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.
Kathy and I have been out of town because Kathy required a surgery that wasn’t available here locally, in the Portland Metro area. (Our hearts are full of gratitude! The surgery was a success and she’s doing well. Thank God.) So while we were away, my friend Wes Beyer wrote the last couple of articles here on God Running. Today we’re returning to the new book Wes and I are writing called The Jesus Shortcut: How to Become More Like Jesus (in the shortest possible time). Below you’ll find chapter two.
Acts 19:11-20
And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
Acts 19:11-20
Where Does Paul’s Power Come From?
So where does Paul’s power come from? How is he able to perform these miracles? And how is it that demonic entities know about Paul (and apparently fear him too)? And what about people I know, people in my family or in my circle of friends, people in whom I see Jesus so clearly? People who are obviously filled with the joy of Christ, people who love difficult people well, people who love those who disagree with them well, people who love well those with a different worldview, people who love obnoxious characters well, people who truly love the way Jesus loved: what about those people?
That overflowing with Christ’s joy thing and that loving difficult people well thing: those are miraculous to me. Those are superpowers.
I think there’s a clue about how people with the power of Jesus do what they do. And we find our clue in the way Paul attached himself to Priscilla and Aquila, the two fellow tent makers. Paul and Priscilla and Aquila had tent making and Christ as common interests, and we see Paul intentionally connect with these two and spend time with these two.
The Main Thing: Connect with People Who Are Filled with the Love of Jesus
When I wrote the Love Like Jesus book, I shared about how Jesus lived in a way that ensured he was in good condition to love God well and to love the people around him well too. Then I shared how you and I can do the same. Most of that content can be found in chapters 21 and 24 (but also in other places throughout the book).1
But recently I’ve been reading Dr. Allan Schore’s book Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self: The Neurobiology of Emotional Development.2 And after learning a few things about our human neurobiology, there’s something I think I under-emphasized. In fact, I wonder if it’s even possible to emphasize this enough. That something is what our relationships with other Jesus followers should look like, and how important those relationships are.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another,” Jesus said in John 13:34-35.
Well, what does a group of people look like when they love each other the way Jesus commanded us to?
The Way Church Works (Today in America)
Maybe your church experience has been like mine. We’re led in worship by a choir or a group of talented musicians. Then we hear a sermon on important scripture. From those scriptures and that teaching, maybe we’re instructed on how to make better choices in life. If we’re lucky, we have a small group we’re involved in. But even then, usually the format is to discuss the Bible passages and the sermon from Sunday and maybe we pray together.
These are all good things to do! So don’t get me wrong. All I’m saying is this is the current pattern for the Western church.
But something is missing.
And that something is the gleam in God’s eye when He looks at you.
An Important Attribute of Jesus Followers
Every Friday my wife Kathy sends this text to our (adult) kids and our grandson and to me too. She sent it today, at 4:52 pm:
“The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
“The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
“The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.”
– Numbers 6:24-26 (KJV)
So that part about the Lord’s face shining upon thee. That’s something that has more importance and meaning than I realized. One of the very first things we look for as infants is the gleam in our mother’s eye, or, to put it another way, we look for a face that shines upon us. We’re looking for a face that says I love you: eyes that are sparkling; a mouth that’s smiling. Isn’t that interesting?
The most significant relevant basic interactions between mother and child usually lie in the visual area: The child’s bodily display is responded to by the gleam in the mother’s eye.3 —Heinz Kohut
And, even as adults, our brains are constantly scanning our environment for such faces.
Jesus’ face was a face that lit up when he saw people. Jesus’ face attracted people, even sinners who were ostracized in the society of Jesus’ day. The glory of God shone from Jesus’ face. (2 Corinthians 4:6) When sinners looked at Jesus’ face, they saw the light of God. When sinners looked at Jesus’ face, they saw love.
Psalm 89:15 says, “Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face…”
So it turns out, something happens to us at a deep neurobiological level when we see love in peoples’ faces. Spending time around those kind of people fuels us.2
A face that says I love you, it fuels us.
Relationships with loving people fuels us. A life without those relationships depletes us. For the joy set before Him, Jesus endured the cross. Jesus endured the cross because of how He felt about you and how He felt about me. We suffer in our sins and Jesus suffered on the cross to redeem us. Very importantly, a big part of belonging to a group of Jesus followers who relate to each other in the way I’m describing means we don’t let each other suffer alone. We support and strengthen each other, we walk through suffering with each other. When we’re suffering, we fix our eyes on Jesus’ face shining on us, and we fix our eyes on the faces of those Jesus followers whose faces are shining on us with the love of Christ. This is hugely important to our enduring suffering. (Hebrews 12:2)
How Important is This ‘Relationships’ Thing to God?
When you study the teachings of Jesus, really, what it all comes down to is relationships. Your joy and my joy is a result of our relationship with Jesus, and our relationships with the people around us. And Jesus taught us what he taught us about relationships because he wants us to experience his joy. Your joy is one of the big reasons Jesus came to earth.
Jesus said:
“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
– John 15:11
Your joy and mine was part of Christ’s purpose.
Jesus wants us to be filled with His kind of joy, this relational joy being described here.
Where the Power Comes From
If you’re like me and you wonder sometimes why you don’t seem to have God’s power to love people well, or if you wonder why you’re not experiencing the joy of Christ, I think it’s likely that one reason is because you’re not connected with people who are genuinely living for Jesus.
So be intentional already. Connect yourself with a group of Jesus followers who have the love of Christ in them. People whose eyes sparkle. People who exude the love of Christ.
Connect yourself to those people.
Be with those people often and on a regular basis and see what happens to your life.
Be with those people and see what happens to your ability to love others the way Jesus loved others.
The Only Thing More Powerful
I do want to make a qualifying statement here. As powerful as connection with impassioned Jesus followers is, there is one Christian practice even more powerful. That practice is the practice of Holy Communion. Of course this shouldn’t be surprising: Jesus Christ Himself is in the Eucharist, so naturally this intimate act of connecting with Christ is the ultimate thing any Christian can do to become more transformed into the likeness of Jesus.
For a deep dive on Holy Communion and the Eucharist, you might want to check out a book I just bought myself, Brant Pitre’s excellent work Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper. According to Bible scholar Craig Keener, this is the best book available on the Holy Communion.
Notes:
- Kurt Bennett, Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus), 2nd Edition, Enoch Media, January 30, 2020
- Allan N. Schore, Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self: The Neurobiology of Emotional Development, Psychology Press, April 1, 1994
- Kohut, H. (1971). The analysis of the self. New York: International Universities Press
- Jim Wilder, Michel Hendricks, The Other Half of Church, Moody Publishers, August 4, 2020
The Love Like Jesus Book
Looking for something meaningful to listen to during the quieter winter moments? This audiobook offers practical wisdom, real stories, and gentle guidance you can take with you—whether you’re driving, folding laundry, or sneaking in a walk between the snowflakes.
Let it speak to your heart this season.
We recently released the audiobook version, beautifully narrated by Jonathan St. John. And it’s available on the following platforms:
It’s also available on Amazon, Hoopla, Audiobooksnow, Chirp, Libro, Overdrive, and virtually everywhere audiobooks are offered.
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