Happy Friday, friends! I can’t believe we are almost finished with this book and with this month! Hope it’s been a great one for you so far.
Alright, here are this week’s discussion questions:
Chapter 12 Burn, Baby! Burn!
*“Salvation is not meant to be a finish line but a starting line” (pg. 199). What does this mean to you?
*Jesus wants us to be on fire for Him. How can you guard yourself against temptation that may come to put your fire out?
Chapter 13 Go, No Go
*What is your response to knowing that Jesus didn’t only die on the cross for you, but as you? What is the difference? Why is it important?
*Levi writes that there are three distinct takeaway points from the halfway mark of the crucifixion. They are:
- Scripture in Jesus’ heart gave him traction in his grief
- Jesus overcame despair by rushing to God in it
- A word of warning that we must not reject the only means of salvation that has been offered
How can you follow Jesus’ example when you are faced with difficulty? How does it give you hope to know that the cross is the only way to salvation?
Chapter 14 Hakuna Matata
*Why is it far better to be weak and know it? Do you tend to think you have it all together or that you need help?
*What do you think is holding you back from following Jesus’ dying wish that we be united, holy, and show His love to the world?
Chapter 15 Good Luck and Godspeed
*Is Jesus the voice in your headset (pg. 243)? How can you quiet the other voices around you so that you can focus on His voice?
*Jesus said He is the resurrection and the life. How does this fact allow you to live life “for real” now while you’re on Earth?
Chapter 16 Eight Comes Before Eleven
*What are you thirsty for? How do you think this thirst shows up in your life?
*Do you feel the call of the wild? What is keeping you from answering that call?
Chapter 17 Rock(s) of Ages
*Levi shares the story of David’s sin with Bathsheba and Uriah. “The brokenness inside David perversely made him not more gracious but more legalistic” (pg. 274). Can you relate to David’s legalistic approach? Do you feel that your sins are not quite as “ugly” as other people’s?
*How would you define repentance? How is it more than just feeling bad but about getting free?
Scripture of the Week
Psalm 51
Psalm 22
Philippians 3:10
Prayer of the Week
Father God, Thank You for the cross and the resurrection. Thank You for the life You’ve given us and ignite a fire within us to follow You wholeheartedly. We get so distracted by our troubles and by the world but we long to be true to You. Would you help us to fix our eyes on You and know that with Your help we can conquer our inner space? Help us to rest in You and not run ourselves ragged trying to earn what we already have received from You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
For Next Week
*Finish “The Last Supper on the Moon” Chapters 18-24
It’s never fun when you realize you’re your own roadblock. That’s where I’m at right now. Blocking. My. Road.
For the longest time I was in the driver’s seat, chugging through life with little thought. Then I started thinking and God made it clear He needed to be in the driver’s seat. Co-navigators wasn’t an option. He needed to take it from here and direct my route. I could be a passenger but not a backseat driver. Once I got over myself, I let Him take the wheel. It was going okay until some things didn’t go okay – as in, not how I wanted or imagined. So I decided to try to stop navigation for awhile. How? By getting out of the car and sitting in the traffic of my life. Thus, me being my own roadblock.
This week’s reading revealed how Jesus overcame despair by rushing to God in it. This is such the opposite of what we tend to do. It’s much easier to run away, to get out of the car and take a break. It may make us feel better (i.e., numb us) for awhile, but it doesn’t solve anything. The beauty is, we aren’t supposed to solve things, including ourselves – we can’t. This makes us feel useless, less than, and weak by human standards. But in reality, this gives us freedom to live without striving. “He must become more important, but I must become less important.” (John 3:30)
Being less important doesn’t mean not important – it means seeing ourselves correctly. The irony is, Jesus considered us to be of the most importance not only by coming down from heaven to be with us, be one of us, but also by dying on the cross for us, as us – with all our sin on Him.
You can think of it like this: Jesus removed the roadblock that sin created between us and God. He is the Way, or as some translations state, “the Road.” While we are free from the power of sin as Christians, we still sin, so it can feel like there are roadblocks in our lives. The thing is, oftentimes we are the ones choosing to drag these blocks back on the road when they’ve already been removed.
We don’t need to add to or adjust what Jesus has done for us. What a sobering thought, as Levi pointed out, that we shouldn’t reject the only means of salvation that has been offered to us!? And yet, we toy with the idea. We sit in the middle of the lane, trying to block what He wants to accomplish in and through us. I think we do this for a number of reasons, but mostly because we are afraid of the unknown and becoming our definition of “less important.”
Thank God for His love and grace!!
As I sit in my lane, it’s dawning on me that just because I’m not in the passenger’s seat doesn’t mean I’m not on the Way, the Road. I’m on it; I’m just feeling the weight of this life. The struggle between the here and now and not yet, and the wrestling as a result.
Taking matters into our own hands rarely is a good idea. Jesus took matters into His own hands out of His great love for us – not to shove our imperfections or His perfection in our faces. Sin isn’t a roadblock for us anymore, so we don’t need to treat it like it is. He is the Way, and He’s made a way for us – so we can get out of our own.