Welcome to the Daily Deciple Podcast, where we seek daily to be with and to become like Jesus, our teacher. Good morning everyone and welcome to the Daily Together on Mission Podcasts, it's Travis and I am excited to start a conversation with all of you to enjoy the presence of Jesus and to continue to journey through, you know, with our morning meditations in the Gospel of John. And so the title of the podcast this morning is Abandonment. And that's an older theological word that was used by Saint Teresa of Avila, Madam Gion, Saint John of the Cross, Abandonment, and we're going to define it in just a bit.
But the question is, who really leads your life, really? Who really makes your decisions? Who's really your boss? Who's really my boss?
Who makes my decisions? The big ones? The small ones? Right?
The moment by moment decisions of what I'm going to do and not do and ultimately what I'm going to become or not become and that's a really, really good question. Who really is the one that leads your life? Who really is the one that leads my life? Am I about my will?
Am I about the will of all of those around me? Or am I about the will of the Father who's been revealed in Jesus? And the reason why this is such an important question, like who really leads your life? Who's will are you really about is because every choice that we make in every relationship and every conversation and every reaction, every choice that we make is not just a choice in the moment, like a random choice in the moment.
Every choice that we make puts us on a certain pathway and every pathway leads to a certain destination. And that means all of our choices are not just random choices, but they're placing us on a pathway that leads us to a certain destination and does come down to choices that we make each and every moment. And we have to ask the question, because someone is leading our life. We're following someone's will.
So who is leading our life? Who are we listening to? Moment by moment. And are we listening to the one that will actually lead us to the destination that we want to arrive at?
And so when we get to John chapter five, Jesus says, I only do the will of the Father who has sent me. And then as we keep reading the Gospel of John, Jesus says other things just like that line on one occasion, he says, I only do what I see the Father doing. If I see the Father doing it, I do it. If I don't see the Father doing it, I don't do it.
If I see the Father saying it, I say it. If I don't see the Father saying it, I don't say it. On one occasion, Jesus says, the Father is always at work and I am working the works of the Father. And then as many of you know, in Luke's Gospel, Jesus says, didn't you know I was going to be about my Father's business?
Now, as we think and meditate on those lines, those verses, many offers, specifically medieval and late medieval authors, specifically mystic authors have called that abandonment, just the abandonment, the total abandonment of our will and the will of those around us and the submission to the will of the Father that has been revealed in Jesus. And honestly, this is very, very practical. Like a couple of weeks ago, I got very, very frustrated with someone that I was having a conversation with and I decided to say something mean to them in short temper and callist and walking away, it didn't feel good at all. And it certainly wasn't what the Father was saying.
It wasn't what it wasn't a work that the Father was working, but I decided to lead my life in that moment. I decided to be my own boss. I decided to choose my own will. And of course, that's going to happen occasionally.
I truly believe though, as we continue to walk and talk with Jesus, we'll slowly but surely become more and more like Jesus, moment by moment, day by day, decision by decision, as we choose to abandon our will and even the will of those around us and submit to the will of the Father that's been revealed in Jesus. So who is guiding you? Who is your boss? And honestly, if we're going to just be candid here, there's all kinds of wills that guide us.
Of course, there's our own, but then there's the opinion of others. There's our embarrassment. There's our desire to be cool, to fit in, to meet our own needs. There's the culture pressing in on us.
There's our family of origin that sometimes guides us more than they should. The scripts that we've been given from all kinds of people, the labels that have been spoken over our lives, other people's thoughts, other people's agenda, right? That's the will of everybody else around us. And Jesus came to offer a different way.
He came to offer a narrow way, a way that's rarely chosen, a way of abandonment, a way of saying what the Father says, doing what the Father does, working the works of the Father, being about the business of the Father in this conversation, in this moment, and in this space, and in this reaction. He came and he brought a different way, and he walked that way, and he called followers to walk that way, and he still walks that way, and he still calls followers to walk that way, to abandon our will, not my will, but your will be done. And there's trust in that, because part of faith in God is believing that God is right, that he knows more, that he's good, and that his destination is better than ours. Because remember, every choice is not just a random choice.
Every choice puts us on a pathway that leads us to a certain destination. And one of the questions that the Gospels ask is Jesus is making choices, therefore he's on this pathway, and it's leading to this destination. Are we willing to pick up our cross and follow? And so I think two questions come to my mind as we think about this idea, and as we read some of these verses, number one, who really is leading your life?
Whose will is really influencing you, and your decisions, moment by moment, day by day, season by season. And then secondly, what would it look like to change? In what relationship, what situation, what would it look like to change, and abandon our will, and the will, the script, the label of others, and submit fully and totally to the will of the Father that's been revealed in Jesus. I only say what the Father is saying, I only react the way the Father's reacting.
I do the works that the Father is doing. I'm about my Father's business. So let's ponder that this morning. Let's think.
Let's pray. Let's meditate. Let's enjoy a conversation with Jesus. And then let's let it continue throughout the day, as we say, Lord, not my will, but your will be done.
And we'll talk soon. Thanks for listening to the daily disciple podcast. We truly hope that you were encouraged by it today. Now if you would like to support or if you have any questions about the daily disciple podcast, feel free to contact us through our Inland Vineyard Church app.
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