In his teaching DVD Everything is Spiritual, Rob Bell talks at length about the existence of this further dimension, this invisible spiritual world, which some people admit to experiencing, and others, well, don’t.

When talking to Nicodemus about entering the kingdom of God, Jesus refers to this spiritual side of life. He warns that unless we submit to this, we cannot enter God’s kingdom…

“Unless a person submits to this original creation — the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life — it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch — the Spirit — and becomes a living spirit.” – Jesus in John 3, The Message.

Perhaps today you’re feeling that you’ve neglected your spiritual side. Perhaps you’re feeling that you don’t have a good relationship with God’s Holy Spirit, and you don’t yield to Him on a regular basis…

If that’s the case, don’t worry. You can read and apply the advice given in Following Jesus 101.

If that’s not you… if you’re in a constant relationship with the Holy Spirit, and daily submit to the invisible moving the visible, then realize afresh how serious this type of life is in the eyes of our Lord. Don’t ever choose another way of life…

In John 2 (near the end) it is written, “During the time he (Jesus) was in Jerusalem, those days of the Passover Feast, many people noticed the signs he was displaying and, seeing they pointed to God, entrusted their lives to him. But Jesus didn’t entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were. He didn’t need any help in seeing right through them” (The Message).

Many of the people visiting and reading The Jesus Feed, when asked “Have you entrusted your life to Jesus?”, will answer with a resounding “Yes!” while looking very proud. And, in a sense, rightly so. Entrusting your life to Jesus is of the utmost importance.

However, judging by what we just read, I want to propose an even more important question. Think carefully before you answer…

Has Jesus entrusted his life to you?

The answer to this question is maybe not so straightforward. Some self-inspection might be necessary here. It looks like our level of trustworthiness has something to do with whether Jesus will return your commitment to Him, by entrusting his life to you. Can Jesus trust you? Will you be there for Him?

Make a decision today to show Jesus that you can be trusted. The only way to do that is through your life. Not your Sunday-morning life, but you every-day life. Do you know what Jesus taught? Are you being obedient to that knowledge?

Six stoneware water pots were there, used by the Jews for ritual washings. Each held approximately twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus ordered the servants, “Fill the pots with water.” And they filled them to the brim.

“Now fill your pitchers and take them to the host,” Jesus said, and they did.

When the host tasted the water that had become wine (he didn’t know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew), he called out to the bridegroom, “Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings out the cheap stuff. But you’ve saved the best till now!” – John 2, The Message.

Some of us might have wondered what the point of this miracle is. Drinking too much wine is clearly not a biblical principle.

What if the message underlying this miracle, is that we should sometimes trade in rituals (the pots were used for ritual washings) for some authentic community? Could it be that Jesus wants us to realize that spending time with friends, relatives, and strangers, even partying and having a good time with them, is more important than our rituals, the very rituals that we sometimes use to point an accusing finger to these people?

I recently found a very good explanation of why this actually happened. It’s in the Bible, but it’s not in the Bible. It is part of Eugene Peterson’s The Message – in his introduction to the gospel of John…

In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, God is presented as speaking the creation into existence. God speaks the word and it happens: heaven and earth, ocean and stream, trees and grass, birds and fish, animals and humans. Everything, seen and unseen, called into being by God’s spoken word.

In deliberate parallel to the opening words of Genesis, John presents God as speaking salvation into existence. This time God’s word takes on human form and enters history in the person of Jesus. Jesus speaks the word and it happens: forgiveness and judgment, healing and illumination, mercy and grace, joy and love, freedom and resurrection. Everything broken and fallen, sinful and diseased, called into salvation by God’s spoken word.

For, somewhere along the line things went wrong (Genesis tells that story, too) and are in desperate need of fixing. The fixing is all accompanied by speaking—God speaking salvation into being in the person of Jesus. Jesus, in this account, not only speaks the word of God, he is the Word of God.

Keeping company with these words, we begin to realize that our words are more important than we ever supposed. Saying “I believe,” for instance, marks the difference between life and death. Our words accrue dignity and gravity in conversations with Jesus. For Jesus doesn’t impose salvation as a solution; he narrates salvation into being through leisurely conversation, intimate personal relationships, compassionate responses, passionate prayer, and—putting it all together—a sacrificial death. We don’t casually walk away from words like that.

Isn’t that beautiful? And well-written, well-explained? Can you understand why this man’s Bible translation is my favorite?

By daily looking at the words of Jesus from the four gospels, and Revelation, making them our own, and applying them practically in our lives, we will have a shot at really loving Jesus. That’s what we’ll be doing together here on this blog.

But that’s not all – this is not a blog that highlights only the words of Jesus. We’ll also look at the claims Jesus made about himself – his identity, and the actions Jesus took – his life. And then we’ll also discuss the stories of Jesus. In short, we’ll be reframing Jesus for the Google world – how is Jesus relevant to people today, and how can we follow Him.

This is the first blog post of The Jesus Feed Blog. The official launch date of the website is 15 November 2008. In the meantime, I will try to post once or twice, but the main work will be behind the scenes to get everything ready for launch day.

Be sure to subscribe, and you’ll hear all about it, as it happens.