Romans 15:4 "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
It’s been said that “there’s no faster track for your soul to find satisfaction than on the path of servanthood.”
In truth, Jesus himself said, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant” (Matthew 20:26).
Followers of Jesus should have a servant spirit that always looks “not to the best interest of themselves but to the greatest interests of others.”
Sometimes servanthood is poorly understood.
While everyone is equal in Christ, not everyone’s roles are equal. A servant-minded mother still has authority over her child. A servant-minded CEO never abandons the responsibility to lead. Ultimately, the attitude and actions of the Christian are characterized by servanthood, not the position that person holds.
A believer in Christ desires to imitate the servant spirit of Christ.
Since Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened” (Matthew 11:28), God’s Goal for us: reach out to people who need rest, comfort, and help.
Their Goal? They serve as a channel of his grace to people who are lost in the cycle of poverty, or alcohol, drug addiction, violence, victims of violence, or devalued because of their skin color. If the quest for hope is universal, doesn’t it make great sense to share the joy and satisfaction we have received from Jesus?
Jesus served for the joy set before him. Christians too delight that other people will be privileged to taste heaven’s enduring grace through their service to God in God’s own backyard! Service to all of God’s Children in God’s neighborhood.
Hebrews 12:1-2 Amplified Bible
Jesus, the Example
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of [a]witnesses [who by faith have testified to the truth of God’s absolute faithfulness], stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us, 2 [looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, [b]disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work].
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
When a person initiates a new, huge endeavor, his passion to succeed in that endeavor strengthens him to keep his eye on the goal in front of him.
For example, as an athlete starts a race, their desire and their goal to win that race helps them keep both of their eyes and feet fixed on the finish line.
While constructing a building, workers who keep their eyes on the architect’s finalized rendering are encouraged to sustain the momentum of the building process.
While we are reading and studying this book called the Bible, which we hold in our hands and our hearts, I have a daily goal of encouraging myself by keeping my sight fixed on God, my Creator and Jesus, the Author and Finisher of my faith!
With every new daily devotional entry I complete, I move closer and closer to that goal, and it gives me courage to keep writing every morning. As a result of my writing, staying on track, you are prayerfully reading this devotional today.
But what do you think Jesus focused on when He was hanging on the Cross and enduring the agony and shame?
You can imagine that He must have had moments when He thought, I don’t have to do this! I could call on legions of angels to deliver me! I could come down from this Cross! What do you think motivated Him to remain there until the job was done?
Hebrews 12:2 is clear what was motivating Jesus – Joy!
The Joy of Accomplishing the Goal set before Him by His Father.
The Goal: Revealing the Deity of His Father, His Authority, the Completion of the Work which God sent His Son into the World (John 3:16-17) to achieve.
2 [looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross,[b]disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work].
This verse says Jesus focused on “the joy” that was set before Him as He endured the Cross.
Just like a runner focuses on the finish line, like a builder forges ahead to view the completed building project, and an author anticipates the last written page of a book, Jesus was looking forward to “the joy” of finishing God’s work
I’m sure that somewhere in all of that indescribable agony, as Jesus hung on the Cross, He looked out across eons of time and saw the faces of people who would be saved because of what He was doing. He saw you! He saw me — but what else did He see that motivated Him to stay faithful to the end?
The word “joy” in Greek has a definite article, which means this wasn’t just joy in general, but it was a specific joy.
The verse goes on to describe that joyous “finish line” that Jesus set His face like flint toward: “…who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Jesus had His eyes of faith fixed on the empty throne at the right hand of the Father that was reserved for Him once His victory was complete.
Upon that throne, all enemies would be His footstool, and He would commence the next part of His high priestly ministry to intercede for everyone who would ever come to Him in time of need (see Hebrews 4:16).
Jesus had His eyes, His heart, His mind — His whole being — fixed on that highly exalted place.
That was the joy set before Him.
When sin and hell were defeated and Jesus was resurrected, that was the seat of authority He ascended into Heaven to occupy.
Ever since that time, from that highly exalted position, Jesus has been serving as Lord of the Church and as the High Priest and Intercessor for every believer.
What is the goal in front of you that keeps you motivated to move ahead even when things are difficult?
If you have no goal, it’s likely you’ll give up.
That’s why it is so important to know exactly where you are headed, what will happen when you get there, and what kind of victory you’ll experience when you attain that long-awaited position.
Just as Jesus had a joyous outcome set before Him, I guarantee that you and I have a joyous outcome placed before us too.
STRENGTH TO RUN THE RACE, FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE WHICH PERSEVERE
The Joy of the Lord is our Strength and our Stronghold: Nehemiah 8:9-10
Psalm 18:1-2: “I love You [fervently and devotedly], O Lord, my strength.” 2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and the One who rescues me; My God, my rock and strength in whom I trust and take refuge; My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower—my stronghold.
BY OUR LOVE AND THROUGH OUR OBEDIENCE: THE ABUNDANT LIFE
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 Amplified19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore, you shall choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding closely to Him; for He is your life [your good life, your abundant life, your fulfillment] and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord promised (swore) to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
How does all of this speak to our 2022 hearts. our souls and our servanthood?
Hebrews 12:2 Amplified Bible
2 [looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, [a]disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work].
Looking away from all that will distract us and focusing our eyes on Jesus who is the Author and Perfector of faith ….
What are those distractions from which we need to avert our 2022 eyes?
What are those divisions we need to set aside, from which we need to Unite?
How do we come together in the Gospel, to grapple with, to debate, to discuss, challenge comprehend, understand, teach, preach – God’s Joy in our Koinonia?
God’s Goal which is Koinonia – “for the Joy of the Lord which is before us …”?
We are the Body of Christ – We are the Church in the World,
For the “JOY OF THE LORD” which is ever BEFORE US ….
What are you and I building with our lives?
What keeps you and I motivated to stay on “God’s track?”
What will it look like when you and I finish it?
What are you and I “writing” with our faith, our hope and our “love”?
What will the final chapter of our lives look like because you and I have come together, eyes focused on Jesus alone, done what Jesus has asked us to do?
What is the specific joy that is set before you and me?
Is there any genuine strength in our Koinonia goal of “Joy of the Lord?”
Sometimes when you are working hard to do what God has asked you to do, it can seem overwhelming, but progress is gained one step at a time.
The increments of forward movement might seem tiny, but no matter how big or small the steps, you can know that you are inevitably progressing toward the goal that God has set for our lives.
When I was a young man of 41, God showed me the purpose of my life, and that purpose has been in front of me ever since.
In times of hardship, I’ve kept my eyes focused on that goal which God set before me, because fulfilling that divine purpose is what my life is all about.
Sometimes it seemed like all I could do was take baby steps — yet each step has been a step in the right direction. That’s the way I have lived these last twenty years focused, moving in the direction of the purpose God has revealed to me.
If you get your eyes off the goal, start focusing on how small your steps are along the way, it is probable you’ll get discouraged, give up before you arrive.
So today I want to encourage you to lift your eyes and look beyond to the joy, the victory, and the utter fulfillment of what God has planned for your life.
Even Jesus possessed a goal to help Him stay focused as He underwent intense suffering and hung on that Cross.
So today I exhort everyone who koinonias, by the leading of the Holy Spirit, to make a fresh consecration before the Lord to submit to His will for your lives.
Then exercise your authority in Jesus’ name and resist the devil (see James 4:7)!
And as you and I move forward in obedience to the Lord’s voice, keep our eyes of faith, hope and love fixed on the prize Jesus has set before both you and me.
That is what will sustain our determination to stay in God’s place and stay on God’s track until we can finally shout, we have reached our God-ordained goal!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
At the starting line of this day, we call on your name, God of grace. As we run the race you have set before us, help us to keep our eyes on your goals, not our own. When we falter, give us fresh strength and courage. When we are fleet-footed, let us give you the glory. Keep us from wanting to win at other’s expense or to count ourselves better than those at our side. All runners are your children. In the race You imagine, each one is a winner. Alleluia! Amen.
We are bound to get into an argument every once in a while, — whether it’s with your business partner, a family member, a friend, or a complete stranger.
We all possess strong thoughts, aspirations, and opinions that sometimes transform everyday conversations into long debates and hostile disputes.
But while our tendency to disagree may be shared, did you know that everyone has a different approach to handling strong thoughts and emotions, a “fighting style” if you will, that provides us with a glimpse into their mental health, too?
How you and I respond to an argument and the tactics and strategies we use to confront a verbal altercation says a lot about your emotional and mental state.
Since few of us are strangers to the realm of combative discussions, we may be asking ourselves, “Okay, what does my fighting strategy reveal about my inner thoughts and mental health?”
Below, are outlined a list of the typical fighting styles used by individuals when they get into a heated discussion or argument — and what these tactics show about our personality, our emotional state and our self-control.
And nothing is more aggressive or unproductive during an argument than ad hominem attacks on the other person’s character, rather than sticking to the topic at hand.
If we tend to break down our opponent by using the information you know about their character as a leverage point, we may want to stop and evaluate how we would feel if you were in their shoes – if our character was under attack.
When people struggle with self-esteem, they can be their own worst enemy and may pick apart their own character traits and flaws.
That’s why it’s not uncommon for these same individuals to resort to “below the belt” tactics in an argument, too.
2. Accepting Defeat or Faking Indifference
In many ways, those who accept defeat or feign indifference during a fight are the same. In both instances, the individual doesn’t open up their inner thoughts — regardless of their reasoning.
Whether we fear that our argument is invalid, or irrelevant, or we cannot find the strength within us to craft an argument or fight, merely accepting defeat or pretending we do not or will not care may indicate that we think and we believe others may find it difficult to or incapable of understanding our thoughts.
This is a common symptom of depression, as individuals who grapple with this mental illness often seek love — rather than arguments or debates or disputes, simply because they don’t believe they have the emotional energy to surrender.
Whenever it appears that their opinions do not align with those of the opposing party, they may act indifferent or accept defeat in an attempt to feel more loved, acknowledged, included, validated and accepted.
3. The Silent Treatment
Maybe we are the type of person who applies the silent treatment tactic every time an argument or heated discussion appears to suddenly arise before us.
If we have found ourselves on the receiving end of the proclamation of “Why aren’t you saying anything to me?” then we may also be subtly wondering what this says about our mental state and our self-esteem and sense of self-control.
While you may have been called out on your quiet tendencies in the past, it may actually be a good thing we become active listeners whenever a dispute erupts.
If your natural tendency is to take the silent approach during a fight, it may serve as an indication of sound mental health and that one acknowledges that proactive discussions, resolutions often arise when one speaker remains calm.
Just be sure to evaluate whether we’re choosing to give the silent treatment, as making this calculated choice could likewise indicate we are acting emotionally distant, insensitive and invalidating toward, unto, our “assertive challenger.”
4. Openness and Honesty
Perhaps one of the healthiest fighting styles that indicates a positive mental state is adopting a style which promotes both openness and honesty — offering an open welcoming platform for every party involved in the discussion to speak.
Those who do not communicate openly and honestly may do well to try to learn how to be open, inclusive and welcoming and then intentionally practice them.
An inclusive and welcoming, and open and honest fighting style generally sees the most successful results for both parties at the end of an argument or debate.
Find Your Balance
When we labor and work to establish a sense of respect that lets our and our “opponent” work through the argument with ease, we’ll experience an easier, less stressful time overcoming whatever difficulties or opposing views arise.
Since psychology has long revealed that getting into healthy arguments can be beneficial to our relationships, it’s very crucial for us, as Christians, to develop a constructive fighting style that not only helps us to enjoy deep and proactive communication channels, but likewise enhances a healthy state of self-control.
But why does all of this or any of this matter to edifying the Kingdom of God?
Proverbs 25:28 King James Version
28 He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
WHY I MUST LET GOD GUIDE MY SPIRIT AND BECOME MY SELF-CONTROL
Self-control helps us to resist temptation and avoid conforming to the things of this world.
It guides our decisions, and it correlates with how we connect and relate to each other and reveals the “things of God” and shows the other fruits in our lives.
For example, forbearance, or patience, requires self-control.
Proverbs 14:29 says, “Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.”
Our sinful nature leads us to give into our temper, but we are called to rise above this and show patience.
Self-control can be applied to all of the fruits of the Spirit in the same way it is applied to forbearance.
Displaying self-control is often a matter of responding rather than reacting.
When we react to a situation, we all too easily let our emotions take control.
We are more likely to become defensive and say hurtful things.
Responding, consistent with the Word of God, however, involves developing a more thoughtful Godly response that is guided by reason more than emotions.
As Christians, our responses to situations are to be guided by the fruits of the Spirit – this devotional covering the Spiritual fruit of Self-Control.
Jesus Christ gives us the perfect example of self-control, because He lived a sinless life and possessed every fruit of the Spirit.
Jesus demonstrated self-control because He was sent to earth to carry out the Father’s will. He was to live a perfect life in order to set an example for us, and in the end, He, in obedience, died for our sins so that we may have eternal life.
In Matthew 26:53-54, Jesus says, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”
Jesus knew what He was sent to Earth to do, and despite his own fears, He demonstrated self-control in submitting to the Father’s perfect plan. Without the self-control of Jesus, we would face death as the punishment of our sin.
2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
With the Holy Spirit inside of us, we are able to possess self-control and demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit.
As a result, we can live in a way which are both controlled by and honorable to God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
So, next time you are in a tough situation, remember God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the perfect example he gave us of how to live.
While it may seem challenging to demonstrate self-control,
the rewards will definitely and decidedly will be great –
Psalm 103:1-5 Amplified Bible
Praise for the Lord’s Mercies.
A Psalm of David.
103 Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul, And all that is [deep] within me, bless His holy name. 2 Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul, And do not forget any of His benefits; 3 Who forgives all your sins, Who heals all your diseases; 4 Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you [lavishly] with lovingkindness and tender mercy; 5 Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the [soaring] eagle.
How are we to take David’s three-thousand-year-old Song and make it ours?
Four vital reasons why WE need to learn to let God become our Self Control.
1. BECAUSE OUR FEELINGS OF SELF-CONTROL ARE OFTEN UNRELIABLE.
Our feelings are often far too easily and dangerously unreliable.
They can lead you and me in the wrong direction.
How many times have you and I thought …?
“I just know this is the right thing to do. I just feel it in my gut.”
And you do it and it doesn’t work out. Every one of us have done that.
We have given people motives for doing things, that were not true.
We have had a feeling this person would be a great friend.
We have had a feeling this time we were going to win.
Our feelings are often wrong.
Our intuition does not always work.
Your emotions often lead you down a blind alley with no exit point.
You and I cannot depend on everything you feel.
We do not have to believe everything we feel or think.
I’m telling you the reader; you do not have to accept everything you feel.
Because not everything you feel is right. Not everything you feel is reality.
Some of the things you feel about yourself are flat out dead wrong.
Some of the things you feel about other people are dead wrong.
You say, I’m sure this is the right direction, but it’s not.
So, you and I need to let God do a better job managing our emotions.
Proverbs 14:12 says this “There is a way that SEEMS right to a person, but in the end, it leads to death.”
So, our emotions are not infallible.
Just because you and I feel it so strongly does not always make it 100% true.
Our feelings are often wrong, and they often guide us in the wrong direction.
The second reason I need to let God control my emotions is.
2. BECAUSE I DON’T WANT TO BE MANIPULATED.
If you and I don’t let God control our emotions, they will control us, and we will be manipulated by your moods.
If you and I are always 100% guided by OUR feelings, You and I will all too quickly reject the truth of the Word of God, because you and I feel as though something else is infinitely, temporarily more noble, more just or more loving.
If you and I are always guided by feelings other people are going to quickly take advantage of us.
In fact, politicians, salesmen and advertisers are trained in how to stir up your emotions because they know if they can get you hooked emotionally, you are going to buy the message or the product they want to move off their shelves.
So, the emotional bent of the message, the color scheme of the packaging and the music in the commercial and the things that they say in the presentation are all deliberately and intentionally designed to quickly, if not immediately, to get us emotionally involved to the point of saying, “I genuinely need one of those.”
And if you make snap decisions like what you buy based on emotion it’s called impulse buying, you are going to buy stuff that you do not really need or want.
Has anybody ever done this?
Could I see your hands?
We all have!
You go home and you go,
why in the world did I believe that?
why in the world did I buy that?
The Bible says in Proverbs 25:28 – I love this in the New American Bible, “Like an open city with no defenses is the person with no check on his feelings.”
Remember in the days Proverbs was written, you built walls around the city to keep the enemy out.
Otherwise, the enemy just rushes into the city and take whatever they wanted.
Let me show you this verse in another translation.
The New Living Translation says this “A person without self-control is as defenseless as a city with broken down walls.”
Not only are you defenseless against the manipulation of other people but you are defenseless to the manipulation of other people by your own old nature.
Our own old nature will maliciously use our feelings to turn us inside out.
It will convince you, “you deserve whatever you feel like having.”
The sinful nature in me, can use my best feelings against me and against the truth of the Word of God for His Children.
We have people feeling as though Jesus was not “unconditionally” loving “all of the people” when he said marriage was exclusively between man and a woman.
So now people feel as though they are being more loving and compassionate than Jesus, by letting Jesus know he was wrong, it doesn’t have to be a man and a woman. How can you and I be more loving or compassionate than Jesus was?
The woman caught in adultery felt like what she was doing was right.
Jesus had absolute 100% compassion on her by telling her to go, sin no more.
Worst of all Satan’s favorite tool in your life is negative emotions.
He will never hesitate to use fear to keep you in bondage.
He will never hesitate to use resentment and jealousy and envy to get you off track from the will of God.
He will never hesitate to use bitterness, worry, anxiety and shame to keep us from growing in Christ.
He will never hesitate to use despair, desperation and discouragement to keep us from confidently, fervently, going to God in prayer. (James 5:13-18)
If you don’t know how to manage your emotions, you are 100% helpless against Satan. Because he so quickly wreaks so much havoc in our lives emotionally.
1 Peter 5:8 says this “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
If you and I don’t have self-control, he will very quickly “eat you and I up.”
The third reason I need to control my emotions because:
3. BECAUSE I WANT TO PLEASE GOD.
God cannot be God in my life if my emotions are “my god in my life.”
God cannot rule my life if my emotions rule my life.
Jesus can’t be Lord of my life if my emotions are the lord of my life.
If I make all my decisions simply based on how I feel, then I have tragically made my feelings my god.
And then my GOD cannot be MY GOD!
The Bible says in Romans 8:6-8“To be controlled by human nature results in death; to be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace. . . Those who obey their human nature cannot please God.”
So, you and I cannot please God if our emotions dominate our life
and they are running our life and our decisions are made based on;
“How do I feel rather than what does the Word of God say?”
The fourth reason I must let God manage my emotions is…
4. BECAUSE I WANT TO SUCCEED IN LIFE.
This is probably one of the number one predictor of success or failure in life.
Do you and I know how to manage our moods?
Do you and I know how to deal with how you and I feel?
Do you and I know how to control our emotions?
The answer to these questions is unequivocal – “ABSOLUTELY NOT!”
But if you and I don’t learn how to do this you and I will never be the success in life that God wants you and I to be and that, for God’s sake you and I want to be.
Study after study after study have shown our EQ is more important than our IQ.
That for success in business Emotional Quotient is far more important than your Intelligence Quotient.
What is emotional intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is a skill that refers to one’s ability to understand, and process, and express one’s feelings, as well as recognise and be able to engage with the feelings of others.
Emotional intelligence is a skill that can be improved. But more than learning about it, it requires a deliberate, intentional effort to be trained by practicing.
Why is emotional intelligence important?
This skill is essential for building relationships with other people.
It’s also an essential key to understand yourself and your needs.
Emotional intelligence can help you handle difficult moments in your life.
Developing emotional intelligence can help your career because it makes you a more stable and cooperative team member.
That is why, by God’s Grace, we have the Word of God for the Children of God.
A better relationship, also with yourself …
But emotional intelligence not only improves our relationships with others.
By developing a better understanding and connection with our feelings and our needs, we will be able to develop a more balanced life and a good mental health.
Even if it becomes “impossibly” hard to stop our “inner chatter”, through emotional intelligence we can learn from God how to develop within ourselves an inner chatter that is more compassionateand edifying also with ourselves.
A lot of people who do not have a high IQ are very successful in life.
They have got good smarts in dealing with their emotions.
As a result, they are people-people. They know how to get along with others.
I consider emotional intelligence to be a very necessary “Christian” life skill.
Not only does emotional intelligence make life easier, but it also makes it better too.
By intentionally, deliberately, consciously, setting our whole selves in a known difficult environment where you have to rely on other people, we see the Lord and His labors, His Spirit, becoming increasingly engaged in His community.
We’ve all known people who live by their emotions and waste their life. They don’t feel like doing anything relational, so they don’t do anything relating.
How many people do you know, who you have tried to witness to who have ruined their reputation because of their lack of effort towards self-control?
How many people have been kicked out of school, have been sent to jail, have families who want nothing to do with them all because of a lack of self-control?
When you give your heart to Jesus that includes your emotions.
So, when you say, “I gave my heart to Jesus,” you gave your emotions to him to be managed by him.
Because the heart is the seat of your emotions.
Jesus wants to be Lord of how you feel not just what you think and what you do.
He wants to be Lord of your emotions.
In fact, the Bible says this to believers
1 Peter 4:2 “From now on you must live the rest of your earthly lives [the rest of your earthy lives] controlled by God’s will and not by human desires.”
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
My God, You shaped my whole being, authored my entire life from within my mother’s womb. Yet, the sum total of my life is more “why me?” instead of “the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” I pray that the fruit of self-control will grow in me like a tree of strength. I pray that I will control what I say and do and make them subject to Your spirit. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Alleluia! Amen.
Human nature we say has multiple intense emotions attached to it, a couple of those intense feelings condensed into 4 letter words are love and hate.
If it is justified that we can just happen to instinctively or naturally love a person or an activity, can the same logic be used to justify hatred?
To understand if that is the case or not, we need to begin by defining hatred.
Both Merriam Webster, as well as Oxford dictionary, define hate as ‘extreme disgust’ and ‘intense dislike’ respectively.
Of course, both the adjectives mentioned here are pretty vague because it is difficult to decide what level of extremity or what measure of intensity can be termed as extreme or intense, the constant question comes, what parameters qualify this threshold?
Love and hate are two parallel emotions that are always used together. One needs to experience the extremes of hate/love to know entirely about them.
Hate is defined as a powerful feeling of not liking somebody/something at all. It’s a negative emotion that affects our rationales and way of thinking, and it comes out of anger, hostility and resentment. Hate harms the hater as well as the hated person, and it makes life more miserable.
In simple words where a feeling of mild disgust or of mild dislike makes us uncomfortable till that extent which we end up having a subconscious wanting to harm or cancel or just eliminate the target, that’s where the mild feeling gets converted into hatred.
Think about this. Our mental defense mechanisms are self-protective in nature, we subconsciously end up equipping the tool of greatest personal reassurance.
Hence, if we have already devalued the image a person or a group in our mind on the basis of what we have ‘heard’, we confirm the bias against something that we already have heard to reinforce and reassure our beliefs we feed ourselves with even more information to back it.
Aristotle states that ‘whereas anger is customarily felt toward individuals, hatred is often felt towards groups…. hate is based on the generalized attribution of action to the basic traits and features of a person’.
Hence if one day we experience or get to know that an individual having a specific trait, be it color or religion or anything similar we rather than disliking that specific instance end up reinforcing our stereotype that we have made and label the group showing that trait to be potential causes of the same actions.
Rather than hate, one should always spread love and bring positivity in their and others’ lives. One should not let hatred consume them as it will only have both serious and severe adverse effects on their physical and mental health.
Hence, I have brought these love – hate quotes to yours and mine attention to “put an elbow into our ribcages” and remind us to spread happiness and love!
“Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in this world but has not solved one yet.” Maya Angelou
“Somewhere between love and hate lies confusion, misunderstanding and desperate hope.” Shannon L. Alder
“When we don’t know who to hate, we hate ourselves.” Chuck Palahniuk Source: Invisible Monsters
“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.” James Baldwin Source: The Fire Next Time
“I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.” Booker T. Washington
“Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.” Muhammad Ali
“Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.” Will Smith
It is our love for one another that lets our light shine unto the world and boldly states we are Christians!
In 1 John 3:11-18 John states if one is indifferent or hates a brother or sister then either one is not saved or is out of fellowship with God.
1 John 3:11-18Amplified Bible
11 For this is the message which you [believers] have heard from the beginning [of your relationship with Christ], that we should [unselfishly] love and seek the best for one another; 12 and not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother [Abel]. And why did he murder him? Because Cain’s deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.
13 Do not be surprised, believers, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into Life, because we love the brothers and sisters. He who does not love remains in [spiritual] death. 15 Everyone who hates (works against) his brother [in Christ] is [at heart] a murderer [by God’s standards]; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16 By this we know [and have come to understand the depth and essence of His precious] love: that He [willingly] laid down His life for us [because He loved us]. And we ought to lay down our lives for the believers. 17 But whoever has the [a]world’s goods (adequate resources), and sees his brother in need, but has no compassion for him, how does the love of God live in him? 18 Little children (believers, dear ones), let us not love [merely in theory] with word or with tongue [giving lip service to compassion], but in action and in truth [in practice and in sincerity, because practical acts of love are more than words].
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
A new command Christ has given to us born of the water and the Spirit.
That is to “love one another” so that the world will “know that you are My disciplines” (John 13:34)!
As Christ’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20) we are called to not curse human beings made in God’s image (James 3:9) but instead labor to do good unto them (Luke 6:27) so that the comfort and love we have received (2 Corinthians 1:3-5) from the Father might be apparent and a witness of His grace and mercy.
If by Jesus’ own words, (Matthew 5:43-44) If God commands us to love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us. then how much more ought we love, seek unity and peace with our spiritual brothers within the same body of Christ?
While the command to love one another is clearly to be a priority for God’s own it is difficult to put into practice because it invites intense persecution!
Rabbi Jesus warns us that while obeying His command to love results in our light shining amongst the lost it at the same time invites hatred amongst those who don’t want to approach the light because their evil deeds will be exposed (John 3:20, 15:18).
While it is painful to be persecuted by non-Christians who have not passed from death to life (1 John 3:14), how much more so when indifference or “active antagonism” comes from within the body of believers?
This was the situation that Apostle John wrote about in 1 John 3:11-18.
The Johanne community were “experiencing a pattern of prejudicial treatment and resentment” from two God-fearing bodies.
First, the Jews were putting them out of the synagogue and killing them (John 16:2, 9:34) due to their belief in the Messiah dying once and for all, and
second, they faced intense persecution from a group of heretics, followers of Cerinthus, that were spreading false teaching.
The incredibly sad part is that these secessionists used to belong to their church!
Today’s devotion is going review the reasons John gave as to why it is not ok to be indifferent or outright hate those created in God’s image, especially when they belong to the same body of Christ because such negative emotions often demonstrate your bond is with Satan and you in fact are not born again!
The Message from the Beginning
John begins by stating that he is “not giving the church a message they have never heard” but instead one that was given from the beginning!
The command to love was Christ’s command given to His disciples “likely dependent of the Last Supper discourse.”
Jesus said, “a new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so must you love one another. By this everyone will know you are my disciples if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).
This is not meant to be some “academic, theological, doctrinal statement,” but one of the litmus tests one can use to determine if one has indeed “passed from death to life” (1 John 3:14)!
“As the knowledge of God is tested by conduct—whether one walks in the light (1:5–2:11)—so being “born of God” (2:29) is tested by righteous action and love of the brethren.”
While the definition of “love” by the world is incredibly broad and often self-gratifying, the kind of love John is referring to,
agape love, is the “responsibility to demonstrate selfless concern for our brothers and sisters in Christ as our response to the grace God has given us!”
Agape love is crucial for “living for Jesus and for advancing God’s kingdom.”
Because it is by considering others better than ourselves and looking out for their best interests (Philippians 2:3) that one demonstrates one has indeed received and is now able to pass the comfort one has received from the Father onto His children!
It is not by our carrying Bibles, singing worship songs, theological astuteness, or even the size of our church or our congregations that others see God’s light but instead by our visible and invisible expression of sacrificial love for them!
While we are called to love all humans because they are created in God’s image,
John stresses how important it is to show those who have a bond with the Devil and are filled with jealousy, hatred and strife that when you chose a bond with God through belief in the atoning sacrifice of His Son (John 3:16-17) you receive the opposite: expressions of unity, peace and love for both God and one another.
It is covenanted within this testimony of love that a believer can point the lost sheep to the Good Shepherd to be found, loved, and redeemed by His blood!
Hatred as a Sign of Death
Before John tells his audience more about the love believers are to emulate, he begins by using Cain as an example of the opposite of love, hated!
We are told in Genesis chapter four that “in the course of time” (4:3) both Cain and Abel brought offerings unto the Lord.
While “Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil” Abel brought “fat portions from some of the firstborn of the flock” (4:3-4).
We are told that the Lord looked favorably on Abel’s offering and rejected Cain’s (4:4-5). “Cain became very angry; his face was downcast” (4:5) so the Lord said to Cain, “if you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it” (4:7).
In a fit of jealousy and anger we are told that Cain invited his brother Abel to go out into the field where he proceeded to butcher him like one would an animal!
I believe the greater issue here is not that Cain brought an inferior sacrifice, a grain instead of animal sacrifice as some commentaries suggest, but that Cain lacked love, trust and faith (Hebrews 11:4) to give God his very best and was filled with murderous hatred in the sight of his brother’s righteousness!
Despite both brothers being raised in the same environment and by the same parents, unlike Abel, Cain chose to reject God as the Master of his destiny and tried to control his own future.
Cain did not “become a child of the Devil (1 John 3:12) by murdering his brother.
Rather, he murders his brother because he is already a child of the Devil!”
The “evil character of Cain is universally assumed in both biblical, extrabiblical sources” and the murder of Abel constantly reminds us that every single person has to make a choice between “hatred and love, life and death, murder and self-sacrifice” that comes from either having love, trust and faith in self or in God!
With the story of Cain in mind John boldly warns the successionists, the Jewish people and his own flock that what one possesses within one’s heart, either good or evil, is a sign of whether one has passed from death to life (1 John 3:14)!
From Cain’s murder of Abel, we learn an absence of love means living in an atmosphere of death!
Our choosing between being “right in our own eyes, being right in the eyes of God will draw hatred from others who cannot tolerate the light, morality, and selfless, sacrificial righteousness of those who rely on God’s grace and mercy.
Since “genuine love cannot be fabricated or imitated, it is either present within our hearts from Christ or not.”
Love and fellowship with God are an amazing barometer to determine if one is saved or not!
In Mark 7:21-23 Rabbi Jesus said that true murder is that which is conceived in the heart. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed malice, deceit, lewdness, and envy, slander, arrogance, and folly.
All these evils come from inside and make a man unclean!
An absence of evil within one’s heart or having love for others “will not cause spiritual life to occur but will give evidence of it. Conversely, to be unable to love means that a person is without life from the Father and remains in death.”
For John when a believer is either indifferent or outright hates other believers this is the “spiritual equivalent of murder” (Matthew 5:21-22), as a lustful eye is the spiritual equivalent of adultery (Matthew 5:28).
John is not saying that any person who hates is unsaved or have committed an unpardonable sin but merely that since “hate and death go together” as evil from the Devil, these are signs one either has not passed from death to life or at the very least are not abiding in the new life in Christ, therefore stand outside of the fellowship of God!
To these first century secessionists who rejected both faith in Jesus (2:22–23; 4:2–3) and love for one’s brothers and sisters (2:9–11; 3:11–15), John point blank states you are not saved but to those inside his flock he is saying that since by your fruit you will be known make every effort to not hate but love those within the family of God!
Love as a Sign of Life
When it comes to knowing exactly what love is, John says we are to emulate Jesus who laid down His life for us (1 John 3:16)!
While Cain is a universally acknowledged example of ultimate hate,
He who emptied Himself and became the suffering servant for even His enemies is an ultimately holy and ultimately perfect example of agape love!
The kind of love we are to have for our brothers and sisters in Christ is one that goes beyond self to focus on the well-being of all others.
When John speaks of Christ laying down His life this makes us think of the passage where Jesus talks about being the Good Shepherd who voluntarily lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11, 15-18).
Agape “love is denial of self for another’s gain.”
It is doing what Jesus Himself already did and continues to do.
It is becoming like Apostle Paul who said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
“The effacement, (the quality of not claiming attention for oneself) of another’s rights and perhaps existence for one’s own sake is the essence of hatred; the effacement of oneself for another’s sake is the essence of agape love!”
Being angry, envious, and holding extreme grudges against those born again and created in the image of God drives a wedge between us and Him for God above all is pure love!
While loving all people, especially those with different dreams, goals, hobbies, and yes even different theology is impossible for our sinful natures to accept, those born of the water and Spirit (John 3:5) can do so for they have been given a new heart to replace their one of stone (Ezekiel 36:26)!
While we “are unlikely to have opportunities to literally die for others” we are to walk in Christ’s footsteps and voluntarily (John 10:18) “sacrifice our own self-interests” so that the vertical relationship of love between us and the Father might horizontally be known amongst our fellow believers!
It is through this kind of sacrificial other focused love that the world and we too see ourselves as true children of God!
To keep these first century Secessionists, Jews, and members of his own church from enthusiastically speaking with the tongue the kind of love that is not in their hearts; above all,
John says agape love “must be practical, visible, and active” (1 John 3:17-18)!
How easy and self-assuring it is to say I love all of humanity while at the very same time being indifferent or hatful towards those who are “uninteresting, exasperating, depraved, or otherwise radically different and unattractive!”
To follow in Jesus’ footsteps, one must be willing to seek and acknowledge the needs of others by practically meeting them when possible.
What would have happened to us if Christ had not emptied Himself of the glory, He had with the Father but instead chose not to lift a finger to help us “sinful, ungodly, unrighteous folks?” What if Paul never wrote Romans chapter 5,6?
Without His grace and mercy would we not remain lost sheep looking for our Master?
“Actions speak louder than words”
for it is precisely in our putting other’s interests above our own that we demonstrate we have learned much from the Lord who is our Shepherd!
Since “love that fails to take form of action on behalf of others is nothing more than religious rhetoric,” with unspeakable joy in the presence of He who voluntarily atoned for our sins may we emulate His love for all by offering those around us whatever we can to reduce their burdens.
Since we have more material possessions than even the children of Israel when they entered the Promised Land, let’s give sacrificially, not with the expectation of reciprocity but with thankful hearts that what God has entrusted to us we get to share with His own!
Let us not give up meeting together (Hebrews 10:25), become indifferent to some and infatuated by others, but instead let us share with one another, unified as one body in Christ who share the same Spirit and glorious hope of one day going home to be with Jesus!
Let this be one more Affirmation of faith, hope and love for today,
“Lord Jesus the love and comfort You have given me help me to share it with my brothers and sisters for Your honor and glory, Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen!”
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Father, my Guide, illuminate my mind so I can understand how you want me to live. Your word tells me that people of integrity who follow your instructions are joyful. You have said that those who obey your laws and search for you with all their hearts are blessed and happy. I want that joy! Holy Spirit, please guard me against allowing evil to influence what I believe and do. Help me walk only in your paths. May my actions consistently reflect what you have said is right and good. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
For as long as I can remember I wanted to be an archaeologist. The whole idea of my finding something buried and unseen by others appealed to me. When younger, I could be found digging in some corner of the yard. Best thing I ever found was a big old cookie tin with three small words on it – “Love, From Mom.”
And then, one day I was playing archaeologist in my dad’s old dusty library. I looked in an old, unlocked drawer on his secretary and encountered Christ. My whole life changed, but my love for a good dig didn’t. It was simply redirected.
God placed a treasure trove of priceless jewels within reach when I removed an old torn up Bible with pages falling out everywhere. Miner’s hat? Check. Pickaxe and shovel? Check. A new-born burning passion to discover God? Check, check.
Thus began my youthful lifelong search for God’s nature. The pages which had fallen out of the old Bible were from Psalm 139. I read it but really did not know what I was reading. So, I took it to Mom who was in the kitchen baking bread.
Mom took the pages and she read them. She picked me up and put me on her lap and read them to me. In this moment of youth, I realized had stumbled across something stunningly lovely: His handiwork in fashioning my mothers’ heart.
It’s easy to miss God weaving Himself into mothers and their hearts. Man can only offer up a deep, well, totally unfulfilling definition coming from myriads of greeting cards offering vast armies of “sentimental” words feebly addressing it.
Hollywood’s script writers have spent countless millions, (if not billions by now) depicting it onscreen. Yet the very truest wellspring of a mother’s heart remains mysterious. They try to depict what cannot be depicted.
What can never be depicted is this incredible truth: Our Creator God takes great care to knitting all of Himself into who we are and will become.
In examining His deep love for us, His mothering nature is quickly apparent:
Psalm 139:13-18 Authorized (King James) Version
13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. 17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
Our Creator takes care to knit Himself into who we are and will become. In examining His love for us, His mothering nature is quickly apparent:
“…How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings…” (Matthew 23:37 NASB)
How could God reference Himself as a protective mother, lest He’d poured His compassionate nature into the mother’s heart? His maternal temperament continues:
“…He will rejoice over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.” (Zephaniah 3:17b NASB)
“Quiet in His love,” duplicates the tenderest moments between mother and child, referencing the child being fully contented and simply enjoying the closeness of its mother.
The child wants nothing more than its mother’s presence. It’s a time of very quiet love. Drawing powerful strength from her proximity alone.
Again, we see His mothering side:
“Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb?” (Isaiah 49:15a NASB)
Who better than the Designer of mothers could explain this nurturing side of Himself? The nourishing definition of Jehovah Jireh. Our Provider.
His provision in limitless care was famously spoken to Moses. Asking a yet unnamed God His true name, He replied, “I Am.” A statement begging to fill in the blank. “I AM everything. I AM infinite. I AM all powerful.”
Until my mother’s passing from a heart attack 1997, I took fullest possible advantage of my family membership and went straight to her for comfort.
I guess Dad understood my running past him to reach her arms.
With advancing years, hurts changed, but the source of my consolation didn’t.
I still went directly to Mom and her lap for comfort and my “momma hug”.
For through her deep and limitless kindness, forgiveness, and never-ending compassion, I came to feel God’s caring, hugging presence, I came to wholly trust God’s ever nurturing presence. He was easily recognizable in her and I very deeply valued God’s mothering heart woven tightly into hers.
The birthing process is God’s idea. He’s maternally given birth to the universe, birth to our planet, and birth to us. Most importantly He’s given us re-birth, calling us into reconciliatory relationships with Him.
Nicodemus needed clarification. He knew it impossible to reenter a mother’s womb a second time. God’s way was easier with no gestational period.
Being born-again in the Spirit granted restoration with the Father, enjoying unbroken intimacy.
Our Father in heaven is solidly our Father. His maternal nature guarantees attendance at every bird’s funeral. Keeps track of 7.2 billion heads of hair.
Tallies innumerable thoughts about us exceeding grains of sand. Stills our storms, heals our diseases, binds our broken hearts.
The most potent attribute of His mother’s heart is His lavish forgiveness of our sins. Dark sins, washed in red blood, producing robes of white righteousness.
Like the mother that deliberately forgets her child’s shortcomings, He casts our sins directionally as far as the east is from the west, and as far as the north is from the south, until sinking to the absolute floor of the Sea of Forgetfulness.
Simply stated, He is Father God with a mother’s heart.
Waiting to wipe every tear; sitting up with us through the night; and listening to our troubles—solving them while we are yet wounded, suffering, speaking.
The mother’s heart is best defined by her unselfish generosity in ongoing, unconditional giving and raising her family to become loving parents too.
Proverbs 22:6Authorized (King James) Version
6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Psalm 119:9-16Authorized (King James) Version
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9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. 10 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. 11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. 12 Blessed art thou, O Lord: teach me thy statutes. 13 With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. 14 I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. 16 I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.
Pastor Billy Graham is quoted as saying, “Only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children.”
Now listen to these other quotes you may find of particular interest:
“All I am I owe to my mother; I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.” George Washington
“All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” Abraham Lincoln
“I cannot tell you how much I owe to the solemn word of my good mother.” Reverend Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Only loving relationships provide lasting legacy and hope.
Today, Mother’s Day 2022, we will celebrate and encourage all moms in their contributions to legacy…to being that character forming mother!
Plus, we will remind each of us—parents, children, teens, and young adults, of the importance of pursuing God’s plan for relationships.
Questions for Moms and Dads
What hope do we have that our children will stand by their faith and live by their values?
What or who do you trust to impact their lives?
What are you hoping will produce relationally healthy followers?
Who had a profound effect on Jesus? (Proverbs 22:6).
What legacy are we leaving?
We certainly can’t hope for perfect children like Jesus because our children are just like us—imperfect people. But where do they go for guidance does matter.
Do they go to God’s Word?
Do they seek guidance from attentive parents?
Both Parents, even Grand-Parents must continuously pursue relationship with their children so they will “earn the right” in their child’s eyes to speak God and Jesus Christ into their lives as they begin to make their own choices.
Could you join with me and every mom here today in this hope?
Look square into your mom’s face and tell her:
“I praise God for you and Psalm 127:3 Behold children are gifts from the Lord”
Let’s fervently hope and pray that…
Our children are raised by Godly principles drawn directly from the Word of God. (Romans 15:1-6, Ephesians 6:1-3, 2 Timothy 3:10-17, Hebrews 4:12)
• Our children are more influenced and shaped by their parents and their faith than by the world.
• Our teens and young adults remain open to our input and continue to be open about the details of their physical, emotional and spiritual life.
• Our adult children want to be around us, and we regularly enjoy being around them!
Some of us may also champion the simple, but profound, hope our current family could be a little healthier or a more functional than our own childhood family.
Thank God for creating motherhood!
Today we celebrate all moms who pay the price for making a difference in us!
Thank you, Mom, for letting me feel God’s love radiate through you.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Lt us Pray,
A Child’s Prayer for their Mama’s on Mother’s Day
Dear God, My Creator …
I just want to say, “Thank you for my Mama!”
Thank you for the woman who gave birth to me and has loved me ever since.
I’m grateful for her impact on my life, for her presence, for her love.
Thank you for every moment she was there to pick me up from school, and every moment she helped me heal from heartbreak.
Thank you for every phone call, hug, compliment, even complaint.
Thank you that she cares.
Thank you that despite us not always getting along, our love has endured.
I’m grateful for Mama, and pray that you help me to better honor her every day.
Show me how I can express appreciation for what she has done.
Help me to see all that she has done. God, please help me practice patience when I feel like she’s being too much, or too bossy, or too much like a mom.
Honestly God, who would I be without my Mama?
I pray to you now, God, asking you to bless the remainder of her life.
Please bring her comfort when sickness and body aches occur. Please give her continued direction for her life. Keep her mind renewed.
God, I ask the remainder of her life may be enriched, that she would still feel like she has purpose to fulfill, despite having accomplished so much already.
I pray for those Mama’s who have found their eternal reward with you. They have earned their place of rest by your side, and I know you will keep her safe.
Rest well, Mama, from your labors. One day we shall worship God together!
In the name of Jesus,
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
28 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the tomb. 2 And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3 And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 The guards shook from fear of him and became like dead men. 5 And the angel said to the women, “[a]Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6 He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
“He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.” – Matthew 28:6
Jesus’ death and resurrection are not only celebrated at Easter. Long before Jesus walked to the cross, Scripture tells of the hope we find in Him. His resurrection story began in the first notes of Scripture, and He is apparent throughout the entirety of the Bible.
“‘He is Risen’ means that Jesus was raised from the dead, and now is with God in heaven,” explains Christianity.com, “It means He has overcome death as those who believe in Him will have eternal life.”
Every day we wake to a new morning carries divine purpose to serve as a channel of Christ’s love. The world is consumed with itself, and therefore crumbling inward as the days go on.
But our hope isn’t in the world!
Our hope is not in the grave!
Rather our living and everlasting hope is in the One who utterly defeated death on our account and one day soon, WILL return to take us home for all eternity.
Now, how about that for Good News to start your day?
Where Is This Verse in the Bible?
“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” – Luke 24:5b-6a)
The Gospel of Mark also records,
“‘Do not be alarmed,’ he said, ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they had laid him”(Mark 16:6-7).
All four Synoptic Gospels tell of the empty tomb, Jesus’ resurrection, and Mary Magdalene’s discovery of Jesus’ empty tomb.
The Gospels differ slightly in the details included in their recording of the day’s events.
“Luke includes a second angel,” the NIV Application Commentary explains, “but Matthew and Mark focus only on the one who speaks for both.”
Luke and John both wrote some of the disciples ran to the tomb, Luke has specifically mentioned Peter.
John made a point to mention the disciples still did not understand the full scope of the Scriptures being fulfilled in Jesus’ resurrection.
Take into consideration the way in which John concluded his Gospel:
“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written”(John 21:25). Through the Holy Spirit’s divine revelation through the writings of these apostles, we receive irrefutable confirmation of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.
What Is the Context of the Phrase “He Is Not Here for He Is Risen”?
“The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” (Matthew 28:5-7)
Mary Magdalene and Mary (Matthew 28:1) discovered Jesus’ tomb was empty the Sunday after He had been crucified and buried in the tomb. Shocked and worried about what may have happened, Jesus’ teaching about this day was not the first thing to cross their minds. An angel provided comfort and clarity to them by telling them what had happened and giving them their next steps.
It’s quite one thing to listen to teachings and believe, but another to experience their unfolding in the moment. Their reaction was pure joy, and in Matthew’s Gospel account they ran to do as the angel said. On their way to tell the disciples what had happened, “Jesus met them” (Matthew 28:9). He greeted them!
Matthew 28:8-10 New American Standard Bible
8 And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report to His disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them [a]and said, “[b]Rejoice!” And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus *said to them, “[c]Do not be afraid; go, bring word to My brothers to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.”
Imagine their state of awe! Matthew wrote,
“They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him” (Matthew 28:9).
The awakened, awakening hope welling up deep inside these women upon their discovery and reunion with their Messiah is linked to the wellspring of hope we too can find in Jesus everyday as we wake as sinners, forgiven and rescued by our salvation in Christ Jesus. “Do not be afraid,” Jesus assured them, “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me” (Matthew 28:10).
Matthew wrote of a rumor purposefully spread to blame Jesus’ disappearance from the tomb on His own disciples, claiming they took His body. “And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day” (Matthew 28:15). Luke specifically mentioned Peter looking in the tomb, even holding the strips of linen, but not understanding what had happened.
When Jesus met his disciples in Galilee, some doubted it was Him.
Often is our hope stands directly right in front of us, but we are too blind to see.
In our search for concrete answers, we sometimes entertain “believable” rumors instead of placing our whole faith in the truth of God’s word. “While other stories will be concocted to try to cover up the truth (Matthew 28:11-15),” the NIV Application Commentary explains, “God’s word of revelation through the angel tells the real story—Jesus has indeed been raised from the dead.”
When Did Jesus Say He Would Rise from Death?
“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.” –Mark 8:31
Jesus said He would rise from the dead. He spoke it Himself, as recorded by Matthew (Matthew 16:21; 17:23; 20:19), Luke (Luke 9:22) and Mark (Mark 8:31). Jesus also spoke of His death and resurrection indirectly (Matthew 12:39; 16:4; 21:42), and in conversation with others. “Two separate witnesses testify in two very different ways to Jesus’ statement during his lifetime that if his enemies destroyed the temple (of his body), he would build it again in three days (John 2:19; Mark 14:58; Matthew 26:61),”
How Does Matthew 28:6 Solidify the Foundation of Christianity?
“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David,” – Romans 1:1-3 NIV
Through the Holy Spirit’s divine revelation on Paul’s pen, Jesus’ identity is again confirmed. John chose to begin his Gospel account by stating Jesus was with God in the beginning, and through him all things were made (John 1:1-5).
The anonymous author of Hebrews confirmed “Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
The empty tomb solidifies the foundation of Christianity.
Jesus did not just appear on the first page of the New Testament. He is present throughout the entirety of Scripture. His life, death, and resurrection not only fulfill the Old Testament prophecies, but irrefutably prove the great love of our ABBA in heaven to rescue each one of us from the penalty of sin, which is death.
“The believers who saw the risen Christ with their own eyes and touched him with their hands spent the rest of their lives taking about the resurrection,” wrote Marshall Segal for DesiringGod.org.
In Christ, we have access to God through prayer and His Word, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit gifted to us by Christ, Himself. The One, True, Triune God is glorified through the empty tomb. Only He could execute such a miracle. The Author of Life, Defeater of Death, the very Breath of God.
Through Christ Jesus, because of His life, death and resurrection, we find our salvation. Life lived within the love of Christ is full of God’s grace, forgiveness, mercy and compassion. When we live, walk out our lives in obedience to His will, as Jesus did all the way to the cross, we are promised joy and fulfillment.
What Hope Can Christians Find in This Biblical Truth Today?
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the end of every age.” – Matthew 28:18-20
In the beginning, God created us in His image, with dignity and a purpose our enemy is constantly trying to distract us from.
When sin succeeds, destruction abounds. We form idols, mistakenly believing we can find true and lasting satisfaction in achievements, people, and material things. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross ultimately defeated death. We can each now choose to embrace salvation in a living Christ, come to ABBA for forgiveness of our sins, daily, embracing a new hope, a life in which we find true satisfaction.
Christ’s resurrection gives us a new and ever living and everlasting hope for today, for our future. Jesus will return again. He will right all wrongs and mend all hurts. Death will cease to exist, and we will go home to heaven with Him.
“We can enjoy the stability of resurrection hope,” writes Mitch Chase for TGC, “because the promises of the world to come will never waver or fail.”
When our daily circumstances are too hard to bear, when we can only see the darkness, taste our tears, we can submit them to God through Christ, knowing He hears and sees us, and that the pain and struggle of this world is temporary.
The Will of God is that we should all see the SUN rise!
The Will of God is that we should all see the SON rise!
The Will of God through Christ Jesus is we should all have life in abundance!
By His Resurrection, we can truthfully say: God’s Will can never be thwarted!
A PROMISE IS A PROMISE …… OUR GOD IS FOREVER A FAITHFUL GOD!
Happy Easter to everyone – FOR THE MORNING HAS COME!
Happy Easter to everyone – FOR THE SON IS RISEN INDEED!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Abba, Father! Jesus, Savior! Spirit, Breath of God! One, True, Triune God! Glory up! Praise You for this day, which we walk out because of Your creative hand. Praise for the purposes You have for us today, and each day we wake to breathe on this earth. Jesus, in Your resurrection, we find hope for each day. In You we are given a supernatural strength, perspective, and joy that cannot be shaken or stolen. May our daily lives reflect our love for You and serve as a channel of that love to everyone You have placed in our lives. Thank You for resurrection hope.
In Jesus’ Powerful and Ever-Living Name We Pray, Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Today is Holy Thursday, also called Maundy Thursday, one of the holiest days in the Church year. We are in the Upper Room with the man, Rabbi Jesus and his disciples. We will celebrate Passover. We will recite the ancient story and we will sing the ancient hymns all over again. But as we sit with our Rabbi, we become surprised at sone of his words – he takes the bread and says, “this is my body broken for you” and then he takes the cup of wine and says, “this is my blood poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sin.” What is all this?
In just a short while, he will raise from the table with a pitcher of water and a bowl and a towel. He kneels at our feet, and as the lowest of house slaves, he washes our feet. Soon after that, he will cry tears of red. We will next watch him be betrayed and arrested and given a sham trial. He will be condemned to die on a Cross he will have to carry on his back and wide across his bloodied shoulders.
He will be raised up, nails hammered into his body to suffer. We will watch him suffer humiliation as no other man ever has in history. We will celebrate the greatest act of love ever performed: Jesus’s death on the cross for our salvation.
But first, in our Gospel text for today, Jesus demonstrates for us the humbled, humbling act of the washing of the disciples’ feet. He is the example for all Christian acts of servanthood, but more importantly, servants of their people. That being said, this reading really made me think about humility, love and service—not just on this single day of the Christian Calendar but every day.
John 13:1-17Easy-to-Read Version
Jesus Washes His Followers’ Feet
13 It was almost time for the Jewish Passover festival. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go back to the Father. Jesus had always loved the people in the world who were his. Now was the time he showed them his love the most.
2 Jesus and his followers were at the evening meal. The devil had already persuaded Judas Iscariot to hand Jesus over to his enemies. (Judas was the son of Simon.) 3 The Father had given Jesus power over everything. Jesus knew this. He also knew that he had come from God. And he knew that he was going back to God. 4 So while they were eating, Jesus stood up and took off his robe. He got a towel and wrapped it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a bowl and began to wash the followers’ feet.[a] He dried their feet with the towel that was wrapped around his waist.
6 He came to Simon Peter. But Peter said to him, “Lord, you should not wash my feet.”
7 Jesus answered, “You don’t know what I am doing now. But later you will understand.”
8 Peter said, “No! You will never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “If I don’t wash your feet, you are not one of my people.”
9 Simon Peter said, “Lord, after you wash my feet, wash my hands and my head too!”
10 Jesus said, “After a person has a bath, his whole body is clean. He needs only to wash his feet. And you are clean, but not all of you.” 11 Jesus knew who would hand him over to his enemies. That is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 When Jesus finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and went back to the table. He asked, “Do you understand what I did for you? 13 You call me ‘Teacher.’ And you call me ‘Lord.’ And this is right, because that is what I am. 14 I am your Lord and Teacher. But I washed your feet. So, you also should wash each other’s feet. 15 I did this as an example for you. So, you should serve each other just as I served you. 16 Believe me, servants are not greater than their master. Those who are sent to do something are not greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, great blessings will be yours if you do them.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
The Humbled, Humbling Humility of His Great Love for US! …….
We live in a very proud and egotistical generation.
It is now considered acceptable and even normal for people to promote themselves, to praise themselves, and to put themselves first. Pride is considered a virtue by many. Humility, on the other hand, is considered a weakness. Everyone, it seems, is screaming for his or her own rights and seeking to be recognized as someone important.
The preoccupation with self-esteem, self-love, and self-glory is destroying the very foundations upon which our society was built. No culture can survive pride run rampant, for all of society depends on relationships. When all people are committed first of all to themselves, relationships disintegrate. And that is just what is happening, as friendships, marriages, and families fall apart.
Sadly, the preoccupation with self has found its way into the church.
Perhaps the fastest growing phenomenon in modern Christianity is the emphasis on pride, self-esteem, self-image, self-fulfillment, and other manifestations of selfism. Out of it is emerging a new religion of self-centeredness, pride—even arrogance. Voices from every part of the theological spectrum call us to join the self-esteem cult.
Scripture is clear, however, that selfism has no place in Christian theology.
The man, Rabbi Jesus repeatedly taught against pride, and with His life and teaching He constantly exalted the virtue of humility. Nowhere is that clearer than in John chapter 13.
John 13 marks a turning point in John’s gospel and the ministry of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ public ministry to the nation of Israel had run its course and ended in his complete and final rejection of Him as Messiah.
On the first day of the week, Jesus had entered Jerusalem in triumph to the enthusiastic shouts of the people. Those people nevertheless misunderstood His ministry and His message. The Passover season had arrived, and by Friday He would be utterly rejected and executed. God, however, would turn that execution into the great and final sacrifice for sin, and Jesus would die as the true Passover Lamb.
He had come unto His own people, the Jews, “and those who were His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). So He had turned away from His public ministry to the intimate fellowship of His disciples.
Now it is the day before Jesus’ death, and rather than being preoccupied with thoughts of His death, sin-bearing, and glorification, He is totally consumed with His love for the disciples. Knowing that He would soon go to the cross to die for the sins of the world, He is still concerned with the needs of twelve men, including his betrayer! His love is never impersonal—that’s the mystery of it.
In what were literally the last hours before His death, Jesus kept showing them His love over and over. John relates this graphic demonstration of it:
Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. Then He poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
So He came to Simon Peter. He said to him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.”
Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!”
Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”
Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason, He said, “Not all of you are clean.”
So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent Him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (John 13:1-17)
It is very likely that Jesus and the disciples had been hiding at Bethany during this final week before the crucifixion. Having come from there (or from anywhere near Jerusalem), they would have had to travel on extremely dirty roads. Naturally, by the time they arrived, their feet were covered with dust and Lord knows what else from the road.
Everyone in that culture faced the same problem. Sandals did little to keep dirt off the feet, and the roads were either a thick layer of dust or deep masses of mud. At the entrance to every Jewish home was a large pot of water to wash dirty feet. Normally, foot washing was the duty of the lowliest slave.
When guests came, he had to go to the door and wash their feet—not a pleasant task. In fact, washing feet was probably his most abject duty, and only slaves performed it for others. Even the disciples of rabbis were not to wash the feet of their masters—that was singularly and most uniquely the task of a lowly slave.
As Jesus and His disciples all arrived in the upper room, they found that there was no servant to wash their feet.
Only days before, Jesus had said to the twelve, “Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave” (Matthew 20:26-27).
If they had given mind and heart to His teaching, one of the twelve would have washed the others’ feet, or they would have mutually shared the task. It could have been a beautiful thing, but it never occurred to them because of their selfishness. A parallel passage in Luke 22 gives us an idea just how selfish they were and what they were thinking about that evening:
And there arose also a loud dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest. And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called ‘Benefactors.’ But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant.” (vv. 24-26)
What a sickening picture this is! They were bickering about who was the greatest. And in an argument about who is the greatest, no one is going to get down to the ground and wash feet. The basin was there, the towel was there, and everything was ready. But no one moved to wash the others’ feet.
If anyone in that room should have been thinking about the glory that would be his in the Kingdom, it was Jesus. John 13:1 says that Jesus knew His hour was come. He was on a divine time schedule, and He knew He was going to be with the Father. He was very conscious of the fact that He soon would be glorified:
“Jesus [knew] that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God” (v. 3).
But instead of their being more concerned with His glory, and in spite their selfishness, He was totally conscious of revealing clearly His personal love to the twelve that they might be secure in it. They might be a part of His Kingdom.
Verse 1 says, “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”
“To the end” in the Greek is ‘eis’ telos, and it means this:
He loved to them to perfection. He loved them to the uttermost. He loved them with total fullness of love. That is the nature of Christ’s love, and He showed it repeatedly—even in His death.
When He was arrested, He arranged that the disciples would not be arrested.
While He was on the cross, He made sure that John would give Mary a home and care in years to come.
He reached out to a dying thief and saved him.
It is most amazing that in those last hours of carrying the sins of the world, in the midst of all the pain and suffering He was bearing, He was conscious of that one would-be disciple hanging next to him.
He loves humbly, utterly, absolutely, to perfection, totally, completely, without reservation. At the moment when most men would have been wholly concerned with self, He selflessly humbled Himself to meet the most basic needs of others.
Genuine humble, humbled, humbling love is EXACTLY like that.
And here is the great lesson of this whole account:
Only absolute humility can generate absolute love.
It is the nature of love to be selfless, giving. In 1 Corinthians 13:5, Paul said that love “does not seek its own.” In fact, to distill all the truth of 1 Corinthians 13 into one statement, we might say that the greatest virtue of love is its humility, for it is the humility of love that proves it and makes it visible.
Christ’s love and His humility are inseparable.
He could not have been so consumed with a passion for serving others if He had been primarily concerned with Himself.
“Love…in Deed and Truth”
How could anyone reject that kind of love? Men do it all the time. Judas did.
“During supper, the devil [had] already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him” (v. 2).
Do you see the tragedy of Judas?
He was constantly basking in the light, yet living in darkness, experiencing the love of Christ, yet hating Him at the same time.
The contrast between Jesus and Judas is striking. And perhaps that is the very reason the Holy Spirit included verse 2 in this passage. Set against the backdrop of Judas’ hatred, Jesus’ love shines even brighter. We can better understand its magnitude when we understand that in the heart of Judas was the blackest kind of hatred and rejection.
The words of love by which Jesus gradually drew the hearts of the other disciples to Himself only pushed Judas further and further away. The teaching by which He uplifted the souls of the other disciples just seemed to drive a stake into the heart of Judas.
Everything Jesus said in terms of love must have become like chafing shackles to Judas. From his fettered greed and his disappointed ambition began to spring jealousy, spite, and hatred—and now he was ready to destroy Christ, if need be.
But the more men hated Jesus and desired to hurt Him, the more it seemed He manifested love to them. It would be easy to understand resentment. It would be easy to understand bitterness. But all Jesus had was love—He even met the greatest injury with supreme love. In a little while He would be kneeling at the feet of Judas, washing them.
Jesus waited until everyone was seated and supper was served. Then, in a devastating act of humility that must have stunned the disciples,
[Jesus] got up from supper and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. Then He poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. (Verses 4-5)
With calmness and majesty, in total silence, Jesus surprised everyone except himself, stood up, walked over and took the pitcher, and poured the water into the basin. He then removed his outer robe, His belt, and very likely His inner tunic—leaving Him clothed like a slave—put a towel around His waist and knelt down to wash the feet of His disciples, one by one – without exception!
Can you imagine how that must have stung the disciples’ hearts? Do you feel the pain, the regret, and the sorrow that must have shot through them? One of them could have had the joy of kneeling and washing the feet of Jesus. I’m sure they were dumb-founded and broken-hearted. What a painful and profound lesson this was for them!
We, too, can learn from this incident.
Sadly, the church is full of people who are standing on their dignity when they ought to be kneeling at the feet of their brother. The desire for prominence is death to love, death to humility, and death to service. One who is proud and self-centered has no capacity for love or humility. Consequently, any service he may think he is performing for the Lord is a waste.
When you are tempted to think of your dignity, your prestige, or your rights, open your Bible to John 13 and get a good look at Jesus—clothed like a slave, kneeling, washing dirt off the feet of sinful men who are utterly indifferent to His impending death.
To go from being God in glory (v. 3) to washing the feet of sinful, inglorious disciples (vv. 4-5) is a long step. Think about this: the majestic, glorious God of the universe comes to earth—that’s humility. Then He kneels on the ground to wash the feet of sinful men—that’s indescribable humility.
You see, for a fisherman to wash the feet of another fisherman is a relatively small sacrifice of dignity.
But that Jesus Christ, in whose heart beats the very pulse of eternal deity, would humbly stoop down and wash the worse than filthy feet of lowly men, that’s the greatest kind of humiliation.
And that is the nature of genuine humility, as well as the proof of genuine love.
Love has to be more than words. The apostle John wrote, “Let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Love that is real is love expressed in activity, not just words.
“If I Do Not Wash You, You Have No Part with Me”
Here we have one of the most interesting insights into Peter we see anywhere in Scripture. As Jesus loves from disciple to disciple, He finally arrives at Peter, who must have been completely broken.
He said with a mixture of remorse and incredulity, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” (v. 6), and perhaps he pulled back his feet.
Jesus replied to Peter, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter” (v. 7).
At this point, Peter was still thinking that the Kingdom of God was coming, and Jesus was the coming King of that Kingdom. Exactly how could he ever allow the King of kings to leave his throne and be seen stooping down and wash his feet?
It wasn’t until after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension that Peter understood the total humiliation of Jesus.
Peter got bolder. In verse 8, he says, “Never shall You wash my feet!”
To emphasize his words, Peter uses the strongest form of negation in the Greek language. He calls Jesus Lord but acts as if he is lord. This is not praiseworthy modesty on Peter’s part – this is Peter’s overzealous over-protective selfism.
Jesus bluntly answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” (vv. 8-9)
That is typical of Peter—he goes from one extreme (“Never shall You wash my feet!”) to the other (“Not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”).
There is profound meaning in Jesus’ words, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
You see, the typical Jewish mindset could not accept the Messiah humiliated. In Peter’s own mind, there was no place for the coming Christ to be humiliated like this. He must be made to realize that Christ came to be humiliated.
If Peter could not accept this act of humiliation, he would certainly have trouble accepting what Jesus would do for him on the cross.
There is yet another, more profound, truth in Jesus’ words. He has moved from the physical illustration of washing feet to the spiritual truth of washing the inner man. Throughout John’s gospel, when He dealt with people, Jesus spoke of spiritual truth in physical terms. He did it when He spoke to Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman at the well, and the Pharisees. Now He does it with Peter.
He is saying, “Peter, unless you allow Me to wash you in a spiritual way, you are not clean and you have no part with Me.”
All cleansing in the spiritual realm comes from Christ, and the only way anyone can be clean is if he is washed by regeneration through Jesus Christ (Titus 3:5).
No man has a relationship with Jesus Christ unless Christ has cleansed his sins. And no one can enter into the presence of the Lord unless he first submits the whole of his and her heart and soul unto that humble, humbling cleansing.
Peter learned that truth—he preached it himself in Acts 4:12: “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
When a man puts his faith in Jesus Christ, he’s clean, and not until then.
“He Who Has Bathed…Is Completely Clean”
Thinking that the Lord was speaking of physical cleansing, Peter offered his hands and head—everything.
He still did not see the full spiritual meaning, but he said in essence, “Whatever washing you’ve got to offer me that makes me a part of You, I want it.”
Jesus, still speaking of spiritual washing, said, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean” (v.10).
There is a difference between a bath and a foot washing. In the culture of that day, a man would take a bath in the morning to get himself completely clean. As he went through the day, he had to wash his feet from time to time, because of the dusty roads, but he didn’t have to keep taking baths. All he needed was to wash the dust and the dirt off both his feet when he entered someone’s home.
Jesus is saying this: once your inner man has been bathed in redemption, you are clean. From that point on, you do not need a new bath—you do not need to be redeemed again—every time you commit a sin.
All God has to do is daily get the dust off your feet. Positionally, you are clean (as He told Peter in 13 verse 10), but on the practical side, you need washing every day, as you walk through the world and get dirty feet.
That spiritual washing of the feet is what 1 John 1:9 refers to:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us [literally, keep on cleansing us] from all unrighteousness.”
Jesus knew which of the disciples were truly cleansed by redemption.
Furthermore, He knew what Judas’ plans for the evening were: “For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason, He said, ‘Not all of you are clean'” (v. 11). That should have pricked the darkened heart of Judas.
Judas knew what He meant. Those words, combined with Jesus’ washing his feet, constituted what would be the last loving appeal for Judas not to do what he was planning to do. What was going through the mind of Judas as Jesus knelt washing his feet? Whatever it was, it had no deterring effect on Judas.
“You also Ought to Wash One Another’s Feet”
Notice what happened after Jesus finished washing their feet:
So, when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (vv. 12-17)
Having inserted a parenthetical lesson on salvation—a sort of theological interlude—Jesus gets back to the real point He is teaching His disciples: that they need to begin to experience, practice, operate on the basis of humility.
He argues from the greater to the lesser.
If the Lord of glory is willing to gird Himself with a towel, take upon Him the form of a servant, act like a slave, and wash the dirty feet of sinful disciples, it is reasonable that the disciples might be willing to wash each other’s feet.
The visual example Jesus taught surely did more good than a lecture on humility ever would have. It was something they never forgot. (Perhaps from then on they had a contest to see who got to the water first!)
Many people believe that Jesus was instituting an ordinance for the church.
Some churches practice foot washing in a ritual similar to the way we have baptism and communion.
I have no quarrel with that, but I do not feel that it is being taught in this passage. Jesus was not advocating a formal, ritualistic foot washing service.
Verse 15 says, “I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.”
The word “as” is a translation of the Greek word kathos, which means “according as.”
If He were establishing foot washing as a pattern of ritual to be practiced in the church, He would have used the Greek word ho, which means “that which.”
Then He would have been saying, “I have given you an example that you should do what I have done to you.”
He is not saying “Do the same thing I have done”; He is saying, “Behave in the same manner as I have behaved.”
The example we are to follow is not the washing of feet, it is His humility. Do not minimize the lesson by trying to make foot washing the important point of John 13. Jesus’ humility is the real lesson—and it is a practical humility that governs every area of life, everyday practice of life, in every experience of life.
The result of that kind of humility is always loving service—doing the menial and humiliating tasks for the glory of Jesus Christ. That demolishes most of the popular ideas of what constitutes spirituality.
Some people seem to think the nearer you get to God the further you must be from men, but that’s not true. Actual proximity to God is to serve someone else.
In terms of sacrificing to serve others, there was never anything Jesus was unwilling to do. Why should we be different? We are not greater than the Lord:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master; nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed [happy] if you do them” (vv. 16-17).
Do you want to be blessedly fulfilled and happy? Develop a servant’s heart.
We are His bondservants, and a servant is not greater than his master.
If Jesus can step down from a position of deity to become a man, and then even further humble Himself to be a servant and wash the feet of twelve undeserving sinners, we also ought to be willing to suffer any indignity to serve Him.
It should then come to be a surprise to no one ……
that is truer than true love, and truer than true humbled, humbling humility.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Heavenly Father, thank You for this precious picture in the upper room, when in humble submission to the Father’s will, the Lord Jesus laid aside His garment and began to wash the feet of His bewildered disciples. Lord there are too many times in my finite life I simply do not understand the reason that You would allow certain things to happen but help me to simply trust You in all things and enable me to pray, thy will not mine be done. Open my understanding to all You are seeking to teach me, and may I grow in grace as I submit to Your will for my life – in Jesus’ name I pray, Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! AMEN.
When you and I see God as He really is, we will Worship Him in the beauty of His Holiness and not ours. We’ll truly worship Him as He desires to be worshipped. We shall have Communion with Him. We’ll all share in this surprising moment.
When Moses saw God and worshipped Him, He ended up giving us the Law – the Ten Commandments. When Job saw God as He really was and worshipped Him, his whole family and estate was magnified and restored to him, Job received his second chance at living life. When Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, he was given a glimpse of His throne room, inducted into the role of a Prophet of God.
I introduce you to the Pharisee Saul, in his zealousness when he was blinded by the holiness of God on the Damascus Road, he repented, was healed and became Paul, the greatest missionary evangelist who ever lived and gave us the bulk of the New Testament Writings from which we study and learn who Jesus really is.
And when John saw God and fell down before him as dead, he got up and wrote the Book of Revelation, the great Apocalyptic story of the New Testament. As he himself walked behind and alongside his Rabbi for three years with the twelve disciples, he looked upon Jesus as He really was, hung upon the cross and dying. With Peter, He looked into the empty tomb and witnessed to the power of God.
When we finally see God as He really is, we will look forward to the day when we too will be like Him. In the New Testament we are told that someday we shall be like Him because we will see Him as He really is. On that day, we will be holy in perfection. We will be changed, and the sins of our lives will be taken away. We are going to be beautiful in our worship because God is beautiful in His holiness.
Romans 5:1-8 Authorized (King James) Version
5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 and patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
6 For when we were yet without [inner] strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
Unconditional love! WOW! This is the “LOVE” God has for us.
A PICTURE OF GOD’S UNCONDITIONAL LOVE FOR HUMANITY is found in John 3:16-For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
In spite of the wrong and sinful things we have done, the unclean places we have gone in our deeds, the unpleasing sinful acts we have committed and continues to commit, the ugly things we have said or the evil thoughts that crosses our minds can, surprisingly, God’s love never leaves us.
God’s love for humanity transcends our sinful condition because even in the midst of them, He showed us His unconditional love.
In other words, there is nothing we can do to make God stop loving us.
There are a vast multitude of sinful things, i.e. (idolatry and unbelief) that we can do to cause us to be separated from a personal relationship with God, but not from His love for each one of us.
Nothing we do can stop God from loving us. Calvary proved that! Yes, it was at Calvary where the “LOVE” of God for humanity was put on display.
Even after salvation, regardless of what we may have to endure through long suffering, hardship, etc., Apostle Paul surprisingly declares this concerning God’s love for us in Romans 8:38-39For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities nor powers, neither things present nor things to come, 39 neither height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Surprisingly, regardless of my diverse tests and trials, I am “PERSUADED” that NOTHING can separate me from the Love God has for me through Christ Jesus!
It comes as no surprise to me then that I can read and study and pray through the full length and breadth of God’s Holy Scriptures and just want to worship!
My living hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Blood and His Righteousness.
Romans 5:5 This hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out his love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God’s gift to us.
If you are saved and have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior by faith, you are daily tasting the outpouring of God’s “LOVE” in your hearts through God’s Holy Spirit whom He was given to us at our point of salvation.
If you do not know Jesus for the pardon of your sins, invite Him in on today by first asking Him to forgive you of your sins and to open the eyes of your heart to His “UNCONDITIONAL LOVE” for you.
When you have made your confession of your desperate need for God, not only is He faithful and just to forgive you, but He is willing to lead, guide and direct the rest of your life by the leading of His Holy Spirit.
Not surprisingly Warrior, King, Master Poet, even master sinner, David declares these words concerning God “LOVE” in Psalm 34:8-Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
It should not come as such a surprise that God’s “LOVE” is an everlasting love.
New life in the “SPIRIT” is available to you on today.
The Great Exchange is God’s love for our sins. WOW! What an exchange.
Unconditional “LOVE” is found at the foot of the cross.
Run to Jesus for He alone offers you UNCONDITIONAL LOVE!
This kind of love cannot be found in nothing or no one else.
When nothing else could help me, “LOVE” was broken for me!
When nothing else could help me, “LIVING LOVE” lifted me!
JESUS IS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE!
DO NOT LET THIS BE SUCH A SURPRISE TO YOU!
SHARE COMMUNION WITH GOD AS HE FIRST SHARED IT WITH US!
God bless.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
God of enlightenment, help me to read, study and understand your word. Give me insight into the meaning of your commandments and how I should follow them in their beauty and their truth. As I meditate on your wonderful miracles, As I search your beauty, wonder who you really are, may I be encouraged and empowered. As I study how you have fought our battles from the stories in the Bible, may I be built up and strengthened. Help me to know how you want me to put the hope of your word into real practice. Assist me to know you more fully through your word, be pleasing to you. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
The Patriarch Job wrote in Chapter Seven verses 1 – 6 (Message) these words.
There’s Nothing to My Life
7 1-6 “Human life is a struggle, isn’t it? It’s a life sentence to hard labor. Like field hands longing for quitting time and working stiffs with nothing to hope for but payday, I’m given a life that meanders and goes nowhere— months of aimlessness, nights of misery! I go to bed and think, ‘How long till I can get up?’ I toss and turn as the night drags on—and I’m fed up! I’m covered with maggots and scabs. My skin gets scaly and hard, then oozes with pus. My days come and go swifter than the click of knitting needles, and then the yarn runs out—an unfinished life!
The Bible tells us that even believers struggle with trusting God because life is hard and cruel at times. But we know there is hope and that joy is 100% possible because of the eternal life we have with Christ. Therefore, God wants us to be full of faith and grow in His divine direction, comforted by the Holy Spirit. In this complete trust of our Lord and Savior, we can live with true peace and joy.
Today, we have the opportunity to renew our perspective. Be encouraged, learn to walk through each day with a Romans 5:8 joyful spirit and a refocused mind.
Remember the Gospel hope found in God’s promises.
Take comfort in God’s divine plan for your life.
Rejoice in God’s presence.
Reconnect with the true Gospel life-changing hope found in the Bible.
Share with others the answer to their deepest problem and greatest need.
The Struggle is Absolutely Real ….
But GOD is also absolutely 100% REAL!
Romans 5:6-8 Easy-to-Read Version
6 Christ died for us when we were unable to help ourselves. We were living against God, but at just the right time Christ died for us. 7 Very few people will die to save the life of someone else, even if it is for a good person. Someone might be willing to die for an especially good person. 8 But Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by this God showed how much he loves us.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
God’s people have been struggling for millennia to understand the love of God.
They have misunderstood him, taken him for granted, ignored him, and sinned against him, but he has never stopped showing his love to them.
Ultimately, Jesus left his throne in heaven to come and show us once and for all exactly how deep the love of God is for us. You and I have to 100% believe that.
You and I have to acknowledge the love of God for us.
That’s my greatest prayer.
The way to your salvation is by trusting the God of all Life that tells this story.
You and I can have love like this, and it does not even matter we’re a sinner, because Christ died for sinners. In fact, he died only for sinners. So, if we see our need for a love like this, we 100% qualify for that love. We can all come to him, and he will not cast us out because God shows his love to a surprising people.
God shows his Gospel love unto a surprising people.
The kind of person that God shows his love to is surprising. He shows his love to sinners. The text is plain and simple, Paul writes, “while we were still sinners”.
If we had the all-seeing eye of God, we would be appalled at not only the sin we see in each other but the sin we see in our own hearts.
I’d venture to say we are aware of about 5% of our sin. But God sees all of it.
We need to understand what our sin looks like to God. Our sins aren’t mistakes.
We like to use that word. It softens it. But the Bible uses words like evil and wickedness in regard to our sin. How often have we called ourselves evil or wicked? But you and I are! We are all one big hot mess. Our sin has ruined us.
Every one of us has experienced this. Every one of us has done something that we do not even want to think nor talk about. And yet God looks down at us in that condition, God sees everything in us! God knows everything of that sin, and says I’ve died for that sin. You are free. For freedom Christ has set us free.
In fact, our sin is our only qualification.
Look at the verse again. God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. It is in the midst of our sin that Christ saves us.
Our sin is the ONLY qualification, and we must still be in that sin to qualify, which of course we are.
God shows [commendeth], present tense. Christ died, past tense.
The death of Savior Jesus Christ still shows the love of God. That one event was enough to show us for all time his love because of the magnitude of the one who died and who he died for. God died for his enemies. Our sin qualifies us, and our faith justifies us through the redeeming work of Christ on the cross at Calvary.
Even the way Paul words this is both fascinating and surprising.
What Paul is saying here is there has been a changing of the guard.
Something has come in and something has gone out.
The Greek text here is saying that in the death of Christ, we sinners have been redeemed.
Even the syntax of the sentence is showing the gospel!
Not just the words, but how the words are arranged.
God shows his love to us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God shows his love to us at a surprising cost.
Why did Jesus die for us?
The simple answer is because he loved us, to love us till the end he had to die.
But you may say, “There must have been another way. Surely someone didn’t have to die in order to save me!”
The Bible says God saves sinners and the only way to save sinners is for the sin to be paid for by someone.
And the Bible later says that the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:20-23)
Therefore, there are 2 options: either we die for our sins or someone else does.
In God’s mercy, the gospel tells us that someone else has died in our place.
But what does this look like? Is the Father an angry God who only wants blood while Jesus is the loving, kind-hearted Son who desperately wants his Father’s heart to change? By no means! God is not unjust, and he is not unloving. But for God’s justice and God’s love to remain 1000% compatible a death had to occur.
It hurts the Father to lose his Son, but he does it because he loves us.
The death of Jesus was costly. He is the most glorious person in existence.
He was there from the beginning – not the beginning of the world, but from the beginning of eternity past. It was he through whom and by whom and for whom all things were created. It is he who upholds the universe by the word of his power. It is he who is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. It is he who was promised, and he who has come, and he who has died, and he who is reigning now and will reign forever. (John 1:1-5, Colossians 1:5-20, Hebrews 1)
It is he to whom every knee shall one day bow.
It is he, of whom the prophet Isaiah says, “he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength.”
It is also he of whom Isaiah says, “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for or iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”
It is he that has given us access to the throne of grace.
This is Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of Lords.
The Son of God, the Son of man, the Alpha and the Omega, the one who was and is and is to come, the Messiah, the Christ.
This is your Savior! This is God.
And there was no greater pain in the universe than the exact moment Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the elect.
In that moment the Father turned his face away from the Son and gave him over to death so he might bring us who believe to glory.
It cost something to gain us back.
It cost the most valuable person in all existence.
It cost God himself.
You are bought with a price.
God isn’t angry with you because he has done everything, he needs to do to be happy with you forever. The price has already been paid in the midst of your sin so that you can be free from the consequences of your sin.
That is surprising!
THAT IS LOVE!
That is the surprising gospel!
So, if you are prone to think you are too good for God’s love: can you now see that you are a sinner in need of Christ’s saving work? Only when you see, only when you acknowledge this need can you have the righteousness you long for.
And if you are prone to think you are too unworthy for God’s love: can you now see that God saves sinners and sinners alone? Only when you and I see that, only we acknowledge that, then will we be able to have the joy we all long for.
Let’s all lean into the third way of the gospel:
God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners (we are worse than we think), Christ died for us (we are more loved than we imagined).
Let me close with these words from Charles Spurgeon, 19th century preacher,
“If today you feel that sin is hateful to you, believe in Him who has said, ‘It is finished.’ Let me link your hand in mine. Let us come together, both of us, and say, ‘Here are two poor naked souls, good Lord; we cannot clothe ourselves,’ and He will give us a robe, for ‘it is finished.’ . . . ‘But must we not add tears to it?’ ‘No,’ says He, ‘no, it is finished, there is enough.’ Child of God, will you have Christ’s finished righteousness today, and will you rejoice in it more than you ever have before?”
Receive this good news.
Come to Christ.
See what he has done for you.
Come and live.
God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.(5:8)
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Lord Jesus Christ, your power is beyond compare. You turned water into wine. You cleansed the Leper, restored sight to the blind and made the deaf hear. You made the lame to walk. You healed the sick and raised the dead. You conquered death in your resurrection. Everything you touch is powerfully transformed. Let me know that powerful touch in my life. Lord, bless me and keep me, make your face shine upon me. Through your mighty name, Gloria! Alleluia! Amen.
The Love of God. It’s a complicated thing. Every generation tries to understand love, fall in love, and explain love. People have gone to extremes to display their love for others, and thousands of years ago God did just that for each one of us.
In Romans 5:8, Paul tells us God demonstrated His love for us this way: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Out of the abundance of God’s great love for us He sent His only Son to pay the debt for our sins, even though we were all His enemies, powerless and ungodly. God’s display of love was not conditional.
It was not based on anything we had done or could ever do for Him. God knew that without His timely intervention we would be forever separated from Him.
Jesus’ obedience displayed grace in an amazing way. Jesus poured out His life for the forgiveness of our sins so we could be reconciled with God. Each of us, through faith, can have the opportunity to enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ and experience peace with God, hope in every situation, and eternal life.
Having a relationship with Jesus doesn’t mean life is always easy. Rather, it provides us with the ability to face anything that comes our way. We can have hope in all situations, confident of God’s grace, His faithfulness, and His 100% willingness to do whatever it takes to fully restore our relationship with Him.
Romans 5:6-8 Amplified Bible
6 While we were still helpless [powerless to provide for our salvation], at the right time Christ died [as a substitute] for the ungodly. 7 Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to willingly give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a good man [one who is noble and selfless and worthy] someone might even dare to die. 8 But God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
The Apostle Paul tells us here in Romans 5:8 that God has shown us his love in the death of Christ. The One who created the heavens and the earth, the One who rules overall, the One who is in the heavens and does whatever he pleases—this One has shown his love to us in the death of his only Son. John 3:16 rings gracefully in our ears, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.”
This verse explains what Jesus said in John 15:13 when he told his disciples, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
What Jesus says in John 15 he accomplishes at the cross in John 19 and Paul explains it to us here in Romans 5:8. This is the single most important story the world has ever known. The scale of this sacrifice is still being weighed today.
In fact, for all eternity we will see that the cost and the prize do not seem to balance, but there is glory in this gospel that fills up the throne room of heaven and shoots joy down to our hearts like lightening. This is a surprising gospel.
Romans 5:8 explains this surprising gospel by revealing how God shows his love to us in a surprising way, to a surprising people, and at surprising cost.
God shows his love in a surprising way.
I want us to linger here for quite a few minutes. Let this sink in, because this is abundantly and completely glorious. God shows. God is not a quiet, reserved, no-big-deal king. He’s not afraid to shake the world. He’s ambitious and he’s bold, he loves radically. The very expanse of heaven declares the glory of God.
Why else do stars exist? Why are sunsets as beautiful as they are? What purpose do they serve outside of lighting your heart on fire? God puts on display his love.
These two words, “God shows”, speak to both camps of people, those who think they are too good, those who believe they are too unworthy for the love of God.
From every which direction of our circumstances, we are confronted here with what God does. He shows. He is a relentless lover. He is always inviting us, not just so that we will agree on a limited intellectual level that we are loved, but also beckoning all of us to feel deep in our hearts we are both invited and loved.
It’s as if he is speaking to each one of us from the depths of eternity, “Look. I know some of you think you don’t need me. Some of you think you can’t have any part of me. What made you doubt my love?” “What can I do to change your mind?”
Do we realize the surprising ways in which God loves each and everyone of us?
He doesn’t stop with mere words we may never read or study, he does not stop with parting seas, he doesn’t stop at pillars of fire, or clouds of glory, he doesn’t stop with breaking down walls at the sounds of hundreds of great trumpets, he doesn’t stop with voices from heaven or angels standing before us. He doesn’t stop with a promise we’re just as likely as not to completely, abundantly ignore.
He doesn’t stop with a great or lesser earthly king. He doesn’t stop with one nation, mighty or weak. He doesn’t stop with only one people group. He doesn’t stop with “just good enough”. He doesn’t stop with perfect teaching or with amazing miracles. No, he stops with the death of the Son on the cross. God the Father loves so intensely that he could not give anything less than the absolute best that he had to offer himself in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son.
God shows his love to us in a multitude of ways but the supreme way he shows his love to us is in the death of Christ for us. What greater love is there?
We, in all our sin and all our messiness – WE – were loved enough by God that he would die for you. He did not just tell us that. He showed it two thousand years ago at 3:00 in the afternoon on a hill called Calvary outside of Jerusalem.
And, even more surprising,heyet, he still shows his love in the death of Christ.
These words are in the present active tense. God, today, now in this moment, is showing us the love, he has for us through the death of his Son, Jesus Christ.
What we see right here in our Bibles – this black text on a white page – is lifting Jesus up before us right now so that we can see with the eyes of our heart the very love of God for us. Do you see it? Oh, I pray you do! Father, open our eyes!
Now, in this exact and exacting moment, that’s the kind of Gospel love we need, the kind of surprise we each need, that’s the unrelenting kind of love God has.
Is not that even 0.01% surprising to you?
Today, surprise yourself and surprise a friend or two or three and Reflect:
Have you ever seriously asked Jesus into your life? If so, take some time to thank God for His grace. If not, please surprise God, learn more about His salvation.
How can you surprise someone – show grace to someone today?
Do you have hope God can get you through any situation? Why or why not?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
God, from the beginning, you were the word. You sent your only son to save us all and he even allowed himself to be tortured and crucified to obey you. Bless me with the gift of understanding and of unshaken faith in you. Let me know the meaning of your words in the Bible and how to live accordingly. Open the door of my heart, fill me with your light and understanding. Alleluia! Amen.
Another Part Tomorrow …… Struggling with the Surprise
Interestingly, the Bible does not ever just say that God loves us.
Instead, it says: “When we were at our very darkest moment, God demonstrated MAX his love…” “In this is MAX love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us [TO THE MAX] and gave…” “For God so MAX loved the world that he gave…”
Do we see Love is more than an emotion or intention? True love, redemptive love, God-styled love is active; it does something. For us, Jesus did more than something; he sacrificed everything. What’s more, he did it when we most needed it. He demonstrated the core of his love when we were yet sinners!
Romans 5:6-8 The Message
6-8 Christ arrives exactly right on time to make this happen. He did not, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we had not been so weak, we would not have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.Romans 5:8 (AKJV)
This short verse from Paul’s letter to the Romans gives us insight into the core Gospel love of God.
What is God’s love like?
How does God love?
Who does God love, anyway?
Does he love you?
Does he love me?
Does he really love the world?
There are some verses in the Bible that hold more power than the very sun.
This is one of those verses. These 18 words are some of the most glorious in the entire Bible. If you’re wondering about the love of God, this verse explains it.
The primary goal of my devotionals is to preach the gospel wherever I can.
Martin Luther, the great reformer, said, “I preach the gospel to my people every week because they forget it every week.”
Reverend Dr. Timothy Keller, a pastor in New York City, said recently, “One of the signs you may not grasp the unique radical nature of the gospel is that you’re certain you think you do.”
The truth is: We are forgetful people. We are a proud people. But we have a God who humbles himself to remind us of his love. He is not far from any of us. Let’s say our prayers, coming to him and asking for his blessing on our time together.
What Jesus did to save us is the most loving action that has ever taken place in the universe. What took place on the cross was a once in history-type event.
It has happened but the effects of it are forever ongoing. It didn’t just change history; history was created for it. It didn’t just accomplish something in the past but has penultimate power to change the future. There is nothing like it.
But let us not lose the wonder of it. Let us not lose the vision for the beauty in the hideous death of Christ on our behalf. Let us never lose the meaning of the cross. Let it be always treasured by our hearts. We must fight against losing the truth of this verse, because the apex of all history has already happened, and we have seen the maximum love of God for us on a scale that should blow us away.
What do you genuinely believe about the maximum love of God?
Most often we think about the love of God in two categories: either we are too good for it (“Of course God loves me, he’s God! God loves all of his creation. But I’m not sure whether I actually need his love. I do just fine on my own.”)
or we are too unworthy for it (“I’ve sinned my way out of God’s love. Perhaps I could try and get it back, but my sin has overtaken me. I’m really a lost cause at this point. I want to love God but I’m just not sure he could love me.”)
But the Gospel truth is we are all actually worse than we think we are and yet we are more loved than we could ever truly imagine. That’s what the Bible says about us.
So, there is a third way to think about the love of God. It’s the gospel way, which tells us we are too bad for his goodness, but we can have him anyway through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
The gospel humbles the proud and exalts, lifts up the humble. The love of God is transformative.
We do not deserve it, yet we can have it. We need it to live, and yet he gives it to us without cost. What we think about the love of God will determine everything about how we live. What kind of love does God have for us? “But God shows his [maximum] love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Your life, my life, includes the story of sacrificial death on your behalf. God died for you. and he died for me! You are loved so much, I am loved so much, we all are loved, that God was willing to nail his own Son to a cross to gain you back.
My fervent prayer for each of us today is that every single one of us walks out from reading this devotion fully convinced that God loves each and every one of us. Truly, the way to salvation is not in what we do, but in whom we trust. What do you believe about the MAX love of God? Your answer determines your fate.
Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow —–
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Father God, I thank you for loving me. I love you. I love you for what you have done. I love you for who you are. I love you for your promises. I love you for your faithfulness. Most of all, dear Father, help me to remember I love you because of Jesus who showed me just how much you love me. Please empower me to show my love by serving and giving to others as Jesus did. In his name I pray. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 