Love Others

Good Morning!! At the very beginning of Jesus’ farewell discourse, He said, " Hey, a new commandment I give to you, love each other as I have loved you. This is how they’ll know you’re My disciples."  He was telling them to love the way He loved. Is that possible? I don't think so! So, why did He tell us to do it? Maybe, because He was assuming we would be abiding in Him,...and that we would remain in Him,...so that Jesus would be doing the love through us.

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this:Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."—John 15:10-13 (NIV)

" Remaining in Christ," just as a branch must remain in the vine, bears supernatural fruit: obedient, joy-saturated acts that can only be attributed to Jesus. Sacrificial love is one of those fruit. It is not an option, but rather a natural outpouring of Christ’s love for others when we allow Him to live through us,...and this speaks louder to the world than any of our words. We are described, and we are defined as His disciples was, by this love moving through us.

Have you ever noticed that those that are the hardest to love, seem to need it the most.

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Lord, You love us just like the Father loves You. We want to remain in that love, we want that joy,...and we want the obedience that springs forth from being a branch on Your vine. In all honesty, our flesh wants to judge and condemn and punish!...but we choose to give in to Your love instead. Love others through us, just as You love us. Amen.

" If you can't see or show love, you are not a Christian,...you're just playing one."

The Mystery Of Faith

Good Morning!! If we were to be honest, if we're willing to be real, about our faith and beliefs, we must regularly return to the realization that so much of what we embrace, is still a mystery. As the hour of Jesus’ death loomed closer and closer, He was sharing with His disciples final words that were simple to understand, yet so full of mystery that they could not comprehend.  Jesus held nothing back. He made it very clear what He wanted His disciples to know and to remember.  Listen as Jesus speaks into that concern:

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.—John 14:18-20 (NIV)

Is this not the great mystery again? Jesus is in the Father; we are in Jesus; Jesus is in us. Someday, the mystery will become our full experience. Death is our passage into the full reality of God. For now, though, on this side of the grave, we live it simply by faith.
 

Jesus' words transcend time and distance to speak to us today: love, obedience, truth, fear… and being left alone.

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Thank You for speaking into our fears, with truth. Thanks for holding nothing back in the final words You spoke to the disciples,...the words that You speak to us today. You have not left us. You live, and we will live, because we are in You! Thank You Jesus. Amen.

" If you can't see or show love, you are not a Christian,...you're just playing one."

From Bad To Worse, And Still We Believe

Good Morning!! The disciples were starting to get scared,...this wasn't just another parable, or illustration,...this was for real. Jesus was telling them of His impending death and departure, and Judas had already left the group, destined to set in motion the events that would climax in His innocent blood being shed.

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.—John 14:1-3 (NIV)

Jesus knew that over the next few hours, days, months, and years His disciples would have to learn how to believe, and live, the things He had taught them. He knew that in centuries to come, we would need to learn the same. In His final discourse to the disciples, and His future encouragement to us, His teachings were twofold: the Spirit will be in you on earth, and " I will come back for you one day. Trust Me,...I  have it all worked out."

Our circumstances, don't have to dictate our faith.

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Lord, what can we do but praise You for Your provision? You have given us everything and the only thing we truly need on earth: Your Spirit in us. We trust and believe in You. Even when circumstances on earth go from bad to worse, we trust and believe in You. We trust and believe that You will be coming back to take us to a place, that You have prepared for us. We trust and believe. Amen.

" If you can't see or show love, you are not a Christian,...you're just playing one."

The Holy Spirit Live In You!

Good Morning!! Jesus knew that His time had come. In a few short hours, He would leave the world and go to His Father. There was no question of His love for the men He was sharing His last meal with,...and the next day, He would prove His love for the whole world. For those closest to Him, the words of His pending departure caused confusion and concern. As part of His "Farewell Discourse," Jesus offered them words of comfort:

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you."—John 14:16 (NIV)

Help was on the way: an Advocate, a Counselor,...the Spirit of Truth. This Spirit had been with them,...soon, He would be in them. That's no small distinction! Not for them, and certainly not for us. The Holy Spirit of God is not just around us, not just among us. He is IN us,...in YOU (if you have opened the door of your life to Christ and allowed Him to come in.) The movement of the Farewell Discourse is profound: from "with us" to "in us."

Of all the "famous last words" spoken, the most important we could hear are Jesus' final words telling us who we are,...because of Who is in us.

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Holy Spirit, let us never, never get over the wonder and awe of who we are in Christ, and who You are in us. Give us the peace to ponder this, the passion to envision it, the faith to live out the truth that You indwell us. Amen.

" If you can't see or show love, you are not a Christian,...you're just playing one."

Love, The New Standard

Good Morning!! Only hours before His death, Jesus gives His disciples a new command,...Love. Yes, the Christ is just about to usher in the "New Covenant",...a fulfillment of all the law and the prophets,...and yet a 180-degree shift in the direction of human spirituality. Man-made religion and legalism would soon be nullified by the sacrificial death of Jesus "because God so loved the world…" Love is about to become the new standard. But this new command, is it just a new thing we must do? A new burden to carry? Not if you look at the context, and Jesus’ prayer that follows:

I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."—John 17:26 (NIV)

At the very end of the discourse, Jesus says that it will be His love in us that will distinguish us as His disciples! He is in you, it is His love that will fulfill this new command to love others.

"A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples." (John 13:34-35)

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God of Love, Your Son showed us Your love, on the cross. By the Spirit, stir up a genuine love for You, and others,...that You created within us. We do love You! Your love is real and You have placed it in us, so let it flow, in the name of Jesus! We can't do it on our own, so we ask that You wake it up, in our hearts and minds today. Amen

" If you can't see or show love, you are not a Christian,...you're just playing one."

Letting Jesus Serve, Through Us

Good Morning!! During the last meal Jesus shared with His disciples, He gave them way more than they were ready for,...He was simultaneously putting them in their place, and communicating who they would shortly become in Him, after Pentecost. No doubt, they were a little confused and conflicted in those moments. He had just told Peter that unless he let Him serve him by washing his feet, he had no place with Him. " You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand. "(John 13:7) Jesus had just reversed the roles, then He changed the rules, and then He threw them a major curve ball: 

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one anothers' feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.—John 13:12-17 (NIV)

Do verses like these feel like a burden to you? They shouldn't, if you consider the full 'example' that Jesus set for us. He was fully dependent on the Father every step of the way. God moved Him so that He could serve us,...and now He calls us to the same. This very Jesus, the servant Jesus, lives in us. As we live in Him, it will become the most natural thing in the world, for us to serve others.

Just know that God has placed you where you are,...so that He can serve others, through you.

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Lord Jesus, make us servant! No, more than that,...would You serve through us today? We are fully dependent on You to love, and serve those around us,...particularly the difficult ones! We stand aside, surrendering our self-efforts. We give in to Your Spirit in us… give us some feet to wash. Amen!

"So even if we've chosen the Lord God in the past,...the real challenge; like Joshua is to choose This Day, whom we will serve."

Chosen

Good Morning!! If we complain about "favoritism", more times than not, it's because we're not the one being favored.  In the world, it's all about favorites. We reward those who behave as we wish,...act as we wish,...look as we wish. That's how it works in the flesh,...but God has a different standard in His family. 

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.—Galatians 3:26-29 (NIV)

Knowing who we are as individuals in Christ, can transform our individual lives. In the same way, a corporate understanding of who we all are in Christ, will transform the Church. God's truth trumps temporary social distinctions. Earthly ethnicity, gender, or social standing does not define us in God’s eyes,...if we are in Christ, we are all brothers and sisters. 

The Church is the one place where ethnicity, gender, and social standing should never matter.

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Heavenly Father, You show no favorites. In Your infinite love, You love all Your children with individual, eternal equality! We praise You that we're,...that we all, are Your favorite. Thank You for forgiving us all,...for the favoritism we show every day in Your family. By the power of Your Spirit, free us to see all others as "one in Christ"… and give us the willingness to let You love all equally,...through us. Amen.

"So even if we've chosen the Lord God in the past,...the real challenge; like Joshua is to choose This Day, whom we will serve."