Following Jesus

Colby Kinser on Habakkuk

When the world feels broken and God seems silent, it is easy to lose hope. The prophet Habakkuk faced the same struggle, crying out to God about violence, injustice, and unanswered prayer. God's response was not silence but a reminder that He was already at work on a scale far beyond what Habakkuk could see. Just because we cannot see God moving does not mean He is standing still. He is writing a story that stretches far beyond the single page of our lives. Justice is coming, glory is coming, and God is on His throne. We are called to live by faith, stay faithful to our calling, and trust that the answers we need are written, even if not yet on our page.

Response to Christ

Jesus did not call the most qualified or respected people of His day. He called ordinary people who recognized their need for Him. Before choosing His twelve apostles, He spent an entire night in prayer, and when morning came, He selected fishermen, a tax collector, and a zealot rather than the religious elite. God consistently chooses what the world considers weak and foolish to accomplish His purposes, so that no one can boast before Him. The same call placed on those twelve men applies to every believer today. You have been chosen on purpose and sent out for a reason. The most powerful form of evangelism is not a program or an event but an authentic faith lived openly in a broken world.

The Lord Your God is One

On the Wednesday of Passion Week, just two days before the cross, Jesus gave His last public teaching centered on love. He quoted the Shema from Deuteronomy and called His followers to love God with their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love their neighbor as themselves. Loving God with the mind means staying engaged, growing, and never becoming complacent in faith. Loving your neighbor does not always require a close relationship, but it does require prayer, even for those who are difficult to love. Every gift God has given us is meant to be given away, not kept for ourselves. When these two commandments are truly lived out, evangelism, discipleship, and stewardship all follow naturally.

Encountering Jesus

Jesus doesn't want to be a quick fix for our problems but the source of complete life transformation. Through the story of Levi the tax collector, we learn that Jesus pursues us first, finding us in our brokenness rather than waiting for us to clean up our lives. He invites us to His table as we are, demonstrating that He is both unshakable and unshockable. Using the metaphors of new cloth on old garments and new wine in old wineskins, Jesus shows that He doesn't patch our old lives but gives us entirely new life. We need daily transformation, not just a one-time religious experience.

The Forgiver of Sins

The story of the paralytic in Mark 2 reveals powerful truths about friendship and faith. Four determined friends carried their paralyzed companion to Jesus, even digging through a roof when crowds blocked their way. When Jesus first forgave the man's sins before healing his body, he demonstrated his divine authority to both forgive and heal. The religious leaders questioned Jesus' right to forgive sins, but the miraculous healing proved his deity. This account challenges us to be the kind of friends who help others encounter Jesus, no matter what obstacles we face, while maintaining our sense of awe at Christ's power and identity.