The disciples apprenticed with Jesus for three years, day in and day out, so of course they were impacted by his words and his actions. But that kind of close-quarter apprenticeship offered less obvious lessons, too: they learned what he didn’t do.

Jesus didn’t invest a lot of time into theological debates with those trying to trap him.

He didn’t quash ​“unauthorized representatives” from ministering in his name. (Mark 9:39)

He didn’t go out of his way to correct those who misunderstood him.

In other words, Jesus lived an active life rather than a reactive life. He did ​“what he saw the Father doing,” (John 5:19) and invested most into those whose hearts were open and seeking and willing.

One internet meme shows a man late at night furiously typing into a computer screen. He announces he can’t come to bed because he’s working on something important. When asked what, he replies, ​“Someone is wrong on the internet.“

Sadly, many Christians are like this with other Christians, spending their energy fighting about secondary matters rather than cooperating with God. Indeed, the two are often conflated. People think they are cooperating with God by fighting in a way Jesus would not fight for things Jesus would not fight for. Commenting on this in a 1995 newsletter (that has aged remarkably well), Richard Foster notes, ​“There is a tragic inability to distinguish between issues of major significance from minor matters.”

The world right now is in desperate need of people who can discern what is true from what is half-true, what is major from what is minor, what is primary from what is secondary. It needs people who can hold and convey the truth with character, humility, beauty, and purity of heart — who follow the example not only of what Jesus did but also of what Jesus didn’t do.

Peace and every good,