Welcome to the Set Your Mind Above podcast, where every day, ordinary events teach us extraordinary eternal truths! I am your host BJ Sipe, and I’m so glad you’ve tuned in today! I am excited to share my life & my faith with you, and I sure hope you’ll do the same with me along the way.
For the past several months, I have been hearing different things about a new TV series called “The Chosen” from so many different Christians. The show, which is an Angel original series, follows the ministry of Jesus and the lives of those that were close to him. I had been meaning to check it out, but didn’t have really high expectations because I have been fairly disappointed at other attempts to make films about the Messiah in the past. Well, I finally had the opportunity a bit earlier this week to watch an episode while Kylie was sleeping. Let me tell you, I was completely blown away. It was powerful, moving, and even made me cry by the end of the first episode. I would encourage everyone to watch it, and share it with others! I told Kylie that she had to watch it with me, so last night after we put the kids to bed we put on the first episode again and I shared it with her. She loved it, and also cried like a baby by the end of the first episode. Afterwards, the two of us sat in bed and just talked about what we had just watched. One of the biggest take aways for both of us was something that we had not really anticipated. In the show, they go to great efforts to help bring these historical characters to life. In reading the Gospel accounts, we are not given any to much detail about the personalities of the apostles or those who became disciples of Jesus. So, naturally, there is a lot of artistic license used in developing these characters. Matthew is depicted as a very nervous & obsessive-compulsive tax collector, constantly looking over his shoulder. Nicodemus is depicted as a Pharisee that struggles with how to exercise his authority as the teacher of Israel while he himself has so many questions. Peter is a reckless, quick to act individual who is balanced out by his devoted wife and his more sensible brother Andrew. Of course, we don’t know exactly what these relationships would have looked like or how they behaved on a day-to-day basis as people – it’s all speculation. But what this did for us both is remind us of something that I believe is very easy to overlook as we read through the Scripture: that these were real people, just like you and me. As we read the Scriptures, it is so easy to think of these individuals as almost more than human, so much so that it becomes hard for us to relate to them. I’m afraid that as a result, the way that many people read the Bible is very impersonal in nature, because we don’t really see them as real people that dealt with the same things we did.
Consider if you will for a moment the following passages as we discuss this further.
James 5:16-18 - Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
Hebrews 4:14-16 - Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
I want you just to think for a moment about what these passages have to offer to us. In the Scripture from James, he tells us that the great prophet Elijah was a man with a nature just like ours. If I were going to put this into my own translation for us to understand, what it says is Elijah was nobody special. He was a normal dude, who was just like you and me. Often times when we think of people like Elijah, we think of the strong prophet that always trusted God and whose every waking moment was thinking about prophecy or Scripture, etc. But he was just like the rest of us. He laughed, he cried, he had favorite foods, he might have had weird habits, he had songs get stuck in his head, he dealt with anxiety & fear, and he made mistakes. These men, the prophets and apostles, were not demi-gods. They were not these robotic figures that nobody could relate to. They were people, real people, with the same kinds of strengths and weaknesses that we have. The same emotions, the same experiences, the same thoughts. Understanding these things, how encouraging is it to know how God was able to use these men and women to do such great & extraordinary things? If God was able to do great things through common people, is he not able to do the same things through us? It was always about God’s greatness, not theirs and not our own. In the Hebrew Scripture we read, I am most humbled by what it says about Jesus. He was divine, the very son of God & the great I AM, and yet at the same time he was fully human. It is so hard to relate to Jesus sometimes because he was divine, but Jesus went through the same experiences that you and I face day in and day out. He was tempted in every way as we are, and yet he was without sin. He can sympathize with us in every way, and he can do so because he humbled himself to allow himself to be born into his own creation & take on flesh and blood. He experienced hunger. He experienced sorrow. He experienced anger, compassion, and relief. As such, you can have confidence in knowing that Jesus really understands who you are & what you’re going through. He gets it, and you can approach his throne with confidence, knowing that in your need you will be met with grace & mercy by a loving & understanding Savior. So the next time you pick up your Bible and read it today or tomorrow, never forget that these were real people just like you.
Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Tune in, Tuesday-Friday’s, as a new podcast episode will be uploaded each day. Also, be sure to follow the Facebook page for the Set Your Mind Above podcast for future announcements and weekly video sessions that are uploaded on Saturdays. As you have the opportunity, share these thoughts with your friends and family, and share with me what important lessons you are learning from every day, ordinary events. Until next time know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.