Volume Five
Forty sayings. One voice.
He never wrote a book. He left sentences.
Short enough to carry, sharp enough to change the shape of a day. People who heard them once repeated them for the rest of their lives, and two thousand years later they are still the most quoted words in human history.
What follows is 40 of them. Not the stories, not the arguments, just the lines. Each one appears in his own words, followed by a short note on what it lands on and one thing to do with it today. Read one a day, read all 40 in a sitting, or keep the four that will not leave you alone.
This is the fifth volume of The Jesus 40. It is the shortest one, and it is the one you can carry.
Part One
How to tell the real from the rehearsed
The Truth Will Make You Free
If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
John 8:31-32
Notice the order. Continue first, know second, free third. The truth is not handed to the curious, it is handed to the committed.
Carry it today
Pick one thing he said and do it today before you decide whether you believe it.
Do It and You Will Know
Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own.
John 7:17
This is the offer that makes everything else testable. Do it and see. Nobody has to settle the argument in advance.
Carry it today
Name the teaching you have been arguing about and try it for a week instead.
The Wind Blows Where It Chooses
The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
John 3:8
You cannot see wind. You can only see what it moves. The same is true of a changed life, which is why the evidence always shows up downstream.
Carry it today
Stop asking for proof before movement. Look at what has already changed in you.
Known by Their Fruits
You will know them by their fruits.
Matthew 7:16
Six words that end most religious arguments. Not by what they claim, not by what they know, by what grows.
Carry it today
Judge one situation today by what it has actually produced, not by what it claims.
Out of the Abundance of the Heart
The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil, for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.
Luke 6:45
Your mouth is not the problem. Your mouth is the readout. Whatever fills you up eventually spills.
Carry it today
Listen to what came out of your mouth this week and ask what it says about what is in you.
Nothing Stays Covered
Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered and nothing secret that will not become known.
Luke 12:2
Every hidden thing is on a timer. That is either the most frightening line he ever said or the most freeing, depending on how tired you are of hiding.
Carry it today
Name one thing you are hiding. Tell one person you trust today.
The House on Rock
Everyone, then, who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
Matthew 7:24
Two builders, same storm, different foundation. The only thing separating them is that one of them acted.
Carry it today
Take one teaching you already agree with and act on it before the day ends.
My Words Will Not Pass Away
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Mark 13:31
A carpenter with no book, no army and no office said this out loud. Two thousand years later you are reading it.
Carry it today
Write one of his sentences somewhere you will see it every morning this week.
Part Two
What he said about you before you had done anything
The Salt of the Earth
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
Matthew 5:13
Salt is not the meal. It is the small thing that makes the meal taste like something. He never asked you to be the whole world, only to change the flavor of your corner of it.
Carry it today
Do one small thing today that changes the flavor of the room you are in.
The Light of the World
You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.
Matthew 5:14
He said this to fishermen and tax collectors, not to scholars. Whatever you think you are, he had already decided what you were for.
Carry it today
Stop dimming. Say the true thing you were going to keep quiet about.
Look at the Birds
Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Matthew 6:26
He answers anxiety with birdwatching. It sounds naive until you notice he is not promising an easy life, he is correcting your estimate of your own worth.
Carry it today
Go outside for five minutes and stop solving. Let the worry sit unsolved.
More Joy Over One
Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
Luke 15:7
Heaven does not celebrate the streak. It celebrates the turn. Whatever you have done, coming back is the part that gets the party.
Carry it today
If you have been away, come back today. Not next week.
Neither Do I Condemn You
Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.
John 8:11
He refuses to condemn her and he refuses to pretend. Most people will offer you one half or the other, and you need both.
Carry it today
Tell someone the truth about what they did, then tell them you are not holding it.
Who the Physician Came For
Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.
Mark 2:17
The entrance requirement is need, not merit. If you feel unqualified, you have just read your invitation.
Carry it today
Stop qualifying yourself. Bring the part of you that is not fixed yet.
The Sabbath Was Made for You
The Sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the Sabbath.
Mark 2:27
The rule was built to serve the person, not the other way around. He is telling you where you rank against the system, and it is higher than you were told.
Carry it today
Find the rule you have been serving and ask whether it is still serving anyone.
Life, and Have It Abundantly
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
John 10:10
Not a longer life. Not an easier one. More of it, right where you are standing.
Carry it today
Ask what part of your week is survival and what part is actually life.
Part Three
The one thing he asked to be known by
By This Everyone Will Know
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
John 13:35
He named one marker and it was not doctrine, dress or volume. He handed the world a test and then let the world be the judge.
Carry it today
Do one thing for someone today that only makes sense if you love them.
Do to Others
In everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 7:12
Every rule anyone ever wrote, compressed into one line you can apply in a parking lot. In everything is the hard part.
Carry it today
Before you send the message, read it as if it were coming to you.
Love Your Enemies
But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Matthew 5:44
This is the line that separates him from every reasonable ethic on offer. Anyone can love the people who love back.
Carry it today
Pray by name for the person you would least like to see succeed.
No Greater Love
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.
John 15:13
Love has a ceiling, and it is not a feeling, it is a cost. He said this days before he proved it.
Carry it today
Give up something today that costs you, for someone who cannot repay it.
Seventy-Seven Times
Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.
Matthew 18:22
Peter thought seven was generous. The answer was not a bigger number, it was the end of counting.
Carry it today
Drop one grudge you have been keeping the record on.
The Measure You Give
Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.
Matthew 7:1-2
You are not being told to have no opinions. You are being told that you are setting the standard you will be held to.
Carry it today
Notice the standard you applied to someone today and apply it to yourself.
The Log in Your Own Eye
You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye.
Matthew 7:5
He does not say leave the speck alone. He says you are in no condition to reach for it yet.
Carry it today
Before you correct anyone this week, name the same fault in yourself out loud.
The Least of These
Just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.
Matthew 25:40
He put himself in the place of the person you were tempted to walk past. Every ordinary kindness is being received somewhere else.
Carry it today
Treat the next person who inconveniences you as if he were standing there.
Part Four
Money, worry, words and time
Give Without Payment
You received without payment; give without payment.
Matthew 10:8
The economics of the whole thing in six words. What arrived free does not get a price tag on the way out.
Carry it today
Give something away today that you could have charged for.
Where Your Treasure Is
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:21
He reverses the order you assume. The heart does not pick the treasure, the treasure trains the heart. Move the money and the affection follows it.
Carry it today
Look at where your money went last month and ask what it was training you to love.
You Cannot Serve Two Masters
No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
Matthew 6:24
Not should not. Cannot. He is describing a wiring problem, not stating a preference.
Carry it today
Name the second master you have been trying to keep. Then choose.
Do Not Worry About Tomorrow
So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today.
Matthew 6:34
He does not deny that tomorrow has trouble in it. He just refuses to let you carry two days at once.
Carry it today
Write down tomorrow's worry, put it away, and deal with today only.
Life Is Not Possessions
Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.
Luke 12:15
Greed rarely announces itself. It arrives looking like a reasonable upgrade, which is exactly why he told you to stand guard.
Carry it today
Cancel one purchase this week that you had already justified.
Let Your Word Be Yes
Let your word be Yes, Yes or No, No; anything more than this comes from the evil one.
Matthew 5:37
Oaths exist because people lie. Take the lying out and you can stop swearing on things.
Carry it today
Say a clear yes or a clear no today with no hedging attached to it.
What Comes Out of the Mouth
It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.
Matthew 15:11
Diet, ritual and appearance were the whole argument. He moved the question to what leaves you, which is a much harder place to hide.
Carry it today
Watch what leaves your mouth today more carefully than what you put in it.
Faithful in a Very Little
Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much, and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.
Luke 16:10
Character does not switch on at some later threshold. It is already fully visible in how you handle the small thing in front of you.
Carry it today
Do the small unseen thing properly today, the one nobody will check.
Part Five
The trade at the center of everything
To Gain the Whole World
For what does it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
Mark 8:36
He frames it as arithmetic. Put everything on one side of the ledger and yourself on the other, and the trade never comes out right.
Carry it today
Name the thing you are chasing and ask what it is costing you to chase it.
Take Up Your Cross
If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
Mark 8:34
He recruited by telling people what it would cost. Nobody who followed him could later claim they were not warned.
Carry it today
Give up one thing today that you have every right to keep.
Unless a Grain of Wheat
Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
John 12:24
A seed kept safe stays a seed. Everything that ever multiplied had to be buried first.
Carry it today
Let one plan of yours die instead of forcing it back to life.
Whoever Wishes to Be Great
Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave.
Matthew 20:26-27
He does not kill the ambition. He inverts the ladder and leaves the climb standing.
Carry it today
Do the job today that nobody wants and do not mention that you did it.
Exalted and Humbled
For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Luke 14:11
There are only two ways down from a high opinion of yourself, and only one of them is voluntary.
Carry it today
Take the lower seat today somewhere it would be easy to take the higher one.
Come to Me, All You Who Are Weary
Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30
A yoke is still work. He is not offering you an empty life, he is offering you a lighter load and better company.
Carry it today
Put down one burden today that was never yours to carry.
I Have Conquered the World
I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!
John 16:33
Both halves in one breath. He promises trouble and then tells you it has already lost.
Carry it today
Name the trouble you are in, then say out loud that it does not get the last word.
I Am With You Always
And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
Matthew 28:20
The last thing he said was not an instruction. It was a promise that he was not leaving.
Carry it today
Before you sleep, say it back to him. You are with me.
Forty lines, and not one of them needs a commentary to work. Pick the one that will not leave you alone and carry it for a week. Say it in the car. Say it before the meeting. Say it when the old thing comes back.
You do not have to believe it all to begin. You only have to try one of them and see what happens, which is exactly what he said would work.