Tag: Presence of Christ

Day 4 :: Living Stone of HONESTY

Join us for the 12 Day YMCA Devotion Series – LIVING STONES: LEAD, CARE AND SERVE LIKE JESUS

How can we be ‘like Living Stones’ used by God to strengthen the presence of Christ where we lead?

Recently, 24 YMCA leaders with the OnPrinciple program visited 12 places throughout the Holy Land where Jesus taught about how to live and lead in God’s kingdom.

From this experience comes 12 spiritual leadership principles – or Living Stones – (inspired by 1Peter 2:4-5) that Christ-followers can embody as we are being built up to lead, care and serve everyone, like Jesus.

by Mike Bussey, Board Chair with Friends of the Jerusalem International YMCA

Having lived and worked in Nazareth for two years as a YMCA World Service worker, I often worshiped in Jesus’ home synagogue. 

It’s easy for me to reflect on what it must have been like in Nazareth when Jesus returned home following an extraordinary series of events in his life and new ministry.

Just months before, he had been baptized in the Jordan River, the heavens had opened, the Holy Spirit had descended on him, and he heard his Father’s voice say, ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you, I am well pleased.’

He was then led by the Holy Spirit into the Judean Wilderness where he endured forty days of fasting, prayer, and temptations, and then on to Galilee to begin His public ministry. 

News of his preaching and miracles spread throughout the region.

During all that was happening, Jesus must have looked forward to returning to his hometown to rest and for the opportunity to worship in His home synagogue.

As it turned out, the joy of returning to Nazareth soon turned into confrontation as his home  community questioned His legitimacy as He boldly read from the book of Isaiah, authentically proclaiming, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’

Nazarenes had known Jesus for nearly 30 years, most recently as a carpenter, and couldn’t understand what had changed since he’d left home just months before.

Was he being honest about his proclamation that the scripture had been fulfilled?

What had changed in Jesus’ life?

He had been filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered by his Father to honestly proclaim the kingdom of God, even if it meant creating discomfort among his friends and family.

As followers of Jesus, we have the same Holy Spirit dwelling in us, empowering us to spread the good news and to love and lead honestly and authentically like Jesus, even amidst opposition from those closest to us.

What kind of honesty is the Holy Spirit requiring of you as you seek to live and lead like Jesus in today’s world?

Pray with me: God, we thank you that you sent your same Holy Spirit to us so that we may fully and honestly be your people, authentic living stones wherever you call us to serve, like Jesus.

“Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.

He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom.

He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him.

Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.””

Gospel according to Luke, 4.14-19

This YMCA devotion series brought to you by onPrinciple – click here to learn more about it – a new leadership development program to strengthen the presence of Christ in the YMCA

Click here for the entire devotion series as a downloadable PDF booklet.

Click here to access entire devotion series on YouVersion

Day 3 :: Living Stone of RESPONSIBILITY

Join us for the 12 Day YMCA Devotion Series – LIVING STONES: LEAD, CARE AND SERVE LIKE JESUS

How can we be ‘like Living Stones’ used by God to strengthen the presence of Christ where we lead?

Recently, 24 YMCA leaders with the OnPrinciple program visited 12 places throughout the Holy Land where Jesus taught about how to live and lead in God’s kingdom.

From this experience comes 12 spiritual leadership principles – or Living Stones – (inspired by 1Peter 2:4-5) that Christ-followers can embody as we are being built up to lead, care and serve everyone, like Jesus.

by Jorge Perez, CEO & President with the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati

On a trip to Bethlehem, we visited fields believed to be where angels announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds watching over their flocks.

What you need to know about shepherds is they are a gritty bunch; hardworking, calloused hands, 24-7, and never-say-die folks.

Their daily tasks of tending, herding, feeding, or guarding made them synonymous with the leadership principle of Responsibility.

As a five-year-old boy, I understood Responsibility because I needed to take care of my three sisters while my mother worked to provide for our basic needs.

In my early teens, I became a wage earner, a mechanic, a plumber, a carpenter, an interpreter, and a surrogate parent; my familial duties left little room for school.

Although I remember feeling proud of my contributions, I struggled with the accountability placed on my way-too-young shoulders. 

For me, Responsibility was a set of duties and obligations that added to my life’s burdens.

But this was not how Jesus described Responsibility; he counterbalanced duty and obligation with love and faithfulness.

This is highlighted in Jesus’s story of a shepherd who searched for a lost sheep, leaving behind ninety-nine.

When he found the lost lamb, joy replaced drudgery: “Rejoice with me! I found my lost sheep.”

But if leadership and service are only out of duty and obligation, the work will become a burden.

Leaders have a responsibility to shepherd individuals in their care.

However, if love and faithfulness are incorporated, we can step into the rest-giving, weary-lifting sphere of cause-driven, living-stone of Responsibility.

Try these three ways to lead with cause-driven Responsibility, like the Good Shepherd:

Embrace duty and obligation. Without it, love and faithfulness are unproductive; a gritty commitment to excellence is not optional.

Align what you do (duty) with why you do it (love). As embodied by Jesus, the never-say-die shepherd, the combination of obligation and faithfulness refreshes our soul and those we serve.

Take time to rest. Responsible shepherds who work hard and love sacrificially need to be led by the Good Shepherd; he will give you rest.

“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Psalm 23.1-4 NIV

This YMCA devotion series brought to you by onPrinciple – click here to learn more about it – a new leadership development program to strengthen the presence of Christ in the YMCA

Click here for the entire devotion series as a downloadable PDF booklet

Click here to access entire devotion series on YouVersion

Day 2 :: Living Stone of CARING

Join us for the 12 Day YMCA Devotion Series – LIVING STONES: LEAD, CARE AND SERVE LIKE JESUS

How can we be ‘like Living Stones’ used by God to strengthen the presence of Christ where we lead?

Recently, 24 YMCA leaders with the OnPrinciple program visited 12 places throughout the Holy Land where Jesus taught about how to live and lead in God’s kingdom.

From this experience comes 12 spiritual leadership principles – or Living Stones – (inspired by 1Peter 2:4-5) that Christ-followers can embody as we are being built up to lead, care and serve everyone, like Jesus.

by Erin Reuland, Director of Membership and Wellness, YMCA Metro Tampa Florida

We have all seen or experienced different kinds of caring love whether it is the protective care of a parent, the patient care of a friend, or the passionate care of a significant other.

God’s loving care for us shows up in these and many other ways.

Furthermore, he calls us to show our love for him in return by caring for others.

This is what Jesus did when he called the disciple Peter to a breakfast of fish on the beach at the sea of Tiberius.

During a visit to the Holy Land, I stood on that same beautiful shoreline, and I can imagine Jesus kneeling on that sand next to the fire he started, questioning Peter.

Jesus asks three times, “Do you love me?” and each time, Peter responds, “Of course.” 

Jesus is asking if Peter loves him using a very specific word: agape.

So, in other words, “Do you love me unconditionally?” Do you care for me as I care for you?

Imagine caring for someone enough to forgive them after they pretended not to know you while being condemned to death.

And not only do you forgive them (without them explicitly apologizing, I might add), but you entrust them with the most important thing in the whole world to you.

For Jesus, the eternal Good Shepherd, the most important thing to him is his flock.

And he asks Peter to dedicate his life to caring for them; it won’t be easy and will end up costing him his life in the end.

Just like Peter, Jesus wants us to sacrificially tend to his flock, like a shepherd does for his lambs.

He wants to know how we love him.

The best way to show him is by caring for others, especially those who feel lost from the rest of the flock.

Caring for one another is easy when it’s convenient. 

But agape looks different.

It requires us to reach beyond our comfort zone to those who are different and disagree with us.

It means offering forgiveness, especially when it is difficult. 

Caring is not always convenient; caring is not always comfortable. 

It requires sacrifice and expects nothing in return; like living stones, it is not normal.

But we are not called to be normal or to care when it’s convenient.

We are called to lead, care and serve like Jesus.

“When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Gospel according to John, 21.15 NIV

This YMCA devotion series brought to you by onPrinciple – click here to learn more about it – a new leadership development program to strengthen the presence of Christ in the YMCA

Click here for the entire devotion series as a downloadable PDF booklet

Click here to access entire devotion series on YouVersion