Last post from the book of Acts we looked at the part of Peter’s sermon where he pleaded with his brothers to repent. (If you’re interested, you can check out our previous post here: Leaving the Path You’re On Is Hard (do it anyway) Acts 3:11-21) Today we’ll look at a quote from the Old Testament that Peter shares with that same crowd. It’s a prophetic quote that points to Jesus. Jesus said the Old Testament scriptures speak of him. (John 5:39, Luke 24:27, Luke 24:44-46) And here we see Peter sharing with his Jewish brothers one of the many places where Jesus is found there, in the Tanakh, in Deuteronomy. Peter quotes Moses when he says,

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.” (Acts 3:22-23, also see Deuteronomy 18:15, 18-19)

The Parking Lot Challenge

What Peter shared reminds me of the transition I went through. If you’ve read the book Love Like Jesus you already know about how a pastor (my pastor, Pastor Jon) challenged me in the church parking lot after a Bible study one night. He looked me in the eye intently and said these two words: “Study Jesus.”

That challenge led to an obsessive seven-year deep dive into Jesus’ life and words in the Gospels. In a very real way, I was a much younger person before that deep dive than I was after. I was a different person in my 20s, 30s, 40s, and even through my early 50s — much younger, not just chronologically — but younger in my relationship with Jesus too. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and have a talk with my younger self. In my younger years others described me as arrogant and condescending. I often had the feeling I was surrounded by idiots. I could be harsh, blunt, and abrasive. I was intensely interested in whatever I was intensely interested in, and had no inclination to join other people in their interests. I was also intensely interested in my own plans but not terribly interested in God’s plan. (If you want to learn more, you can find the book here: Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus).)

So, I would love to go back in time and have a conversation with my younger self. If I could, if I found a time machine, or if I could go back and visit my younger self in a dream somehow, that exchange might sound something like this:

Continue reading A Conversation with My Younger Self

Kurt Cameron Bennett best known for his book Love Like Jesus. After attending church and studying the Bible for most of his adult life, he was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven-year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote Love Like Jesus for himself as much as for others. He currently lives in Hillsboro, Oregon, just a few miles from his son Gabe, daughter (-in-law) Charise, and grandson Andrew. He has another son Nate and daughter (-in-law) Anastasia who live in Sammamish, Washington. His blog, God Running is a place for anyone who wants to (or even anyone who wants to want to) love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

Featured Image by Charles Woodruff using flatai.org