Mike Novotny - How to Walk in Jesus' Footsteps
Who's the person who thrives spiritually? Who's really blessed in the eyes of God. The one who meditates The one who doesn't just take step after step mindlessly, but instead thinks about each one very, very carefully. Wow! We are here! Jesus was here, not around here. But here. Earlier this year, I got to explore Israel. I'm sitting, literally, in the place where Jesus' feet touched. I saw some amazing places. The old city of Jerusalem. In the Garden of Gethsemane. Beautiful Nazareth. At the Mount of Beatitudes. Capernaum, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. And I can't wait to share these video devotions with you.
Oh man. I am sitting here in a crazy place. These are the Southern Steps. They're the steps that led up to the Temple Mount, the place where Jesus, himself, worshiped. It's a beautiful day in Jerusalem today and I'm just stunned thinking that I'm sitting, literally, in the place where Jesus' feet touched. There's something really neat about the Southern Steps though. As a Jewish worshipper would climb these steps to get to the Temple Mount to worship God at Passover or at Pentecost, they had to watch their step. Because the Southern Steps aren't even.
There's a big step here, and a short step, and a big step and a short step. You couldn't, like, zone out as you walked up the steps or you would trip. And so as you were walking into the house of the Lord, getting ready to worship him, you had to pay very close attention. You couldn't just go through the motions. You really had to meditate. And that was intentional. Because when we come to church, God doesn't just want us to say a few prayers and sing a few songs and listen to a sermon and take a few notes. He wants us to think deeply, to meditate about the promises that he's made to us.
That's why I love Psalm, chapter 1, a passage I'd love to share with you. It says, Who's the person who thrives spiritually? Who's really blessed in the eyes of God? The one who meditates. The one who doesn't just take step after step, mindlessly, but instead, thinks about each one very, very carefully. And I know that's a crazy hard thing to do. I mean, when it comes to singing songs in church or praying the Lord's Prayer again, the natural default setting is for our brains to conserve energy and to go through the motions.
So, I just want to challenge you one service at a time, one song at a time, to remember the Southern Steps. As you climb into the presence of God through worship, think really carefully about the words, the verses, the points your pastor is making in a sermon, because if you meditate, as the psalm says, you will be blessed. That's what Jesus did in this place. And that's what we do as we walk in his footsteps. And that's the incredible message that we learn right here, at an amazing sight, the Southern Steps.