How to Live in 2024: Learning From Jesus’ Life
As we seek to navigate a maze of conflicting worldviews, let's apply practical insights from three aspects of Jesus’ life.
Most Christians could give a general answer to the question: Why did Jesus die? Some Christians even make Jesus’ death the whole enchilada of Christian spirituality. I agree that Jesus’ redemptive death and resurrection will aIways be the ultimate hinge point in human history. That is unquestioned. But Christian living relies on coming to grips with an additional question: Why did Jesus live?
In our political and social climate, we must understand Jesus’ life—his teaching, deeds of power and manner of living—and then bring Jesus’ aims and methods to the forefront of our hearts and minds, thus shaping our attitudes and actions. This is important work, especially in 2024, for as Tom Wright wrote in Jesus and the Victory of God,
What you say about Jesus affects your entire worldview. If you see Jesus differently, everything changes. Turn this small rudder and the whole ship will change tack.
I want to help us live well in 2024 by applying practical insights from three aspects of Jesus’ life.
1. Jesus’ Life Is God-With-Us.
Jesus’ life demonstrates God’s desire and intention to be with us, to know us, and be known by us. Jesus is the manifestation of God’s love, which never fails, even in our most confusing or depressing moments. When trials and temptations come our way, Jesus’ life shows us we can trust that God is intimately and passionately involved in history.
The Application: Things might be said or done this year that will cause you to feel alone, abandoned by friends and family, even disconnected from yourself. You may feel impatient. You may get angry. You might feel powerless to make any significant difference. In the midst of that, one way to practically apply Jesus’ life is to engage in the practice of noticing. When a crazy bit of news shakes your soul, pause, get still and quiet, and pray: Jesus, reveal your living self to me.
2. Jesus’ Life Is Kingdom Focused.
Jesus’ public persona within first-century Judaism was that of a prophet, following in the footsteps of the Old Testament prophets who pointed out how Israel was contravening the ways God intended them to live. Jesus reminded his hearers of God’s person and purposes. Bringing ancient words to fulfillment, the content of Jesus’ prophetic proclamation was, as Tom Wright puts it, the kingdom of Israel’s God. For Jesus, the kingdom of God was the measuring stick, the plumb line, the scales upon which all of life—including socio-political life—was to be assessed.
The Application: As Christians, this should stop us in our tracks. Our primary allegiance is to God’s kingdom, and in 2024, it must be the measuring stick for our decisions, actions, relationships and anything happening in the political sphere. If a politician promises us something in exchange for our allegiance to their worldview, we must remember Jesus’ words when Satan tried to tempt him with the kingdoms of the world and their splendor:
Away from me, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.
Matthew 4:8-10
Why such a harsh response? Because only means only. Which means, “I might vote for someone, but my adoration, my service, is spoken for. It is being spent on God and his purposes in my life.” Modeling the singularity we see in Jesus’ life, we can ensure that politicians and their promises never enter the vault of our heart that holds our ultimate commitments.
3. Jesus' Life Is Coherent.
Jesus’ life and person reminds us that life includes agency, the capacity to intelligently initiate purposeful action. Jesus’ actions emerged from a coherent worldview that facilitated him being lovingly present to—but not captured by—the roiling social issues of his age. This insight from Tom Wright has long governed my vision of Jesus’s life:
Jesus held to a thoroughly coherent network of aims and beliefs…of his person…of his role…and how God’s mission [through him] would be achieved.
Jesus found coherence because his inner reality—heart, soul and will—aligned perfectly with God’s, allowing him to see himself and the world clearly. In so doing, he found meaning and the soundness of life that comes from it.
The Application: Coherence will be hard to find in the upcoming election cycle. Republicans say one thing; Democrats assert another. Independents respond with “no” to both. Libertarians critique them all. Cable news and talk radio hosts mock each other, never acknowledging the complexity of issues or admitting the weaknesses in their arguments. To successfully navigate this maze of conflicting worldviews, we must rely on the coherence of our Guide. We’re invited to align ourselves to Jesus as Jesus did to the Father. Jesus lived as an agent of repair, healing and forgiveness—I think we can all recognize that. We then use Jesus’ life as a guide for our own.
What does this look like in 2024? Begin by asking yourself these simple questions with powerful consequences:
Does the word I am about to speak or the action I am about to take align with Jesus’ purpose to renovate and recreate the world?
Does my word or action add more harm to the world, causing me to sin and to perpetuate cycles of harm in the world?
This year, we will hear many mean-spirited claims and counterclaims, and at times, we might feel like we are on shaky spiritual footing. But Jesus’ life is solid ground. It is homebase. It is native to Christian spirituality the way soil is to a plant.
This year, when politicians and authorities proclaim various visions of the good life, let’s assess them by routinely immersing ourselves in Jesus’ life—his aims, teaching, deeds of power and manner of living.