JUNE 3, 2024

  OUTPOST PODCASAT

 “Never miss a good chance to shut up.” 

― Will Rogers

2 CHRONICLES 10-12

  8But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”10The young men who had grown up with him replied, “The people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. 11My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’ ”

JOHN 13:18-38

 34“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”36Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”37Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”38Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!

JOURNAL 

Rehoboam chose pride. Jesus chose love.

It’s easy to see the mistakes of others, especially when reading them in the rearview mirror of history. From the safety of today, Rehoboam’s arrogance seems foolish, and Peter’s denial feels like a failure we would never make. But if I’m honest, those same tendencies live in me.

I see it when I seek affirmation over wisdom.
When I trust in my own judgment before seeking God’s.
When I rush into the day without prayer.
When I speak quickly, defend impulsively, or act without love.
It’s in the pressure to succeed, to be right, to appear strong.

Rehoboam listened to voices that fed his ego. Peter promised courage he couldn’t yet deliver. And I, too, often lean into pride or fear instead of humility and trust.

Jesus, on the other hand, exemplified a better way. A new command: love one another. Not conditionally. Not after getting things figured out. But as He has loved us—fully, humbly, sacrificially.

That’s the call. Not domination, not bravado, not self-preservation. But love.
And that love requires silence sometimes.
A pause.
A prayer.
A surrender of self.

So today, Lord, quiet my heart. Still my ego. Help me to live awake to your presence, aware of your grace, and grounded in your truth. Let me see this day as your gift—and respond to it with humility, love, and gratitude.

1Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 

 ~ PHILIPPIANS 2:1-4