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Welcome back to episode 19 of the DVP, the Dan Vegas program, brought to you by your host, myself, Dan Vegas. We're gonna kick it off hot here. Luke chapter 24, verses 15 through 19, with a little touch on uh verse 32. And it happened that while they were coming and debating, or they were while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. Jesus said, Oh, how foolish you are, how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke. Dot dot dot over to verse 32. Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scripture to us, opened up the scripture to us. This was my Bible reflection probably two weeks ago, and then a very similar story was told this past Sunday as the gospel, and there are a few points worth mentioning here, a few points that relate to I mean, just unlocking life, and I want to go through them with you. First one, Jesus drew near, literally walking with them, and yet they failed to recognize him. We're not above this. I wrote here, what am I so preoccupied with that I miss, that I do not recognize Jesus when he's walking with me. The fact of the matter is we walk amongst his creation as part of that creation, co-creators with him, co-authors in life with him. But he literally was walking with them and they missed him. Unless we think we're above that, unless we think, you know, I know God, I've been to church, I got that feeling. These these guys are walking physically with him and still missed him. And so that was just a beautiful reminder to me that, like, hey, we're not above this. And the check, what am I so preoccupied with that I don't recognize Christ? Second one. Jesus said to them, How foolish, how slow of heart to believe.

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Right?

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And this was talking specifically about the scripture. So he they knew the laws of the prophets, they had heard all the right things, they quote unquote knew, but they were slow to heart to believe the word of God and his prophets. And this was the foolishness, the foolishness that God called out, that Christ called out. We can know all the right things, but there's a vast difference between actually knowing and believing. When you know something like, I know the sun's gonna be up tomorrow. Great. But have I prepared the night before? Have I oriented my day? Have I set things out? Have I set whatever it is, the tasks that I need to get done, believing wholeheartedly that I'm gonna wake up feeling good and ready to go and I'm gonna get stuff done. How foolish. Because they were slow of heart to believe. Right? This was the foolishness. He didn't call out their knowledge, it was that slowness of heart to believe. And that offers an opportunity. What Jesus is focused on, what he mentions here in this passage, it's not the knowledge of the word, it's not the knowledge, but it's the belief. And so if you feel like you're in a position whether you're just not walking into the faith, or if you're just not trying to figure things out, or you've walked into a new area of life, maybe you got married, maybe you got a new job, maybe you got your dream job, or your dream car. Sounds silly, but listen, Christ isn't everything, he is glorified in our joy, even if it's just driving a car we really like. So perhaps you're in a new area of life, and there's some aspect of it, some part where you're just not trusting that, you're not entrusting it to God. That's the foolish part. It's not what you know, it's failing to believe fully what you know. And I'm kind of setting the stage here with all these things. Like the first one being Jesus walking with them and them not recognizing, like, ooh, okay, a little blunder there. Second one, well, they knew everything, but they just didn't believe. Alright, a little bit of a blunder there. Third one here. They said, were our hearts not burning? They asked each other, right? They felt God, they felt his spirit, they felt his word, they felt his presence in their heart, in their soul, you know, in their very being, their existence. They recognized it there somewhere. They felt it, like were our hearts not burning, and yet they still did not recognize him. You can feel the spirit, you can feel God, you can feel the power of the presence, and still not recognize him. A good example of this is I'm currently at the beach, and there's a lot of folks who, when they're out in nature, they can feel God, and that's wonderful. Like if something feels different, they might even not assign Christ to that, but they can feel it, they can feel it, and what a gift that is. That's amazing. But do we do we acknowledge his actual presence there? It's amazing to feel it, but do we acknowledge that he's actually there with us? They felt it, or our hearts not burning, they felt it, but they didn't recognize him. They felt it in his words, in the walk, in his the very existence, like he was walking with them, but they didn't recognize it. They felt it, but they didn't recognize, they didn't acknowledge him. Third blunder. Um the last little bit, which was just honestly, just inspired by this passage and reflecting on it, and less about a blunder, but let me rephrase. So Jesus walked with them, they didn't recognize him. Second, he's like, how foolish. You know, but you didn't believe. And third, they felt him but they didn't recognize him. We can often find ourselves at a point in life where we are distracted. We're thinking elsewhere, we're focused on other things. And that might be because God has put a comma where we've put a period. Life may try convincing you that if one detail is off, if one thing goes the wrong way in your plan or in your goal, then the whole thing's a bust. But God's not that finicky. He may put a comma or you put a period. God is not here to make sense, he's here to make an impact. He's not logical, he's impactful. And it's not as if he doesn't care or hasn't counted the cost, the cost in your life, but also the cost for you to live fully, right? I mean, he of all people would and does know the severe and great cost of living apart from the Father, living apart from God, as well as the actual literal cost required so that you might live fully. But that cost has been paid. He paid it. He loves and he lives and he goes and moves on like he knows it too. He lives fully for us. He tells us do not be afraid, do not worry, and do not be anxious. He tells us that we can have life and have it abundantly, not because oh, he just tells us what to do, and you know, we have to listen and follow the rules because that's what we're supposed to do, but because that's how he lives. And the price has been paid so that we can live the same way. He says, Do not worry, do not be afraid, do not be anxious, because he knows what it's like to live that way. That is life and life abundantly. He knows what it's like to live that way, he knows what it's like to not live that way, but he knows what it's like to live fully in the presence of his God, in the presence of God the Father, in the presence of Christ. He lives that way daily. Just as much now as he did then, and we can too. And look what he's done. Life is gonna throw any number of things at you. That's inevitable. That's just the nature of it. That's the world. We live in a fallen world, but so often when God places something on our heart, whether that's through conviction or through the word of somebody else or at mass or you feel it, or whatever it is, the moment you begin to pursue that, you're going to experience tension. There's a gentleman online, Nick Comedia, who says, There is no ascension without tension. And the moment we look, okay, I acknowledge, I feel this conviction, I feel that I'm being called to something, I feel like God's putting something on my heart. The moment you acknowledge that, you'll begin to feel some sort of tension. Because actually acknowledging that opens the door to, oh, I realize that I'm not living like that. The first thing that happens when you acknowledge conviction or something that you felt someplace on your heart, the first thing that happens is you realize how you're not living that way. You're like, oh, I'm capable of more, and I'm not currently doing that. Ooh. And so you might get through that easily enough. That might not trip you up at all. But then the next thing that happens, the next little detail that goes off, right? You've now you've had this conviction, you have this hope, this goal, this plan, this dream. And there's nothing noble about shrinking back. You know, I just have to do my duty and I just have to go sacrifice, and you know, I just have to go work with what I got so that I can maintain. There's nothing noble about backing away from conviction. There's nothing noble about shrinking away from a calling. There's nothing noble, there's nothing sanctifying about acknowledging something that's been placed on your heart and then being like, but I'm content. No, there's no nobility in that. How does that serve God? And if that's too lofty an idea, how does it serve the people in your life that are counting on you to fulfill that calling or that conviction so that they might also find theirs, feel theirs, begin to live in theirs? But the moment that you do, and this is very real, you'll be hit with some friction, some tension, and you'll think, period end of story. But it's not. God's only put a comma where you've placed a period. And when you place that period, those things might start to happen. You might, I still feel God, I feel that conviction, I feel the presence, I just don't see him anymore. Or I know all the stuff I'm supposed to be doing, I just not living like I believe it. Or, man, I'm I'm at mass, I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, I'm I've got good fellowship. I just I just don't value it or recognize it. You feel it, you it's there, you know the stuff. If that is your pattern, if that's where you find yourself over and over again, waking up every single day, being like, I'm in the same situation, I'm doing the same stuff, I'm falling for the same mindless games and the same spiraling, I keep falling into the same traps, the same discouragement. I would challenge you that there's a comma in your story. It's not a period, there's a comma. And if you can't, if you feel God's still there, if you know he's still there, if you know all the stuff, but you just don't feel him, you just don't recognize him, do not lose heart. He's still there. He's not God didn't come to make our life easy. He didn't come to make it straightforward. He came to make it impactful. And when I say he didn't come to make it straightforward, I mean in the sense of he didn't come to lay out a perfect plan for us to follow. He did come to make it straightforward in the sense of I am the way, the truth, and the life. There you go. Um, but not in the sense of like giving you a written-out plan. So fall into that. That's what I'm getting at. He's not here to make things simple, but he is here to call us to live fully, and that's available to every single one of us. And living fully might look differently for me than it does for you. Living fully is not it's not a checkbox. There's no finish line to living fully. It's different for every single human being, but we're all capable of it. We're all called to it. And it's not some high and lofty, oh, something only Jesus could do, or oh, only a select few people can do. He has paid the cost and and Christ lives that way for us. We are made in his image and likeness, and we're called to live like that also. And you can. So if you feel any discouragement, if you feel any of that stuff we talked about, if you're in that position, it it's a calma. It's not a period. And if you feel like there's no way out, then I'm gonna challenge you to reflect on your thought patterns and processes. Sit down, pray about it, write it down, work on it. Because the story's not over yet. If you're here, if you're breathing, if you're listening to this, the story's not over yet. You are called to life and life abundantly. Do not forget that. This has been episode 19 of the DVP. Thank you very much for hanging out. Thank you for sharing your time with me. I hope and pray for all of you who are listening or watching, and I hope and pray that this has brought some value to you in a meaningful and powerful way. Until next time, I'll see you then.