one step: water break

You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

According to an article in Psychology Today, there are seven types of friendships:

  1. Lifelong Friends

  2. Best Friends

  3. Close Friends

  4. Social Group Friends (friends you socialize with but with whom you are not particularly close)

  5. Activity Friends (friends with whom you engage in specific activities, such as “gym buddies,” members of your book club or dinner club, church circles, and so on)

  6. Friends of Convenience (the folks with whom you might share carpooling duties, youth sports team parents, neighborhood groups, and so on)

  7. Acquaintance Friends (people at work, people you see each day when you’re walking your dog, folks you know to speak to, but not about anything of consequence or especially personal)*

In this article, counselor and professor Suzanne Degges-White states, “The number of acquaintance friends we have is positively correlated with our level of life satisfaction, but the number of lifelong friends, best friends and close friends we have are the strongest predictors of overall contentment with life.”

Her words cause me to pause to consider three questions: 1) what kind of friends do I have? 2) what kind of friend am I to others? 3) What kind of friend am I to Jesus?

The first two questions are very important, and lead to other important questions, but I don’t think it takes much convincing to suggest that the third question is worth focusing on today.

John 15:14-15 tells us that Jesus sees His disciples as friends. If we are a disciple of Jesus, if we obey His commands, we are His friend; He shares what He’s up to with us.

Jesus is an amazing friend. His love for us is such that He died for us. His effort to know us and be there for us for the entirety of eternity places Jesus somewhere in the “lifelong friend” and “best friend” categories. But what about us? What kind of friend are you and I to Jesus?

Too often we read about Jesus, we hear about Jesus, we ask questions like “what would Jesus do?” but are we a friend to Jesus?

Are we mere acquaintances of Jesus so that we say hello when we pass by? Are we friends of convenience such that we know Jesus just because it’s convenient to have eternity secured in Heaven? Are we activity friends where we talk to Jesus once in a while because we engage in a social activity called “church?” Do we socialize with Jesus, but hide our hearts from Him? Is being close to Him enough for us?

Regarding how we answer this question and according to Suzanne Degges-White, lifelong contentment is on the line.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to become a best friend of Jesus. Perhaps the invitation to you to become lifelong friends is just waiting for you to say yes. Maybe Jesus has a friendship for you that allows you to know what He is saying and doing. Perhaps your friendship with God is waiting for you to do what He commands.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

Need prayer? We are happy to pray for you (ask for prayer here).

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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 218–221, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 9:9) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/lifetime-connections/202111/the-7-types-friends-and-which-is-most-essential-our-happiness

one step: Matthew 9.4

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

The people of Jesus’s day had plenty of reason to dislike tax collectors. First, tax collectors were seen as the pawns of the Romans and the Jewish aristocrats who created the obscenely high taxes of the day. Second, despite the exorbitant taxes, tax collectors were known to overcharge taxes to make even more money for themselves. Finally, some tax collectors were even known to beat people into paying. This situation, capitalized upon and escalated by tax collectors, in some cases caused laborers to flee their lands, leaving entire villages abandoned.* Tax collectors were not liked at all.

The call of Jesus on Matthew meant something powerful to Matthew. It meant acceptance; it meant purpose; it meant favor with God once again. Having taken advantage of the Roman empire and the greed and corruption of the aristocrats, Matthew had turned his back on the people of God, thus turning his back on God. Through Jesus, God gave Matthew another chance.

This opportunity was precious, but it was also costly. There was no going back for Matthew. He could not change his mind and return to tax collection, nor could he secure another job if he decided to discontinue following Jesus. No one would hire a former tax collector. Matthew was walking away from a lucrative career that provided extreme physical and financial comfort.* Matthew was “all in.”

Following Jesus is a continual journey of “yes” to Jesus. To say, “yes” one time and forget about Him is a misunderstanding of the invitation of Jesus; it’s not the kind of “yes” Matthew gave. Jesus calls us and Matthew said “yes” to an invitation to leave it all behind with no hope of turning back. Jesus invites us to continually say “yes” to the call in a way that changes our trajectory forever. The price is costly; the gain is eternity. The cost is painful; the benefit is Jesus.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to remember the call that Jesus gave to you. Perhaps God wants you to remember that despite the difficulty of the road, or your own imperfections, you are not who you were; there is no going back. Maybe God is waiting for you to say “yes” to His call.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

Need prayer? We are happy to pray for you (ask for prayer here).

sign up just below for a daily reminder of the one step devotional. click here to return to devotional list.

*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 218–221, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 9:9) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).

one step: Matthew 9.3

But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick…”

Hereditary diseases travel through the genes from one generation to the next. At times, these sneaky sicknesses skip generations, causing one generation to think, “I’m glad that’s over,” only to see it in the lives of their children. This thought alone is enough to cause me as a parent to pray for health in my family.

What is health though? I once heard it said that a healthy body is not one absent of sickness, but a healthy body is one that can quickly identify and appropriately and effectively address sickness when it appears. Conversely, an unhealthy body is one that is slow to identify sickness when it tenters the body and neither appropriately or effectively addresses it. This is true for the physical body as well as for organizations.

This definition gives a new perspective to two things. First, is it helps us understand the role of a physician: the role of a physician is to help the body quickly identify sickness and to appropriately and effectively deal with it. Second, we see how to live in the presence of sin in the tension between the present reality and the future promise.

As believers, we know that in the future one day, there will be no more sickness (Revelation 21:5). We also know that the future-promised work of Jesus is ours to have here and now. We live in the present and yet-to-come Kingdom (Matthew 3:2). We know that we should have victory over sin, but it still trips us up. We know that we are forgiven, but the sickness of sin seems to creep back in.

A healthy Christian isn’t one rid of sin (that will come in Heaven), but a healthy Christian is one that quickly identifies the sickness of sin in their life and appropriately and effectively addresses it. The help that we need comes from Jesus Christ, the Great Physician whose job is to help us be a healthy person who identifies and addresses sin quickly and effectively.

There are sins in our life that are fruit, and that fruit always starts at a root. Getting rid of the fruit is good, and lifetime without that fruit is possible. The Great Physician wants to help us to identify and address the root quickly, appropriately, and effectively.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to stop beating yourself up for not being perfect and start receiving the truth that you can walk in health in an imperfect flesh. Perhaps God wants you to step into health and stop ignoring the sin that is destroying your life. Maybe God wants to heal you this side of heaven. Perhaps the Great Physician wants to work today.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

Need prayer? We are happy to pray for you (ask for prayer here).

sign up just below for a daily reminder of the one step devotional. click here to return to devotional list.

*Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 9:9-13) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).

one step: Matthew 9.2

Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven

When Jesus does not do what we want Him to do, it’s hard and confusing. We receive His refusals as a lack of care or a lack of love. “Why don’t you heal me?!” we cry. “Why don’t you make a way?!” “Why don’t you give me what I need?!”

That last question holds the key: Jesus always gives us what we need, but sometimes we think what we want is what we need because the desire inside of us is so great. Other times, we are correct that there is something that we need that Jesus isn’t giving us, but it’s a timing issue. Sometimes the thing that we need must be proceeded by something else that we need.

The paralytic man in Matthew 9 needed physical healing. In fact, that’s the reason that his friends carried him to Jesus. Jesus moves near to and looks down at the man. The friends of the paralytic man grow excited. Jesus opens His mouth to speak. The tension of expectation builds, and Jesus does not meet the need. Jesus avoids it. Jesus tells the man: your sins are forgiven.

What?! Can you imagine? I imagine his friends thought, “Jesus, you can see that our friend cannot move! You can see that he needs to walk again so that he can live like as You desire. Why don’t you give him what he needs?!” The reason is that Jesus wanted to take care of another need first. Perhaps, Jesus might have needed to take care of the other need first.

Jesus took care of the need of the man in his heart and soul before He took care of the need in his body. We cannot know for sure from the immediate context, but perhaps Jesus knew that if He healed the man’s body first, the man would not have allowed Jesus to attend to the broken sickness in his soul. Would the man have paused long enough to allow Jesus to touch the need that impacts eternity?

Sometimes we want God to meet a need, and it’s a need indeed. Sometimes Jesus differentiates the eternal need from the temporal need even if the temporal need is more obvious to us. In differentiating, Jesus will always take care of the need that impacts eternity first.

Do not grow frustrated in the waiting. He cares about the need in your situation. He cares about the need in your body. He cares about your humanity. First things first; eternal things first. He sees your needs.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to trust that He sees your needs, inside and out. Perhaps God is asking you to bring a friend with a need to His presence. Maybe you need to forgive God for what felt like ignoring a need of you or someone you love. Perhaps today God wants to grant you His perspective. Maybe God wants to meet a need in your heart and soul today as He approached the need in your body.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

Need prayer? We are happy to pray for you (ask for prayer here).

sign up just below for a daily reminder of the one step devotional. click here to return to devotional list.

*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 213-218, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 9:1-8) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).

one step: Matthew 9.1

And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city.

Moving from Matthew 8 to Matthew 9, it’s easy to skip over this simple verse. The account of the two men freed of demonic possession and the miracle of the healed paralytic sit side-by-side in Scripture as moments of the glory of God in Jesus on display!

Between these two miraculous moments, we see that Jesus and His disciples crossed back over the sea. If you recall, their passage across the Sea of Galilee just before the deliverance of the two men involved a storm like no other that caused terror and almost sank them.

What happens when God asks us to take a path that we have been on before? What are our thoughts and how do we emotionally respond when God asks us to return to a place of difficulty and danger? What if Jesus asks us to cross back over a sea of difficulty?

God may not be asking you and I to return to risk facing a second natural disaster, but what happens when He asks us to return to the place where someone hurt us?

There are times in my life where it feels as though God is testing my faith. I made it through forgiving the first time, or I made it through the financial hardship the first time, but here I am again, in the same boat, being asked to cross over the test once more. How will I respond? How will I cross?

Did the disciples trust that they would be fine on the return trip across the sea because the one who calmed the storm was with them, or did they have a sinking feeling in their stomachs that felt like the terror from that day the storms almost over took them?

Not really knowing, but understanding the honest and simple humanity of the disciples, I’d say that there was probably some in the group who trusted and some who crossed in fear of death.

Is God calling you back to face a trauma? Is He calling you to return down a path that almost cost you a lot? is Jesus asking you to cross back over to get back home?

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to trust Him even when things did not go so well the last time life took this turn. Perhaps God wants you to focus on the miracle He did to save you rather than the difficulty of this life. Maybe it’s time to return home.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

Need prayer? We are happy to pray for you (ask for prayer here).

sign up just below for a daily reminder of the one step devotional. click here to return to devotional list.