John 20:11-18

"Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father."-John 20:17

This was the passage that Rob Bell taught on from a message entitled "How to Lose Your Life". I didn't get up for church this morning but decided to see what Rob Bell had to say. What I took from that message was a ton! The background of that entire passage was this. After Jesus died and rose again Mary Magdalene saw Jesus but didn't recognize him. After she realized it was him she went to grab him and he said "Do not hold on to me...". She wanted things to be the way they were before and Jesus knew that they could not be like that again.

What did I take from this? I realized that I can never have the same relationship with God as I did in High School. I have changed and therefore my relationship with God has changed. One thing that Rob said was "It can't be what it was. But it can be better". Basically you have to lose your life in order to find your life. Rob said that "Our problem is that we refuse to die". I think the coolest part was when he said this. "Jesus says to (insert your name here)- 'You gotta let go. Trust me. Trust me. Trust me'".

After the message Rob gave a benediction to the congregation that I would like to share here.

"May you not have a spirit of fear, a spirit of control, a spirit of manipulation, a spirit of anxiety. But may you be given by the Creator of the Universe a spirit of acceptance, a spirit of peace, a spirit that says I'm ready God, take me to the next place. And may you, in losing your life, in surrenduring to the resurrected Jesus Christ, in denying yourself, in losing your life, may you find it and may it be better than you ever could have imagined and in this may the peace of God be yours."