John Review Continued

Continuing with the summary of John, we need to realize what a call to follow Jesus means.  The disciples were called away from the life they knew to follow Jesus wherever He led them.  Though we may not be called away from our life physically, we are called away spiritually.  Our faith and hope cannot be in this world or the things of this world.  If we begin to see God as a way to bigger and better things, I believe we are missing the true teaching of Christianity.  The disciples relied on Jesus to meet their daily needs, but not to make them rich.  They may have thought that was what was going to happen, but Jesus always corrected them.  He came to suffer and die, and the servant is no greater than the Master.  We are called to be servants.  Jesus did not attempt to destroy His enemies, but He continued to love them, even from the cross.  We as His followers cannot promote hatred, even to those who hate and would destroy us.  On the cross, Jesus did not ask the Father to avenge His death, but to forgive those who crucified Him.  The Jews saw themselves as morally superior to the rest of the world simply because they were born as Jews.  Jesus taught that all are equally valuable.  The Jews were chosen to be God's people, not because they were great in the eyes of the world, but because of faith.  They continually failed God, and too often we as His followers do today.  When a tragedy happens here in America, we become angry and want revenge.  When something worse happens elsewhere in the world, we think they deserved it.  This is not what Jesus taught.  I don't profess to have all the answers, but if we, as followers of Christ, live by the same rules as the lost world, something is wrong.  Morality has to matter in all of life, not just part of the time set aside for God.