Joe Fontenot's Blog

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Who saved a wretch like me…
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

At first, I thought that was a bit of a stretch.

A wretch. As in, wretched. 

Then I learned–at least cognitively–that it was true.

That’s the verse from Isaiah: “even our best actions are filthy” (64:6).

But then, when I had kids…I began to see a new side of this.

Kids are one of those factors in life that really show you who you are. Work is challenging, and (can be) rewarding. Friends and family are important. But kids are a different thing entirely.

It’s not only that you can’t hide from them…but you can no longer hide from yourself.

I’ve come to learn, the deeper one goes, the sweeter the grace is.

The post On being a…wretch appeared first on Joe Fontenot.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
– John 1:4

The light is Jesus.

And the darkness is pain. That’s anxiety, hurt, loss, Satan, our own sin–all the things that makes life harder than it should be.

From this we know:

Life is hard. Life with Jesus is still hard. But life with Jesus wins in the end.

To me, I cannot think of a greater encouragement.

The post The light shines still appeared first on Joe Fontenot.

“Repent,” says Peter, “and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19-20).

The message is as simple as that.

Yet, there are loads of people that don’t get that refreshed life.

And this can be disheartening.

In the West, as best I can tell, there are two main things that keep a person from accepting the gospel.

1: Insulation. Life is good. Or, at the very least, it’s a distraction.

2: Pride. I can do it myself. Which is to say, the opposite of surrender.

Equally in its simplicity, though, is the what does draw a person in.

First, it is God’s working, moving spirit. It is, by definition, God who saves. But strangely, God is not the only player in the equation.

Second is us. Or rather, God’s spirit living in us. Without seeing the effects, the gospel is an idea that requires great sacrifice. And that’s really just bad marketing.

But when God’s spirit is seen in the lives of others, the refreshing comes.

The post The beauty of the Gospel appeared first on Joe Fontenot.

After the strange time where Jesus had risen from the dead but not yet ascended into heaven, he told his followers: “Wait,” and I’ll send you a helper.

The great commission to go everywhere and share the good news was put on hold.

And so they waited. Day after day. But during that time, they were not idle.

Instead, they were “with one accord,” and they “devoted themselves to prayer” (Acts 1:14).

In other words, they spent their time focusing on unity and direction. What’s interesting is that the two can hardly be separated.

In John 17, several weeks before this, and on the night before the crucifixion, one of the key things Jesus prayed was that his followers would have unity.

It was only then, after this conscious and focused effort that the greatest gift God has ever given to his people–that is, himself–came.

The post How to wait appeared first on Joe Fontenot.

“Then go quickly and tell…”

– Matthew 28:7

These were the words of the angel to the first witnesses of Jesus’ empty tomb.

“So they departed,” it says, and went with “great joy” to find the others (Matthew 28:8).

But at the same time, another sending-out was happening. The religious leaders had assembled the council. Their guards had also reported the empty tomb to them.

And so they created a story. “Tell people,” they said, his disciples came at night and stole the body (28:13).

The interesting part of this is that, while both groups encountered the empty tomb, neither doubted it.

His followers received it with joy. And his enemies created a PR plan. But even they could not refute the facts. The best they could do was re-interpret them.

This is the nature of a true encounter with Jesus. Whether you like it or not, it’s not something you can ignore.

The post Go and tell, two opposite stories appeared first on Joe Fontenot.

“He has risen, just as He said. Come, see…”
– the Angel (Matthew 28:6)

The tomb wasn’t opened for Jesus.

In other accounts we read of Jesus showing up—post-resurrection—behind locked doors to talk and eat with the disciples. He didn’t physically need it the doors.

His resurrected body was different.

The tomb wasn’t opened for Jesus, it was opened for us.

The angel invites the first visitors, the women, to “come, see.” They in turn told the rest, who ran to see, too.

This was the start of something new. The something Jesus had been talking about for over three years.

It’s interesting. We usually use crosses (the sign of judgement) to symbolize our new life following Jesus. 

But lots of people died on crosses.

Maybe, instead, we should start using open tombs.

Nobody did that.

The post A note on the tomb appeared first on Joe Fontenot.

The moment of Jesus’ death, just after he called out ‘it is finished’ for all to hear, strange things happened.

One of which: the penal system that ran society (and to some degree, the economy) was no longer needed.

Its symbol—the 60 foot high curtain—was found torn from top to bottom. Previously, its job was to separated holy things (a single, annual emissary) from unholy things (all the rest of society, us).

Dying, Jesus created a way to preserve justice without the curtain. And then by coming back to life, he allowed a place for love and mercy to win.

When I think about my problems, work or home or wherever, it’s easy to get distracted. And it’s hard to be truly thankful, even for the good things.

Until, that is, I remember, because of someone else: I have full access to the king, the creator of the universe.

The post The hierarchy of thanks appeared first on Joe Fontenot.

“And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him”
– Matthew 27:44

It’s understandable that the soldiers would mock. They were hardened and did this for a living.

The same too for the religious leaders, but, of course, for different reasons.

However, what would draw the others—who, at the same time are themselves being crucified–to use the last bits of their energy to lob in a few insults?

Speaking hypothetically, if my last minutes were being tortured out of me,

I’m not sure I’d care about someone else.

Yet, we see a picture here of Jesus being reviled by everyone, save just a few. Even as he’s hanging on the cross.

Simply put, that was Jesus’ ministry in a nutshell. To love him is to change all. Your course, your priorities, even the people you choose to love.

And to hate him is absolute. Even in their misery, they reach out to make his worse.

Today, there’s a big swath of people that pick Jesus to sit on their mantle, along with all their other stuff.

It’s a happy medium. A have your cake and eat it too, kind of solution.

But it’s just not true.

When we interact with Jesus, everything is different.

The post On picking appeared first on Joe Fontenot.

“May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you”
– Psalms 19:14

Have you ever considered the answer to this? What exactly is acceptable to God?

Well, besides of course the obvious…like, not sinning.

Since that’s off the table. And since the above passage was written for sinful people—what exactly does God find acceptable?

***

I know my wife better than I know anyone else. Which is a no-brainer. I spend more time with her than I do anyone else.

The time’s not always good, though.

Sometimes the kids are being difficult. Sometimes there are way too many bills and far too few paychecks. And, sometimes, one (or both) of us are just having a bad day.

But that’s okay. What makes it work is the want. We want to be married to each other.

***

The simple answer to the above is this: God wants to spend time with us.

He created us—not because he needed us; not because he didn’t know we’d make a mess of of it all; and certainly not because he thought we’d play nicely—no, he created us because he wanted us. Each of us.

***

On to it. My two pieces of advice, forged from mountains of failure:

One, there are really only two times a day that you can count on being uninterrupted. Before everyone gets up. Or after they go to sleep. No pain, no gain. Sorry.

And two, consistency is the silver bullet you’re looking for. It’s tricky, because at first it feels a bit benign. And one day it hits you, how far you’ve come.

The post 2 quick bits of advice appeared first on Joe Fontenot.