittest and nature itself.

Hitler’s ideology was aligned with ancient Greek and Roman ideology, which really comes down to the worship of power. If the Greeks or the Romans are the most powerful, then naturally they should dominate the races around them. If the German’s are the most powerful, then it’s natural for them to dominate other races, even an obligation, according to Hitler. (If you’re interested, I wrote about the way power was the ultimate value in the ancient western world here: The Difference Jesus Made: Sex and Power before Christ entered the world–Acts 28:11-19.)

Jesus and Saint Paul

In today’s passage Paul is sharing about the beautiful gift of salvation, and how the Gentiles were blessed with this great gift from God. And how those Gentiles who had faith in Jesus as their Lord would belong to Him and be called sons of the living God. Paul also shared how Israel (meaning those Israelites who did not believe in Jesus) were those spoken of in Isaiah chapter 8, who would take offense at our Lord and stumble in their faith. (Isaiah 8:11-15)

God’s gift of salvation is possible for the Gentiles, as well as the believing Jews, and as well as any human being, because of the inclusiveness of Jesus and his Apostle Paul’s teachings. As Paul put it:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28, NASB)

So inside of Christ, there are only human beings. There are no categories. Anyone can come to Jesus.

Anyone.

And Hitler didn’t like that.

During Tom Holland’s interview he talks about how the Nazi ideology is antithetical to the ideology of Jesus and Paul. “For the Nazis, Jews and Greeks were completely separate, and we know where that led,” Holland says. He goes on to say that Hitler saw Paul’s teachings as having “corrupted” the power ideology of Greece. Jesus, who taught we’re to feed the hungry and give to the poor and help the homeless, brought us to the point where we believe human beings have a right to food, and shelter, and a right to help from those who are capable of helping. Today, in the West, we all believe in human rights. And, according to Holland, the reason we believe in human rights is because of Jesus and His disciples. We believe all human beings are created in the image of God, not just our race of humans, or our class of humans, or our gender of humans, but all.

There are so many beautiful things about Jesus and his teachings. But I find that one of the most beautiful is the way Jesus welcomes everyone, no matter who they are.

Notes:

Tom Holland, Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, Basic Books; Illustrated edition (October 29, 2019)

Victims of the Nazi Era: Nazi Racial Ideology, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The Murder of People with Disabilities, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Religious views of Adolf Hitler, Wikipedia

Image of Saint Paul via Picryl–Public Domain. Image of Hitler via wikicommons.

The Love Like Jesus Book

Available on Amazon, Google Play Books, and Audible!

Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

In this heartfelt, Scripture-rich journey, Kurt Bennett invites you to study not just the words of Jesus, but His actions—His love, His mercy, His boundaries, and even His naps.

Honest. Practical. Deeply human.

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others. Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus.

(Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon, the ebook is now available on Google Play Books, and the audiobook is available on Audible.)

Now you can take Love Like Jesus with you wherever life happens.
We recently released the audiobook version, beautifully narrated by Jonathan St. John. And it’s available on the following platforms:

AudibleiTunes/Apple BooksAudiobooks.comSpotify

It’s also available on Amazon, Hoopla, Audiobooksnow, Chirp, Libro, Overdrive, and virtually everywhere audiobooks are offered.

You can listen right now!

From the archives: This blog, which was originally published on August 2, explores the connection between the struggle Paul highlights in Romans 7 (namely, having the desire to do right while lacking the will to do it) and the interrogation of Peter and John in Acts 4. After the apostles healed a crippled man in the name of Jesus, the high priest and others interrogating them recognized that Peter and John had been with Jesus, which is precisely how we can overcome the struggle Paul outlines in Romans. The more we are with Jesus, the more we are like Jesus, and the more our will conforms to His.

Love Does volunteers packing meals for those in need.

God Running is a place for anyone who wants to love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

Read Romans 7.

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. (Romans 7:18)

I definitely don’t have the grace Paul had. I’m sure I’m a greater sinner than Paul, and I’m guessing you feel the same way. So what shall we do then? Because we, like Paul “. . . have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”

We need help.

While I was reading Romans 7, I was reminded of how Peter and John conducted themselves in Acts chapter 4.

On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:5-13)

Peter and John were such amazing communicators and such remarkable virtuous human beings because “they had been with Jesus.” (If you’re interested you can check out a related post here: The Single Most Important Thing You Can Do to Become More Like Jesus?)

So as a Jesus follower, the solution to the problem Paul raises in Acts chapter 7: our lack of ability to follow Jesus closely and live sin free lives, and the answer to how we can be transformed into the likeness of Jesus the way Peter and John were, is, to do what Peter and John did.

For all that to happen, I need to do what those leaders recognized in Peter and John. I need to be with Jesus. The more I can be with Jesus, the more I’ll become like Jesus. The more I’ll be transformed into his likeness, the way Peter and John were transformed.

Of course we can’t be with him physically, but I thank God He has provided ways for us to be in his presence. Below you’ll find 10 ways you and I can be with Jesus.

To be with Jesus, connect with people who resemble Jesus: As much as you possibly can, find the most Christlike people you can, and connect yourself to those people to the greatest degree you can. This is so important that I started to write this list in a previous blog post but stopped after number one. Because it’s so important, I asked you dear readers to just focus on finding and connecting with people who resemble Jesus, and nothing else. As I said, if you didn’t do anything else but this, you would be on your way to becoming a changed man or woman. Changed more into the likeness of Jesus. (If you’re interested, you can read more here: The Single Most Important Thing You Can Do to Become More Like Jesus?)To be with Jesus, take Communion: Taking Communion is a way of communing with Jesus. When we partake of the Eucharist we connect with Jesus in a profoundly intimate way. Also praying to Jesus in the presence of the Eucharist can be an amazing way to connect with him. So to be with Jesus, take communion often.To be with Jesus, read God’s Word: In John chapter one we see that Jesus is God’s Word. So when we engage with God’s Word we’re engaging with Jesus. In Drew Dyck’s excellent book about self discipline,  Your Future Self Will Thank You , he offers this great tip on how to form the habit of starting your day with God’s Word: Leave your Bible on your nightstand next to your bed. When you wake up in the morning, reach over, pick up your Bible, and read it. It’s likely you’re already conditioned to consume content (from your phone) when you first wake up in the morning so if you’ll just pick up your Bible first thing, you’ll read it. Do this every single morning. Even if you only read a verse or two, do it every morning and you’ll find yourself in the habit of receiving from Jesus daily.To be with Jesus, pray: Pray. Pray every day. Pray while you read your Bible in the morning and make it a two way conversation with Jesus. Pray after you read your Bible in the morning. Pray the way Jesus instructed us to pray: “Our Father . . .” Pray “The Way of Jesus Prayer” from 1 Corinthians 13. Pray as you go through your day. Check in with Jesus often in the manner of Brother Lawrence from  The Practice of the Presence of God . Pray before meals, give thanks. Pray in lonely places the way Jesus did. Pray inside your church. Pray in your closet. Pray out loud. Pray standing. Pray with your hands raised to heaven. Pray on your face with your nose in the carpet. Pray with your wife and your kids and your friends. Pray before you go to bed. To be with Jesus, pray.To be with Jesus, study Jesus: If you read my book  Love Like Jesus , you know about how the very intentional study of Jesus in the Gospels changed my life forever. I looked at his every interaction with another human being and each of his teachings and his life. I highly recommend a deep dive into Jesus in the Gospels as a way to be in his presence, as a way to be with him.To be with Jesus, study the lives of those who have most resembled Jesus: In previous blog posts we’ve looked at the lives of the Apostles Peter and John. But we can also look at the lives of the two disciples of the Apostle John, Ignatius and Polycarp. (If you’re interested you can read an epistle Ignatius wrote here: The Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans.) We can look at the life of someone like Teresa of Avila. (If you want to, you can learn more about Teresa of Avila here:  The Way of Perfection .) We can look at the life of a Church Father such as Augustine. Studying these people can inspire us in our connection with Jesus. Studying people who resemble Jesus can help us to enter into his presence.To be with Jesus, serve with Jesus: When we want to be with someone and love them and have a relationship with them we learn about what they love. And Jesus loves to serve. He has a heart for the poor. So help the poor. Find Christlike people who are helping the poor, and do something to help them help the poor. Ignatius, the leader of the ancient church of Antioch, wrote that one way to determine if someone was a false teacher was to find out whether or not he helped the poor. And you can connect with Jesus by helping orphans and widows too. James tells us that God loves it when we help orphans and widows. By serving in these ways we’re just doing things we know Jesus loves. That’s what someone does when they want a relationship with another person.To be with Jesus, do everything with Jesus: If you want to be intimate with someone, there’s no substitute for history. I was on a streak for a few days of asking God to be by my side throughout every minute of the day. For significant periods, to my surprise and delight, He was! (Disclaimer: I’m early in the process of trying to establish this practice and it’s still very much a work in progress.) So here’s the way it works: In the morning I ask God to go through my day with me by my side. And before I begin to do anything, or as I begin to do something, or if I forget — halfway through doing something, I ask God if I can not do this alone. I ask Him if He will do it with me. If I’m alone in the car I clear the McDonald’s wrappers and phone charger cord off the passenger seat and ask Him to join me. Sometimes if I’m at the dining room table I’ll pull out a chair for Him to sit in. If I’m in a group I silently ask Him if He will join us. It’s a little streaky whether or not I feel His presence but I’ll take every minute I can get. Life is so much better with Him than without Him.To be with Jesus, be vulnerable with Jesus: Think about your closest most intimate relationships. After time spent, and history experienced eventually you got around to being vulnerable with each other. You shared things that you wouldn’t share with anyone else. You shared things you didn’t want anyone else to know. Be that way with Jesus. Christ loves the humble person but humility doesn’t necessarily require another person (or another Person). Vulnerability requires another. So in a certain sense vulnerability is humility in relationship. Jesus wants you to give your whole self to him, including your vulnerable parts. (Hicks)To be with Jesus, love the people around you: God puts certain people around you and around me, and sometimes those people sin differently than we do. And when people sin differently than we do, we sometimes find them to be obnoxious! I’m pretty sure that was intentional. Part of what God wants us to learn during our time here on planet earth is to love people who we find obnoxious. Like most things in life we learn about relationships through experience. If we’re intentional about it we can learn how to love people better through practice. And when we practice loving the people around us well, even when they’re obnoxious, we learn how to love Jesus better too. Not only that, but there’s a direct connection to Jesus here as well. At the judgement they asked, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?” And Jesus will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:31-46)

To be transformed into a more Christlike human being, I, you, we need to be with him. We need to make our relationship with Jesus everything we can make it. We need to spend time in his presence.

Like Peter and John, we need to be with Jesus.

Unlike Peter and John, we don’t have his physical presence, but we still have these ten ways.

“Father, please be merciful to us because we’re sinners. We know, no good thing dwells in our flesh. We desire to do what is good and right in Your sight but we lack the ability to carry it out on our own. We so desire to be transformed into the likeness of Your Son. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit and inspire us to be with Jesus in every way possible. Bless us with Jesus’ presence. Make each one of us into a person who’s filled with the love of Christ.

“In Jesus’ name.

“Amen”

Notes:

Drew Dyck, Your Future Self Will Thank You, Moody Publishers, 2019

Father Boniface Hicks, On Prayer and Intimacy with Jesus, Pints With Aquinas interview with Matt Fradd, 5/27/2021

Available on Amazon, Google Play Books, and Audible!

Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

In this heartfelt, Scripture-rich journey, Kurt Bennett invites you to study not just the words of Jesus, but His actions—His love, His mercy, His boundaries, and even His naps.

Honest. Practical. Deeply human.

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others. Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus.

(Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon, the ebook is now available on Google Play Books, and the audiobook is available on Audible.)

Now you can take Love Like Jesus with you wherever life happens.
We recently released the audiobook version, beautifully narrated by Jonathan St. John. And it’s available on the following platforms:

AudibleiTunes/Apple BooksAudiobooks.comSpotify

It’s also available on Amazon, Hoopla, Audiobooksnow, Chirp, Libro, Overdrive, and virtually everywhere audiobooks are offered.

You can listen right now!

God Running is a place for anyone who wants to love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

In our last post from Romans we explored the fascinating story of how a Chief Rabbi became a Christian. If you’re interested you can read more here: A Chief Rabbi Follows Jesus: The Controversial Conversion of Chief Rabbi Israel Zolli–Romans 9:4-5. In today’s post, we’ll look at what Paul said about God and injustice in the world.

Romans 9:6-24

But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

Who’s Your Father?

Paul is explaining here about how not all who are descended from Israel are true children of God (or Abraham). As usual, Paul is aligned with Jesus:

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. (John 8:31-40)

So it’s not about the DNA here. Not all who biologically descended from Abraham are Abraham’s children in God’s sight. Those Jews who do as Abraham did, those who do the will of God, are Abraham’s children, and God’s children, in His sight. And those Jews who had believed him, and who abided in Jesus’ word, were Jesus’ true disciples. (John 8:31)

Is There Injustice on God’s Part?

Paul goes on to talk about how God loved Jacob, but hated Esau, even before they were born.

And Paul talks about how God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so God could demonstrate His power throughout the earth.

Having done that, is there injustice on God’s part? “By no means!” Paul wrote.

Paul points out that the creator has the right to create whatever he desires for whatever purpose he chooses. The bowl made of marble can’t complain to the sculptor that it’s unfair it’s not Michelangelo’s Pietà. Paul suggests one possible explanation for God’s position regarding Esau and Pharaoh is that he created them with a specific purpose in mind, to make known the riches of his glory.

Concerning Esau, another possible explanation could be that God knew what Esau’s choices would be before Esau made them. Even as mere mortals we adults do this with our children. When a dad puts a piece of candy in front of his three year old, he knows what’s coming before it happens.

God’s foreknowledge could also explain the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. As I once heard a man say: When the sun shines down on wax, it melts. But when the sun shines down on clay, it hardens. I’ve seen this in different friends over my lifetime. One person chooses to be soft toward God, and when trials come he draws closer. Another chooses to be hard toward God, and when trials come, he chooses to revolt.

A Tale of Two Fathers

In the book Love Like Jesus I tell the story about two fathers and their very different responses to tragedy. When I was growing up in Chicago, I had this friend named Danny Rodriguez. He was a great kid from a great family. And his father, Mateo Rodriguez, was one of the nicest most likeable people in the neighborhood. Everyone loved Mateo. Tragically, Danny died in a car crash when he was still a young man. His father, the nicest and most likable person in the neighborhood, turned to alcohol for comfort. Not long after, he began beating his wife. His abusive behavior became worse and worse until she finally obtained a restraining order. One night Mateo showed up at his wife’s house drunk. He began banging on the door. She called the police. He pulled out a gun. There were shots fired. And when it was over, Mateo Rodriguez lay there dead on the doorstep.

There was another man in my neighborhood, the same age as Mateo. His name is Alex Rivera. But in the beginning, he had an entirely different reputation from Mateo. Alex had a reputation for his own crazy kind of meanness. He liked to hit women, rob the homeless, and engage in other cowardly behavior. Everyone in the neighborhood was sure Alex would die young or land in prison. And like Mateo, Alex also suffered a tragic loss. But he didn’t lose just one son; he lost two. The first died of cancer, the second died in a car crash. But unlike Mateo Rodriguez, Alex turned to Christ for comfort. And in the process, he died to himself and was transformed. He became a committed follower of Jesus who, to this day, loves God and loves people.

And today, everyone seems to love Alex.

God and Free Will

The more I study God and Christ, the more amazed I am with how serious God is about our free will, and how committed He is to preserving our free will. “In the world you will have tribulation,” Jesus said. (John 16:33) And how we respond to tribulation is up to each one of us. Paul is an example of a believer who endured tremendous tribulation. And he chose to have a soft heart toward Jesus. Over his lifetime, the tribulations Paul endured brought him closer to Christ.

Both Mateo Rodriguez and Alex Rivera suffered a brutal loss, but each responded differently. What was it that caused one to go one way, and the other to go God’s way? I submit that it was the respective choices they made. When Alex lost his two sons, he decided to die to himself. He gave himself up for dead so to speak, and he submitted himself to God.

He recognized he would never understand the why behind the loss of his two sons. He recognized God’s sovereignty. He realized God was his maker. God made his heart, soul, and mind.

Alex recognized that it makes sense that he, Alex, didn’t understand the tragedy in his life.

Not understanding is exactly what we would expect concerning the God who is the Creator of all things. He is the One who created the neutron star, a teaspoon of which would weigh six billion tons. He is the One who created the flea which can accelerate 20 times faster than the space shuttle. He is the One who created the people who built the space shuttle. He is the Creator of the caterpillar that metamorphosizes into a butterfly. And He is the Creator of the Butterfly Nebula. He is the One who created atoms, and the protons, neutrons, and electrons that make up atoms. He is the One who created the quarks that make up the protons and neutrons. And He is the One who created the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall, a structure made up of galaxies that may be the biggest thing in the universe.

Why would we think that we would understand the actions of a being like that?

That would be like a flea understanding the actions of the man who wrote the article about the flea accelerating faster than the space shuttle. It makes sense that the flea doesn’t understand the actions of the author of the article describing him.

In the same way it makes sense that you and I don’t understand the actions of the Author of the human being, who is also the Author of the universe the human being lives in.

Alex recognized that “these are but the outer fringe of his works.” (Job 26:14 NIV) Alex recognized he will never understand all the whys behind the business of a Person like Him. He knew he could never understand why.

But he also knew his personal pain could not be because God does not love him. Because God lost His son too. And He suffered that loss so we can be with Him in heaven.

So Alex softened his heart toward God, and Alex decided to die.

Do you see the irony here? When Alex lost his sons yet decided to surrender his will, when he died to himself in that way, that is precisely what allowed him to be reborn — as a follower of Jesus.

Then there’s Mateo. Mateo lost his son but made a decision not to die. Mateo decided he would rather rage than to surrender his will like Alex, and like Paul, and like Jesus. And when he made that decision to remain in his rage, and not to die, he lost the opportunity to be reborn. And do you see the irony here as well? The irony is, in the end, Mateo’s own rage consumed him, and he died anyway. But not in the way that leads to rebirth, but in the way that leads to a dark and tragic end.

The bottom line is this: Each one of us decides how we will respond to tragedy.

In the end, in my experience:

Faith in God, complete humility, and absolute surrender are the keys to successfully surviving suffering and tribulation.

Notes:

See also Turns Out Life Is Not A Hotel: Suffering Part 3

The Love Like Jesus Book

Available on Amazon, Google Play Books, and Audible!

Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

In this heartfelt, Scripture-rich journey, Kurt Bennett invites you to study not just the words of Jesus, but His actions—His love, His mercy, His boundaries, and even His naps.

Honest. Practical. Deeply human.

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others. Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus.

(Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon, the ebook is now available on Google Play Books, and the audiobook is available on Audible.)

Now you can take Love Like Jesus with you wherever life happens.
We recently released the audiobook version, beautifully narrated by Jonathan St. John. And it’s available on the following platforms:

AudibleiTunes/Apple BooksAudiobooks.comSpotify

It’s also available on Amazon, Hoopla, Audiobooksnow, Chirp, Libro, Overdrive, and virtually everywhere audiobooks are offered.

You can listen right now!

The Conversion of St. Paul via Vincenzo Camuccini

God Running is a place for anyone who wants to love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

In our last post from Romans we saw how deep and abiding was Paul’s love for the Jews, and how he prayed for them. And how his prayers were a big part of why he was able to care for them so, and forgive them for the way they persecuted him. If you’re interested, you can read more here: Unceasing Anguish–Romans 9:1-3.

In today’s post we’ll explore the blessings given to the Jewish people, and we’ll learn about how a Chief Rabbi became a Christian.

Romans 9:4-5

They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

A Chief Rabbi Encounters Jesus

Israel Zolli was the Chief Rabbi of Rome during the second world war. He was also an Italian doctorate professor of philosophy and an author. As the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Zolli once offered himself as a hostage to the Nazi forces occupying his city in exhcange for the release of several hundred of his fellow Jews. Eventually, recognizing the Nazi practice of executing Chief Rabbis in other prominent cities, Pope Pius XII hid Zolli and his family inside the Vatican.

After Rome was liberated, but before the end of the war, Israel Zolli was leading the Yom Kippur service in his synagogue. And during the service he had a vision of Jesus. And in his vision, Jesus said to Zolli: “You are here for the last time.”

On February 13, 1945, Zolli and his wife converted to Catholicism.

The Blessings of the Jews

I found Israel Zolli’s story to be fascinating for several reasons but one of them is because of the way he reminds me of Paul. In Philippians Paul tells us how utterly Jewish he is: “. . . circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee . . .” (Philippians 3:5)

Zolli was a Chief Rabbi for thirty years. On his mother’s side there was 130 years of rabbinical tradition. Zolli was a Hebrew of Hebrews and even a Rabbi of Rabbis. (Klyber)

Paul encountered Jesus in a vision on the road to Damascus.

Israel Zolli encountered Jesus in a vision during the service on Yom Kippur, a service he was facilitating.

As Paul wrote, the Jewish people were given by God the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the law, the worship, and the promises. From them God raised up the patriarchs, and through the Jews God raised up the Christ. What a privilege it is for the Jewish people to be entrusted with all of those blessings, and through so many generations. So why would Paul, a Hebrew of Hebrews, give all that up to follow Christ?

The Fulfillment of the Promise to the Jews

In a very real way, Paul is not giving up his Judaism to follow Jesus. Because Jesus is the fulfillment of Judaism.

I think Israel Zolli sheds light on this idea in a beautiful way.

One time, during an interview, Zolli was asked why he had given up the Synagogue for the Church. And he answered:

“But I have not given it up. Christianity is the integration (completion or crown) of the Synagogue. For the Synagogue was a promise, and Christianity is the fulfillment of that promise. The Synagogue pointed to Christianity; Christianity presupposes the Synagogue. So you see, one cannot exist without the other. What I converted to was the living Christianity.”

The interviewer probed him: “Then you believe that the Messiah (the Christ) has come?”

And Zolli answered: “Yes, positively. I have believed it many years. And now I am so firmly convinced of the truth of it that I can face the whole world and defend my faith with the certainty and solidity of the mountains.”

References:

Israel Zolli, Wikipedia

Father Arthur Klyber and Reverend Stephen Boyle, Before the Dawn: The Mysterious Conversion of Rome’s Chief Rabbi

Image of the Conversion of St. Paul mural via Vincenzo Camuccini–wikimedia commons

Available on Amazon, Google Play Books, and Audible!

Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

In this heartfelt, Scripture-rich journey, Kurt Bennett invites you to study not just the words of Jesus, but His actions—His love, His mercy, His boundaries, and even His naps.

Honest. Practical. Deeply human.

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others. Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus.

(Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon, the ebook is now available on Google Play Books, and the audiobook is available on Audible.)

Now you can take Love Like Jesus with you wherever life happens.
We recently released the audiobook version, beautifully narrated by Jonathan St. John. And it’s available on the following platforms:

AudibleiTunes/Apple BooksAudiobooks.comSpotify

It’s also available on Amazon, Hoopla, Audiobooksnow, Chirp, Libro, Overdrive, and virtually everywhere audiobooks are offered.

You can listen right now!

God Running is a place for anyone who wants to love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

In our last post from Romans, we looked at the great hope we have as Jesus followers. If you’re interested you can read more here: 4 Reasons for the Enormous Hope We Have in Christ–Romans 8:29-39. In today’s post, we’ll look at the remarkable passion Paul had for the salvation of the unbelieving Jews, and where Paul’s love and passion came from.

Romans 9:1-3

I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

Unceasing Anguish

So Paul here is sharing how he anguishes in his heart over the unbelief of his own people, the Jews. He even wishes he could sacrifice himself for their salvation. He was so passionate about the salvation of the Jews, that he would not only die for them, but he would that he himself could be cut off from Christ, for them, so they could be connected with Jesus. After the Israelites worshiped the golden calf, Moses said something similar when he was pleading with God on their behalf. Moses said to God, “But now, if you will forgive their sin–but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” (Exodus 32:32)

Of course, that’s not the way it works. A mere mortal like Paul or Moses can’t trade himself for the eternal salvation of another or others. Only Jesus can do that.

But the amount of grace Paul was given, to feel so deeply for his fellow Jews that he wished he could lay down his eternal life for them, blows my mind. These people Paul desires to be saved are the same people who tried to stone him to death, and who lied about him, and who had him thrown into prison. Some even swore an oath that they wouldn’t eat until they killed Paul. And here we see how Paul cares about these people. It’s amazing. It’s an inspiring example of how Paul is closely following the teachings of Jesus. “Love your enemies,” Jesus said. Paul did that. (Matthew 5:44)

Where Does Paul’s Love Come From

In Matthew 5:44, after Jesus tells us to love our enemies, he goes on to say, “. . . and pray for those who persecute you . . .” (Matthew 5:44)

And that’s something we can notice about this passion of Paul’s. It’s manifested in prayer. In verse one of the next chapter in Romans, Paul writes: “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.”

But I think prayer is even more than a manifestation of the love of Christ. I think praying for our enemies is connected to love for them in another way. I believe when we pray for our enemies, there’s a chance it will change our enemies and help our enemies and bless our enemies.

But, I believe that certainly, when I pray for my enemies, it will change me.

I think that a big part of why Paul was able to love the people who persecuted him was because Paul prayed for the people who persecuted him.

When I pray earnestly for my enemies, or even for the neighbor whose political views don’t align with mine, or for the guy at work who doesn’t play fair, or for the aunt who’s obnoxious at family gatherings, or for the politician who doesn’t behave well: it changes me. Praying for our enemies changes us.

Jesus did that. Jesus prayed for his enemies. When Jesus was on the cross he prayed, “Father forgive them . . .” (Luke 23:34)

And forgiveness of our enemies is in large part where this starts. When we forgive those who wrong us, we’re not just giving them free passes to harm us or others again. In the same way that praying for our enemies changes us first, and may have an effect on the one who harmed us if they’re open to it, forgiveness also firstly changes our own hearts. We are choosing to let go of what they did and give it over to God; giving the pain we carry from their wrongdoing away to the One who comes before us in rank. In other words, giving it forth to God — “for-giving”.

Forgiveness, then, is the choice that allows us to become the kind of person who can pray for his enemies. If I choose to hold on to hurt and wrongdoing, the only one who really gets hurt by it is me. My heart becomes darker, more focused on how bad it was that something was done to me, and how awful that person makes me feel. I turn in on myself. The choice to forgive allows me to let go and not let the wrong that was done to me get in the way of the fact that Jesus loves them, too. It positions my heart to desire the same thing Jesus does, and it puts me in a position where I can honestly pray for Him to work in their lives, and to be honestly glad for them if and when He does.

So forgiving and praying for our enemies is not only a way we can obey Jesus, it’s also a way we can be like Jesus.

And praying for our enemies is a way we can open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit’s flow of love for others.

Praying for our enemies opens us up to be filled with the love of Christ for our enemies.

“Oh Father have mercy on us, intervene in our lives and inspire us to pray for our enemies and those people we find to be difficult. Inspire us to love our enemies and do Your work in us to make us more into the likeness of Your Son Jesus. Help us. Change us. Intervene in our lives and do whatever is necessary to make each one of us a person who loves others, even our enemies.

“We ask this of You in Jesus’ name.

“Amen.”

Notes

Remember when Jesus sent his disciples ahead of him into the Samaritan village to make preparations, but the Samaritans didn’t receive them. And James and John said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” What did Jesus do? Jesus rebuked them. (Luke 9:51-56)

Image of desperate prayer by Matthieu Jarry — Creative Commons

The Love Like Jesus book

Available on Amazon, Google Play Books, and Audible!

Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

In this heartfelt, Scripture-rich journey, Kurt Bennett invites you to study not just the words of Jesus, but His actions—His love, His mercy, His boundaries, and even His naps.

Honest. Practical. Deeply human.

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others. Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus.

(Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon, the ebook is now available on Google Play Books, and the audiobook is available on Audible.)

Now you can take Love Like Jesus with you wherever life happens.
We recently released the audiobook version, beautifully narrated by Jonathan St. John. And it’s available on the following platforms:

AudibleiTunes/Apple BooksAudiobooks.comSpotify

It’s also available on Amazon, Hoopla, Audiobooksnow, Chirp, Libro, Overdrive, and virtually everywhere audiobooks are offered.

You can listen right now!

An icon of St. Monica by Sr. Hannah of the Holy Assumption Russian Orthodox Monastery in California.

God Running is a place for anyone who wants to love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

Romans 8:29-39

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
  we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

From Despair to Hope

In our last post from Romans I shared about how I recently suffered several hours of deep despair. (If you’re interested you can read more here: Groaning in Prayer–Romans 8:26-28. In today’s post we’ll look at the reasons why we have such great immense enormous hope in Jesus.

So yes, I was in a very difficult emotional place last week. And I was ruminating. And I was struggling. It was intense to say the least. And then I began to groan in prayer, and you can refer to that post if you want to learn whether or not I slept that night. But in Romans 8, after Paul writes about our groaning, he goes on to share about our great hope. Below you’ll find four reasons we have enormous hope in Jesus.

4 Reasons We Have HopeAll things work for our good. We looked at this in our last post but to summarize, Paul writes that if we love God, and surrender our lives to Him, and allow ourselves to be called according to His purpose, then all things He allows in each of our lives will work together for good. We may not see how right now. We may not even see how it all comes together in this life at all. But we can take great hope in that our Eternal Lord God the Father always has our best interests in His Mind and Heart. And what He allows He uses for our own ultimate good. (Romans 8:28)
God is for us. God, Who is Love itself, Goodness itself, Wisdom itself, the Great God Who created the universe and all that is in it: He is for us. With His greatness and awesomeness in mind, who can be against us? The truth is, it doesn’t matter who or what might set them self or itself against us. With God on our side, whatever difficulty we might find ourselves in, every situation is overwhelmingly in our favor. (Romans 8:31)
Jesus intercedes for you and for me. Paul writes that Jesus is at the right hand of God the Father interceding for us. I don’t care who you might bring up as a possible intercessor on my behalf; it could be Clarence Darrow or F. Lee Bailey, but no one compares to the Son of God, the one who died, and more than that, who rose and who is at the right hand of God Himself. Jesus is interceding on my behalf, and that gives me great hope and comfort.
We can know these things for sure because of the Cross. One of the beautiful parts of our hope in God and in Christ is how much God sacrificed on our behalf. God gave His only begotten Son, in whom He is well pleased, for you and for me. Now sometimes, I think, we say this and hear this so much that we sort of lose sight of what it means. Jesus wasn’t just killed; He was savagely tortured, to put it lightly. He was beaten, flogged, crowned with a helmet of thorns, and forced to carry the Cross for half a mile before being nailed to it, and He did it willingly. He knew exactly who, throughout all of time, would stay at His side and who would reject and revile Him in the end, and still He chose the Cross, because He knew that it would open the way for all of us to have a chance to be with God forever in Paradise.

So if God went to such an extreme as to not even spare His own Son, knowing full well what that Son would endure and how many would reject Him anyway, then why would He keep anything else from us, as long as it’s for our own good? We can be sure of God’s love for us and His good will toward us because of the way He gave up Jesus for us. (Romans 8:32)

So then, shall we lose hope when tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or the sword come?

No.

Even if for the Lord’s sake and for the sake of His people we’re being killed all day long like sheep being slaughtered, still we have the great hope of Christ.

In all these things we’re more than conquerors through Jesus.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

Notes:

Image of Saint Monica via Midwest Augustinians (Listed in Google images as Creative Commons)

The Love Like Jesus Book

Available on Amazon, Google Play Books, and Audible!

Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

In this heartfelt, Scripture-rich journey, Kurt Bennett invites you to study not just the words of Jesus, but His actions—His love, His mercy, His boundaries, and even His naps.

Honest. Practical. Deeply human.

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others. Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus.

(Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon, the ebook is now available on Google Play Books, and the audiobook is available on Audible.)

Now you can take Love Like Jesus with you wherever life happens.
We recently released the audiobook version, beautifully narrated by Jonathan St. John. And it’s available on the following platforms:

AudibleiTunes/Apple BooksAudiobooks.comSpotify

It’s also available on Amazon, Hoopla, Audiobooksnow, Chirp, Libro, Overdrive, and virtually everywhere audiobooks are offered.

You can listen right now!

Image by Will Foster, used with permission, willfosterphoto.com.

God Running is a place for anyone who wants to love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

In our last post from Romans, we looked at what Paul wrote about how the world we live in is just not right, how all of creation suffers, and how we suffer too. And we saw how one man, a man who suffered a seriously difficult childhood, looks at the suffering we experience in this life. If you’re interested, you can read more here: The Awful Massive Void We Live With–Romans 8:19-25.

In today’s post I’ll share about a recent time when I was ruminating about my problems and unable to sleep, and the peace the Lord brought to me.

Romans 8:26-28

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Groaning in Prayer

A few nights ago, I was experiencing some deep, seriously intense emotional pain, the kind you can physically feel in your heart and your gut. I was unable to sleep because of it. I was ruminating about my problems for hours until it was getting on toward 2 am. Around that time, instead of ruminating, I started praying. My prayers were akin to what Paul describes here in Romans 8. I was just sharing the pain with my Lord, asking Him to look and see how awful it was. I was groaning. And at first it almost seemed as though the groaning was making it hurt worse. But after fifteen or so minutes of groaning, I started to think about how big God is, and how small I am.

God’s Immeasurable Wisdom

My Eternal Lord God the Father is the Creator of the universe and all that is in it. And I’m just a little baby human being. Just the tiniest speck on the time-space continuum. He who searches hearts – including my heart – knows what’s in the mind of the Spirit, and He knows what’s in my mind and heart and soul. He knows exactly what’s going on inside of me. And He knows, so much better than I do, what’s best for me. In short, He is God; I am not.

As I groaned in prayer, I remembered: God has allowed this. God has allowed these problems that are causing me this pain. And because He loves me, and because he always desires what’s best for me, He’s allowing these problems for a purpose. He will use these problems and this pain for my ultimate good.

If I love God, and surrender my life to Him, and allow myself to be called according to His purpose, then all things He allows in my life will work together for good. I may not see how right now. I may not even see how it all comes together in this life at all. But that’s what makes this all such a beautiful mystery; I know just enough to see that God is God, that He loves me, and if that’s true, then all of the things He allows will therefore be used for my ultimate good – and I get a front row seat to see Him do it in real time.

After these realizations, I was able to let go and just trust the infinitely greater wisdom and love of my Eternal Lord God, my Father and Creator.

And I found some measure of peace.

And I fell asleep.

Available on Amazon, Google Play Books, and Audible!

Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

In this heartfelt, Scripture-rich journey, Kurt Bennett invites you to study not just the words of Jesus, but His actions—His love, His mercy, His boundaries, and even His naps.

Honest. Practical. Deeply human.

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others. Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus.

(Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon, the ebook is now available on Google Play Books, and the audiobook is available on Audible.)

Now you can take Love Like Jesus with you wherever life happens.
We recently released the audiobook version, beautifully narrated by Jonathan St. John. And it’s available on the following platforms:

AudibleiTunes/Apple BooksAudiobooks.comSpotify

It’s also available on Amazon, Hoopla, Audiobooksnow, Chirp, Libro, Overdrive, and virtually everywhere audiobooks are offered.

You can listen right now!

You can be a great many things and defend your hate for enemies: Atheist, agnostic, astrologist, witch, an upstanding member of any number of world religions… you’ve got a smorgasbord to choose from. What you cannot be is a follower of Jesus. —Brant Hansen

Matthew 5:43-46

Notes:

Image of religious symbols via wikimedia commons (atheism symbol added) — Creative Commons

God Running is a place for anyone who wants to love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

In our last post from the book of Romans, we talked about suffering here on earth and the way a certain person, who’s close to me, has experienced a difficult childhood. And how this person shared his perspective on suffering as it relates to eternity. If you’re interested, you can read more here: What About Suffering?–Romans 8:1-18.

The timing was interesting, because that post, and several others about suffering and death and dying, came just before the assassination of Charlie Kirk. (I wrote about Kirk’s assassination and if you want to learn more, you can find that article here: Charlie Kirk and The Image of God.)

In today’s passage, Paul takes us beyond human suffering and expands his teaching to all of creation.

Romans 8:19-25

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

A Perfect Life

Imagine with me what a perfect life might look like: When I allow myself to dream of such a life, I imagine God fully present with me and my family. And He has given me a purpose. He’s given me important things to do in collaboration with Him. He’s given me His mission. He’s given me adventures to embark on. And these adventures are a perfect fit for me. Adventures I find fascinating. Adventures designed specifically for me. Adventures in which I’ll find great success because they’re adventures designed with me in Mind. I wake up in the morning excited to collaborate with God and Christ in these adventures. And when I’m in the presence of God and Christ, their faces light up when they see me. And for my family it’s the same.

And the environment we live in is perfect. Designed with us in Mind. Everywhere we look there’s beauty, wonder, and awe.

There’s no danger, no evil, no death, no entropy.

The overwhelming vibe is love and peace and joy.

Can you imagine?

What We Once Had

Imagining such a life might make us think of heaven. But if you think about it, we had all that once. We had it in the garden. And it was clearly God’s intention for us to live such a life, with Him, wrapped up in His love and peace and joy.

Last Sunday after church I had a conversation with my grandson Andrew about the Garden of Eden. We talked about why the God of Eternity might not want His brand new baby humans to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I shared about how a dad or mom could teach a five year old how to drive a car, but it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to do so. If a five year old tried to drive a 3,000 pound car, he might hurt himself and/or someone else. Andrew commented: “Yeah, so, God might want to wait until Adam and Eve were one or two thousand years old, so they would be ready to eat from that tree.”

I thought that was an impressively wise statement from a fourteen year old.

Later I remembered my nephew Kody, when he was five or six years old, jumped into the driver’s seat of his grandparent’s yellow Dodge Ram four-wheel drive pickup. Two other kids his age jumped into the cab with him. Kody knocked it into neutral and started to roll toward the edge of the driveway. The thing is, it happened at my dad and mom’s log cabin, which is on the side of a mountain in Talent, Oregon. So there they were, rolling toward the edge with nothing between them and the mountainside–and little Kody behind the wheel. Fortunately his grandmother was nearby. She quickly opened the door, pushed Kody out of the way, and slammed her foot on the brake.

Today, as we were talking about this misadventure, Kody’s grandmother commented: “Kids shouldn’t drive until their legs are long enough to reach the brakes.”

In the same way, brand new baby humans like Adam and Eve shouldn’t eat from the tree of knowledge until they’re ready for it.

Love Requires a Choice

During our conversation, Andrew and I also talked about how love requires a choice. I shared that if I forced my wife Kathy to live with me, and to be intimate with me, and Kathy had no choice in the matter: that’s not love. So in the garden, God, who wanted a loving relationship with Adam and Eve, gave them a choice. The two brand new baby humans could allow the God of eternity to decide what’s right and what’s wrong, or, they could decide for themselves. Any parent will recognize the situation where the young child thinks they know better than their father or mother.

Of course the two baby humans decided to disregard their Father’s warning. And we lost what we had.

We lost the perfect life.

The World is Not Right

I had a very close relationship with my dad. Especially as an adult. As an adult, I would call him my best friend. (Okay, so I would also call my wife Kathy my best friend, and also my sons Gabe and Nate, and also a few others–but you get the idea.) Anyway, my dad died several years ago and when he did, I was surprised at this particular feeling that came over me. And the feeling was this: an intense and disturbing perception that there was a terrible empty space in the world. There was an awful void where there shouldn’t be a void. I felt despair and distress because:

The world was not right.

But really, since that time in the garden, that’s how the world has always been.

The world is not right.

We lost the rightness of the world in the garden. We made a bad decision, and the world has not been right since.

As Paul writes, all of creation was subjected to futility. All of creation waits to be set free from its bondage to corruption. The whole creation groans.

And not only creation, but we ourselves.

Living in this fallen world is hard. There’s so much distress and despair. There’s a massive awful void where there shouldn’t be a massive awful void. Thank God for the hope of Jesus. As Paul says, In this hope we are saved.

Thank God for the hope of Jesus. I don’t think I could bear this life without Him.

Come Lord Jesus, come.

“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”

–C.S. Lewis

Notes:

Image of void via StockCake–Public Domain

The Love Like Jesus Book

Available on Amazon, Google Play Books, and Audible!

Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

In this heartfelt, Scripture-rich journey, Kurt Bennett invites you to study not just the words of Jesus, but His actions—His love, His mercy, His boundaries, and even His naps.

Honest. Practical. Deeply human.

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others. Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus.

(Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon, the ebook is now available on Google Play Books, and the audiobook is available on Audible.)

Now you can take Love Like Jesus with you wherever life happens.
We recently released the audiobook version, beautifully narrated by Jonathan St. John. And it’s available on the following platforms:

AudibleiTunes/Apple BooksAudiobooks.comSpotify

It’s also available on Amazon, Hoopla, Audiobooksnow, Chirp, Libro, Overdrive, and virtually everywhere audiobooks are offered.

You can listen right now!