As Was His Custom: Habits We Need… Because We’re Human- Confession
As a committed follower of Christ, I remember a season clearly in my life when I had found myself ensnared and entangled in a sin. Having given way to the enemy in my mind, I had allowed sinful thoughts to take hold, and somewhere along the way became completely incapable of finding freedom on my own. While I’d turn from the sin for a short while, the thoughts would eventually return. It was only when I shared my struggle with a trusted, godly friend that I found full freedom. I confessed my sin in humility and repentance. And I prayed for God to rescue me and my mind from that dark place. And God was faithful. He met me in my brokenness, and He set me free. The power of sin was no match for the work of the Holy Spirit in my heart and mind, activated and set free through the act of confession and repentance.
As Was His Custom: Fasting
While we don’t hear much about fasting in our modern faith circles, the power of this singular spiritual discipline is wholly worth pursuing. In my own faith journey, I’ve reaped the profound benefits of fasting and prayer, particularly when seeking direction, to hear more clearly from the voice of God, and to experience a breakthrough in an area of struggle. While I find such a powerful and extensive topic intimidating to write about, I’m eager to illuminate Jesus’ example and teaching in this custom while emboldening each of us to follow Jesus and experience more of Him through this practice.
As Was His Custom: Prayer
Prayer in the life of a believer is both essential and incredibly powerful. Prayer is, perhaps, the most important aspect of one’s life in God. Prayer is how we connect with God the Father and participate with him in His work on the earth. To be effective as a believer, we need to learn how to pray-to be continual students of prayer. What better way than by learning directly from the prayer life of Jesus.
As Was His Custom: Teaching
On hundreds of Sundays, I padded down the blue-carpeted basement steps to our newly constructed Sunday School rooms. I followed as other children walked into their respective classrooms. I looked forward to Sundays, as I enjoyed learning about Jesus, but I especially loved being taught by Doug Livgren. Now, looking back, it's because his love and passion for Jesus superseded just "getting through the Sunday School curriculum." My class would enter, girls giggling and boys shoving to get to seats, and Doug would walk in and command attention from us. What I remember most was having light bulb moments through his teaching, and honestly when I taught third-grade boys Sunday School in college, I thought back often and used Doug's methods.
Teaching is one of the many customs/habits of Jesus. Immediately following his 40 days in the wilderness (Luke 4), he begins traveling, preaching, and teaching in synagogues throughout the countryside. He even taught (albeit briefly) in His hometown of Nazareth. (Click here for a blog post on this topic!) However, Jesus' teaching slightly differed from what we're used to in our Western context. Jesus, more than likely, was educated in rabbinic tradition (see here for more info).
As Was His Custom: Solitude
One of the truths that most strongly stood out to me in studying Jesus’ practice of solitude is the foundation from which he operated. Jesus knew and operated from the truth that his strength, security, and purpose came solely from his place with the Father. Thus, he prioritized time to connect solely with Him.
As Was His Custom: Studying Scripture and Meditation
Although many secular scholars label Jesus as a country bumpkin, who probably couldn’t read or write, there’s adequate reason to believe that He could do both. We know from Luke 4:16 that Jesus was invited to read on the Sabbath in his hometown synagogue. While the other Scripture that talks of Jesus’ writing is not found in the earliest manuscripts (John 7:53-8:11), we can deduce that if He knew how to read, He would have also learned to write.
As Was His Custom: Reading scripture
Nazareth. It’s a small village nestled down in the middle of the cliffs and high hills north of the Jezreel valley. Back in Yeshua’s time, this valley was a major intersection for non-Hebrew people groups to travel through and sometimes settle as it was the easiest to navigate east to west from the coast to the Sea of Galilee. (I mean, who wouldn’t want to settle there when there is 365 feet of topsoil in the Jezreel Valley?!?!) This valley holds so much deep meaning for Israel and Christians alike. (For a video by Daily Bread featuring my professor, John A Beck, regarding the importance of Jezreel Valley, click here.)
Today, Nazareth is the fastest-growing city in what was ancient Israel. But this small village is where Yeshua’s parents raised him. (Essentially, he was a small-town boy). Surrounded by high cliff faces (see in the above video at time stamp 0.01-0.38), Nazareth was isolated from these Gentile and pagan people groups, to say the least. It was tricky navigating to Nazareth back in Yeshua’s time (probably only accessible by climbing on foot or with a donkey or mule). Even today, they’ve had to blast the cliffs to provide transportation to the community.
As Was His Custom
Right then, it occurred to me that Jesus led a life filled with habits and customs that He had done His entire life! And He had a lot. If you've heard the term "spiritual disciplines"- they are taken from the habits of Jesus. There's a reason for them- so that we can literally follow in the footsteps of Jesus.