The “J-Team”
I love to eat! I love a variety of types of food, from Mexican (Tex-Mex actually) to shrimp to burgers to steaks. One of my family’s favorite activities is going out for a bite to eat with our friends after Church…every time…Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday evening and sometimes in-between. Our ritual has grown to quite a number of folks each week with a number of kids from the youth group joining in the revelry. Well, as kids are want to do, they have dubbed our habitual assemblage as “The A-Team”. For this old-timer, this conjures memories of the TV show from the ‘70’s (great show, by the way...and a great forum for Mr. T…“I pity the fool”), but for almost everyone else it invokes connotations of being the “select” – the place to be, the group to join, the “in crowd”, a trend-setter, the right social alliance. It’s all in good fun, and the kids have even appointed some (usually themselves) as the President, VP, CEO, etc.
It feels good to be part of the “elite” – to be different, a cut above, the cream of the crop, an influential leader. But I am not talking about being part of the “A-Team”, but being a member of the “J-Team”. Those of us who follow Jesus are truly privileged to be part of a select few. Many claim to follow Jesus, but few are actually true disciples. Matthew 7:22-23. Jesus tells us that the gate is small and the road is narrow and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14. We become members of our own volition, but not of our own doing. Jesus paved the narrow road with righteousness, sacrifice, blood, sweat, tears, and perfection – and has invited us to join, even though we are imperfect, sin-stained, and unworthy. He has beckoned us to be holy…set apart…to fulfill a higher calling, to be fishers of men. Matthew 4:19. When we are members of the “J-Team”, we are a part of a body (I Corinthians 12); we are a part of Jesus Himself (Romans 6:3-5).
So “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4) and celebrate being chosen by your Creator to be a member of his “J-Team”!
It feels good to be part of the “elite” – to be different, a cut above, the cream of the crop, an influential leader. But I am not talking about being part of the “A-Team”, but being a member of the “J-Team”. Those of us who follow Jesus are truly privileged to be part of a select few. Many claim to follow Jesus, but few are actually true disciples. Matthew 7:22-23. Jesus tells us that the gate is small and the road is narrow and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14. We become members of our own volition, but not of our own doing. Jesus paved the narrow road with righteousness, sacrifice, blood, sweat, tears, and perfection – and has invited us to join, even though we are imperfect, sin-stained, and unworthy. He has beckoned us to be holy…set apart…to fulfill a higher calling, to be fishers of men. Matthew 4:19. When we are members of the “J-Team”, we are a part of a body (I Corinthians 12); we are a part of Jesus Himself (Romans 6:3-5).
So “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4) and celebrate being chosen by your Creator to be a member of his “J-Team”!
posted by Carl Wheeler at 12:51 AM
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