New Thoughts (03/10/12- 03/12/12)
It is necessary, of course, to view what Jesus says in these verses in the setting of what He has been saying prior to these verses. The immediate context is to be found in the promise that He will send the Holy Spirit to be our other Counselor like Himself (Jn 14:16-17). We needn’t look to much further back in this conversation to find its primary themes have already been stated, both on the matter of the unity of Father and Son (Jn 14:11), and the obedience of love (Jn 14:15). Indeed, looking at the parallel verses that have shown up for this passage, it’s clear that the whole of the discourse Jesus is delivering continues to drive home these primary points: God is One in His persons and one with His people, and love obeys if it is real.
Tied in and through all of this is the notice that He is soon to depart, but only for a time. That particular point is one Jesus has been making ever since they departed Galilee together. He has been telling His disciples what’s coming, but they have been slow to hear His words on that subject. Whether this is because they weren’t particularly bright or because their preconceptions about Messiah couldn’t be made to fit with this news, or simply because the perversity of our human nature just doesn’t want to hear such news; who can say? Any or all of these factors may have played into it. But, whatever the blockage, Jesus is determined to get this point across while there is still time, and time, at this stage, is running out rapidly.
We are near the end, and Jesus is well aware of it. He is also well aware of the rather fragile state of His disciples. What must come is still going to come as a shock to them, no matter how well He seeks to prepare them. Death is just so final! No matter one’s faith in a resurrection. No matter the evidence of Lazarus, who has been with them for the last several days. Death has this way of trumping one’s faith. Even if we know we shall meet again in the sweet by and by, there is not the least expectation in our minds that we shall meet again in the here and now. So, He plants the message firmly: I will not orphan you. I’ll be back.
That terminology choice is very deliberate. To be orphaned implies the death of one’s parents. In my mind, it also implies the youth of that one left behind. After all, we are assured of becoming orphans if we live long enough. And if we have children of our own, we can be reasonably certain that we shall one day orphan them, much though we’d prefer not to contemplate that. But, in these circumstances, we don’t think of the situation in those terms. It’s just the natural order of things in this fallen world. We age. We die. We leave behind those younger than ourselves. That Jesus uses this term, then, suggests not only His death, but also the relative youth of those He is leaving behind.
Obviously, the age factor is not a physical consideration. It’s not that He’s got a bunch of preteens for followers. But, in the spiritual dimension of things, they are young indeed. Barely three years old! They’ve had the best possible teacher in those three years, but still: It’s only three years! And now, their Teacher will be taken from them, and in a most inauspicious way. His removal from their midst will be forcible and demeaning. It will come in such a way as must cause these men to seriously question everything they think they know. If He’s the Messiah, how can this be happening? If He’s the Son of God, then what’s He doing up there on that cross? Down in that grave? If ever there was a reason for man to shout, “These things cannot be,” those were events were sufficient!
How critical, then, the reassurance: I am going, but I’ll be back. You can’t go where I’m going, but that’s OK. I’ll be back to see you, and it’s not going to be just a visit. This theme is developed more fully in later parts of the discussion, as it must be. But, for now it serves to bridge the announcement of the Spirit’s coming with all He has been teaching them. That, too, will be developed further as we go along. But, see the general flow of Jesus’ thoughts here: I am going. I am sending the Spirit to be with you in My stead. That’s not to suggest I am leaving you entirely. You shall not go fatherless into the rest of your days. I’ll be back to see you. The world won’t see Me anymore, but you will.
OK. That’s where the message gets a little weird. We, with the benefit of hindsight, have a pretty good sense of what Jesus means. But seat yourself at that dinner and hear these words as the disciples did. The world won’t observe Me anymore, but you will. OK. How’s that gonna work? He’s already told us we can’t go where He’s going, so this can’t be some last stand at the Masada He’s talking about. We’re not going to play like David and hide out in the caves of Adullum. So, how is it we’ll be able to see Him when the rest of the world can’t? We’re a bit old for ghost stories. But, frankly, I’m guessing they just didn’t get it at all. The Living Bible tries applying a bit of that hindsight in their paraphrase of this verse. “In just a little while I will be gone from the world, but I will still be present with you.” Yes. We understand that this is exactly how it works. But, it certainly isn’t there to be understood in what He actually says. It’s left for His followers to chew on those words, probably after the fact, because events are just moving too fast for contemplation now.
You know, I’ve got all these mornings to think over each of these subsets of what Jesus is saying. They don’t. They’re at dinner, hearing it in real time, and as soon as He’s done, they’re on the road out to Gethsemene. Maybe a few hours to discuss it on that journey, if anybody’s of a mind to talk. But, then, we’re in the garden. They’re all tired, worn by the day’s activities, and they all drop off to sleep pretty quickly. After that, of course, there’s no time for thought anymore. Just dealing with the shock, trying to stay alive, wondering what’s going to happen next and then, when you find that out, wondering what you’ll ever believe again.
With that in mind, hear what comes in verse 20. In that day, you will know with absolute certainty that I am in My Father, you are in Me, and I am in you. Well, first we need to resolve in what day? I am inclined to see this pointing back to that day when the Spirit arrives in full. Bear in mind, that this, too, was announced with that phraseology about Him being in you. Further, I have been taking note throughout this discourse of that repeated motif when it comes to the Father / Son relationship. That’s really what launched this whole line of talk: Philip! Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and He is in Me? I though you guys got this! OK. Well, time’s short, so I’d best do what I can to make it unshakably clear to you all. You’re going to need that to hold onto with what’s about to happen.
In that day… The Spirit has come, and as Jesus explains, that can’t come about unless the Christ has gone. Unless I go to the Father, the Spirit won’t come. It’s not something you want to hear, but it’s to your advantage, really (Jn 16:7). Jesus isn’t fooling Himself. This is a hard message to lay hold of, even harder to accept when it’s understood. Our Teacher is leaving. Our Messiah, our Hero, is about to die. How can that lead to the things promised us in Scripture? What use is a dead hero to us? What are we to do? All hope is lost! But, it’s not lost, is it? No! You shall see! You shall know, as the Spirit takes up His residence in you, that it is not just He that is in you, but I am in you. You shall see Me because I will be there in your heart. I’m not talking a warm memory that you carry in some sentimental fashion. I’m talking a very real Presence. I’m talking you are the temple I shall occupy. And, if you’ve been hearing all this in talk that I’ve been delivering, then you should recognize that if I am there, if the Spirit is there, then the Father is there, too, for We are never apart!
That is really the most marvelous aspect of that whole Pentecost experience. It’s not the powers imparted. It’s not even the appearance of flames overhead. No! It’s the fact that as the Spirit enters in, all doubt is removed. That’s the implication when Jesus says, “In that day, you will ask no more questions of Me” (Jn 16:23). You will ask no more questions because all your doubts will have been removed. You will know. You will know absolutely, and by your own experience that all that I am saying right now, all that seems so fanciful, so far-fetched, is absolutely True! You will know because you will experience that intimate connection I’m talking about. You will know you are intimately connected with the Spirit and He with you. You will hear His guidance. You will enjoy the privilege of communicating with Him, communing with Him. And, as you do so, you will also know and experience the reality that you can likewise commune and communicate and hear from Me at any time. You will know that you have this exact same degree of intimate familiarity with the Father – our Father.
That’s the miracle of Pentecost! That’s the greatest marvel of Christianity! Marvelous enough that we are granted to have even a moment of such closeness with God. But, we are granted an eternity of such closeness! The Spirit, having come, comes forever. Lo! I am with you even to the end of the ages. And, indeed, at the end of the ages lies the dawn of eternity, the beginning of that life which is truly worthy of being called life. “Because I live, you shall live also.” Yes! And the thing Jesus has in mind here is that life which the grave cannot take away. Because I live – and you will have seen Me alive well after My expiration date – you will live in Truth! You will know that confidence that your life will likewise continue past the cessation of the physical plant. You will know this tent is temporary, that a permanent home for your soul is yet ahead. And, you will know with equal certainty that when that permanent abode is entered, you shall be with Me forever. I am going to prepare that place for you, that you may be where I am. Your joy shall be made full. And that joy begins, My children, long before you depart this world.
Turning to Judas’ question, it is interesting that certain translations, such as the NIV shift his phrasing from ‘what has happened’ to ‘why’. The actual phrase that is being translated is kai ti gegonen. Looking quickly at the terms, kai is a particle with the sense of also, even, so then, etc. Ti produces the question: Who, which, what? Gegonen is actually a form of ginomai, with its sense of causing to be, becoming, coming into existence. Thayer suggests that the overall phrase, “What, then, has happened,” is equivalent to the simpler, ‘why,’ or perhaps, ‘for what reason’. If so, it is but one way of asking the question. In Matthew 15:2, for example, the why of the English translates dia ti, or ‘through what’. In Mark 2:7, it is simply ti by itself that gives the why.
My point is simply this, that the particular way in which Judas poses the question suggests a bit more insight than simply asking why. Why, in its basic form, suggests a total lack of understanding as to why Jesus might become more selective as to who He made Himself known to. That Judas asks, instead, “What has happened?” suggests a bit more awareness on his part. Something’s changed. Given the events of the last several days, it would be easy enough to conclude that the combativeness that has been on display may have led to greater danger to the Teacher. Had He had further encounter with those Pharisees and Sadducees that he was unaware of? Had He heard something as to their plans against Him? What was up?
The error in Judas’ thinking lies not in the question, but in the direction. He is thinking that Jesus’ decision is the effect of some preceding cause. Jesus, in His answer, shifts the focus from some past deed to which He must needs react onto the future (or present) situation. Notice how He answers – and recognize that it is indeed an answer. “If anyone loves Me, He will keep My word.” That’s moving forward from today, not looking back on yesterday. “My Father will love Him and We will come to him and abide with Him.” Again, we are looking to what lies ahead. The situation is not Jesus reacting to threat. It is God making sovereign determination.
Admittedly, that answer seems an awful lot like conditional love, doesn’t it? We’ll come if you love us. And, if you love us, it’ll show in your obedience. So, then, one could arrive back at the age of Law. How are the Jews wrong? One must keep the Commandments, or God won’t hang around. Isn’t that what He’s saying here? But, these things must be heard together with the whole revelation of Scripture. They must be heard together with, “none comes to the Father except through Me,” (Jn 14:6) and, “no one comes to Me except the Father calls him” (Jn 6:44). That love, then, which determines the presence of the Lord, is by His determination. There is a conditional on His love, but that conditional is in His hands, not ours.
There is a certain beauty to the paraphrase given to us in the Message. “Because a loveless world is a sightless world.” Admittedly, that’s playing very free with the text, but it makes the point marvelously clear. The world is loveless, when it comes to God. That is our story. Until He came and snapped us out of our stupidity, we were the same. We had no use for Him, neither time nor thought to spare Him. We can look about us today and see the vehement opposition that arises at the very thought of God having a say in the affairs of man. It is on the rise again, the tendency for government to oppose religion except where it can control it. We see it happening in the debate that purports to be about contraceptives. It’s not. It’s about stripping the Church of power. We see it in the militant atheistic movement and its attempts to drive all celebration of Christ from the public square. It’s not about equality of belief, nor even about some claimed offense one might feel at seeing something one doesn’t agree with. If that were the case, then these folks are wimps of the first order and ought to voluntarily remove themselves from the gene pool for the sake of the mankind they claim to want to lift up! No. It’s about shutting up every opposing voice.
It’s loveless. It cares nothing about anything except one’s comfort in their moral torpor. It fails to perceive the immensity of God’s love because it fails to perceive love at all. Just consider the state of debate over matters sexual. On the one hand, the argument is about valuing life and the dignity of the human condition. It’s about noting how these supposed rights and liberties that a debased society has demanded are actually a threat to the very ones they claim to liberate. On the other hand, the argument is that my rights trump yours. If I want sex without consequences, that trumps the rights of any accidental produce of my union. A baby? It has no rights. It will live if I choose to allow it. And if I want my contraceptives, you ought to be coerced to paying and providing, whatever your petty little moral quibbles might be. To quote a particularly cynical old song, “What’s love got to do with it?”
It’s a loveless world, and that loveless condition renders it blind to what is true and lovely and praiseworthy. It cannot love God because to do so would require a radical reassessment of self. It would require taking self off the throne, and that’s the last thing any of them are willing to do. Even in their efforts to serve one another, they never abandon the throne of self. There is selfless serving and then there is that sort of serving that is really all about self. I do for you because of what it does for me. That gain may be tangible or intangible, but it remains front and center. You can dress it up in altruism, but the reality is far different. Loveless and sightless. Blinded by their hatred (for self obsession must necessarily lead to a hatred of anything that is not equally adoring of self) they cannot acknowledge God’s reality.
Is this not the whole sentence delivered by Paul in Romans? From the first day of creation, God’s character was evident in the work He had created, leaving them no excuse. They knew. They could not help but know. Yet, they refused to admit it, refused to honor God or thank Him for what He had done. In their self-professed wisdom, they proved to be the worst of fools (Ro 1:20-22). In their efforts to avoid praising God, they turned to worshiping the creatures He had made (Ro 1:23). Well, just ask yourself whose rights are more protected and more fought for: Your dog’s or your daughter’s? Whose plight generates the greater anguish: that of the polar bear, or that of the infant? Truly, as they saw fit to ignore God, God saw fit to ignore them, and leave them to their own decisions. Let them face the consequences on their own, and receive ‘in their own persons the due penalty of their error’ (Ro 1:25-27).
That describes the world around us rather accurately, I should think. They hate God. They are insolent and arrogant. They are boastful as they invent new sorts of evil, and encourage one and all to take part in it. If anybody transgresses the ways of God, those they shall praise and encourage (Ro 1:30-32). Given such a record, who can demand that God do something to save them? And then, of course, we must return to the truth about ourselves. “And such were you.” Their story is my story. But for the grace of God, but for that love with which He drew me to Himself, with which He demanded my belief, I would still be one well suited to that description. Loveless and sightless, incapable of recognizing the magnificence of my Creator because I’m too caught up in my own petty perfections. Blind and stupid is no way to go through life.
Now, it is necessary that I turn my attention to that explanation Jesus provides in answer to Judas. “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.” Wuest gives us a hint as to the syntax here, when he translates it, “If anyone as a habit of life loves me.” Admittedly, that makes for a most awkward bit of English, but it makes the point that we are looking at matters of continuous, habitual action. If love is your habit, then obedience to His word will also be your habit. This could as easily be expressed in the reverse negative. If obedience to His word is not your habit, then love for Him is not your real experience. You’ve conned yourself.
Expressed that way, this is a very difficult verse to face. It would hardly be the first time I have found John’s writings to present seemingly insurmountable challenges. And, he does so in such a way that it seems he fully expects those challenges to be met as a simple matter of course for the believer. Of course you’ll succeed at this. How could you not? Of course you keep His words, His love is so overwhelming that you couldn’t possibly fail to love Him in return, and if that love expresses in obedience, then obedience there must surely be. And yet, I am forced to confess that I do not find this obedience obvious in myself. I do not see that it is my habit of life. Oh, there are aspects and selected points upon which I obey. But, there are others where I clearly do not.
I said it in my preparations, and I also mentioned it at Sunday School yesterday: I need look no farther than the Great Commission. Here is the primary, or at least penultimate command issued to the believer: Go and make disciples. Where can I claim to have obeyed this? I cannot. The primary commandment is, of course, that we love one another, and I find for the most part that I do so. There are one or two, to be sure, that make this a difficult effort, and at least one where I am pretty sure I fail outright, at least for the present. God help me. But, on this matter of reaching out to those beyond the sheepfold, and putting in the time and effort to bring them in? No. I cannot think of a single moment where I have been willing to so much as consider obedience.
This is not as it should be. I know that. Trust me, I can come up with ways to rationalize away my failure to comply. And, I will say this with certainty: This one point is insufficient to disprove my love for God. It does, however, demonstrate a distinct lack of perfection in that love. It does hang a giant, blinking neon sign over a matter that needs prayer. If this is the way that God chooses, if this is the expression of love that he best receives, then I need to find it in me to express my love for Him in this way. You know, we’ve got that whole series of books on love languages, and when it comes to our spouse, we understand that if our love isn’t expressed in the way that they receive, then our love isn’t really received. We can say it, but if they need to see it in action to really believe it’s true, then the words won’t suffice. We can do acts of love, shower them with gifts. But, if they need to hear it expressed and vocalized, and we fail to say those three little words often and repeatedly, the gifts are nothing. They are a waste.
Why would we think it so critical to get our expressed love right for our spouse, yet think it a matter of little concern when it comes to God. He knows we love Him, right? He knows our every thought. What need have we to worry over how we show that love, then? Well, if nothing else, there’s the simple little matter of His having put it so bluntly: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” That’s awfully hard to side-step. Fortunately, our salvation doesn’t depend on the perfection of our love for Him, but the reality and the growth trend in that love. And, as I believe I have already noted here, that love depends first and foremost on Him to begin with. The whole if clause of this message hinges on an action that finds its source in God Himself. He who shall be loved by My Father already is, and it is only because of this that he is enabled to love Jesus. It is only because of this that he is capable of any degree of obedience.
So, while this issue of the Great Commission is quite rightly a cause for concern and prayer in so much as I fail to find it my heart’s desire to comply, it is not cause for despairing of salvation. God has saved. He has loved. And, because He has loved me, I am able to love Him. Indeed, I would go so far as to say I am compelled to love Him. I could not do otherwise! In a sense, I find I cannot quite agree with Martin Luther when he says, “Love Him? Sometimes I hate Him!” I understand the sentiment, and I can certainly empathize with the feeling when God is pushing me beyond my comfortable boundaries, insisting that I go forth and do what I don’t particularly want to do. I can empathize when I am forced to confront a particular sin, set aside a particularly clinging habit, or worse yet, to confess it to those who had no suspicion that this fine upstanding man harbored any such dark things. But, it’s not Him I hate in those moments. No. It’s my own weakness. It’s that sinfulness that remains. Truly, it is the enemy of my soul I hate, and it is the disastrous results of having failed to counter his wily ways as I know I should. But, God? No. How can I hate this One Who has changed me so much for the better? How can I hate this One Who has provided so wondrously that even when I have my darkest doubts as to the finances of my household, yet there has never been true lack, never a moment of begging? Hate Him? I cannot but love Him!
But, let me not try yet again to skate past this work of the Great Commission. It’s too important a matter. John, in particular, keeps it ever before my eyes. I can look, for example, at the statement Jesus makes in His high priestly prayer. “I have made You known to them. They will make it known to others. Then the love You have for Me will be in them, and I will be in them” (Jn 17:26). Notice the flow there. I have made them know. They will make others know. I have not done it for no good reason, but as a first seeding of the field, a field that they, as they mature, will seed more fully, a field that they, by their casting of seed, will expand exponentially. That’s why there’s a Great Commission to begin with! That’s certainly what the Apostles did.
Now, I will note this point: Certain of the Apostles remained in Jerusalem. Why? Well, because Jerusalem was part of the field, too. Certain of the Apostles remained in place in one city or another for extended periods of time. Why? Because it is not enough to just toss out the seed of the Gospel and run on. No! Discipleship is a commitment. It takes time. It requires establishing relationship. It requires teaching. It requires sticking to it to see the disciple mature to a point that he can stand on his own. It’s like raising a child, only somewhat more important in the grand scheme of things. Shocking thought, isn’t it? Of course, our own children ought be our first disciples. But, they can hardly be the only ones. And, if they reject the seed of the Gospel, it is not the end for us. It is not the closing day of our usefulness to the kingdom. Sorry. But, that one whose life we were intended to intersect, to whom we were designed to bear the Gospel message matters more than our own physical progeny if they are not kingdom bound.
I don’t say that as a comfortable thought, but only as a point which seems to me to flow quite logically from a kingdom perspective. Neither do I take it as permission to give up on the wayward child. God didn’t give up on me! Nor am I of sufficient sentience to know with any accuracy who is and who is not to be counted amongst the elect. I am quite certain that my teen and early adult years gave no man cause to suppose I was of that number. Far from it! (And yet, there were those who seemed to know even when I was quite certain I was not.) No! We don’t give up, certainly not on our own flesh and blood. By the same token, we have no cause to give up on any other human being, however depraved and hard-hearted they may be.
Moses, I don’t believe, ever gave up on the possibility that Pharaoh might be converted. And, he had the word of God Himself informing him of Pharaoh’s fate. Yet, I find it in me this morning to think that Moses prayed for a different outcome right to the end, right up to the moment that the seas closed up over Pharaoh’s head, and maybe even a bit longer. They may not have been flesh and blood, but they were family in their way. And, Moses had more reason than most to look upon the Egyptians as God’s children every bit as much as Israel. Moses was a friend of God. They met, as it were, face to face. If any man knew God’s heart, it was he. As such, he would know that God does not rejoice over the finalization of a sinner’s punishment. He takes no pleasure in vengeance. It is a necessity of His being, but it is not a preference. But, God’s love is perfected in keeping His word.
OK, where does that spring from? Well, let me turn to something from 1John. “The love of God is truly perfected in that one who keeps His word” (1Jn 2:5). But, the love of God that we demonstrate is but a reflection of that love God has already shown towards us. Ergo, it would not seem to great a leap of logic to say that His own love is shown perfect in that He keeps His word. Even when that word requires that His just wrath be shown: Even then, it is the expression of His perfect love. But, for us, the challenge of keeping His word remains. We are not perfect. Oh, how painful it is to read how John proceeds from this point! “By this we know that we are in Him: the one who claims to abide in Him ought to walk just as He walked” (1Jn 2:6). Ouch! The only saving grace I see in that is the ought. We know we should. We try to. We fail miserably and repeatedly. But, we keep trying.
Here, I think, may be a primary problem for me: For whatever reasons, I know there is in me a tendency to want to simply arrive at perfection without all the practice and effort required to get there. I don’t want to be a rank amateur at what I’m doing. I want to be expert. But, I’m not all that keen on the drudgery of doing what’s necessary to attain that end. I just want the end. I want the instant gratification. Were there some pill to take, some injection that would result in immediate proficiency, I’d be lining up for it in a flash. But, that’s not how it works. It doesn’t work that way in our labor skills. It doesn’t work that way in our hobbies. It doesn’t work that way in our faith. Oh dear. But, He changed us! He put this new life in us! Surely, we shall all be changed in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye! Well, yes, the final moment of completion will come upon us in that fashion, should we be alive to witness His return. But, the reality of the Christian walk is that there’s a lot of walking involved. There’s a lot of training, a lot of mistakes to be made and learned from. Indeed, there’s a lifetime of learning required.
Later in that letter John wrote, He has this to say, and it is but a reflection of what Jesus says in these verses: “This is the love of God: That we keep His commandments and don’t find them burdensome” (1Jn 5:3). Now, I must again stress that John cannot be speaking of keeping them with perfection, with absolute consistency. Were that even a possibility, we would be back at the Law. There would have been no Jesus come to die on the cross, because His death would not have been necessary to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. He is perfection. We, however hard we try, are not. We remain dependent upon that righteousness and that atonement that He achieved on our behalf. We shall not, any one of us, find cause to boast in ourselves when we stand before the Lord. That includes John. That point must remain in sight as we consider this matter of keeping His commandments.
It has to be understood that what Jesus commanded was nothing more and nothing less that repeating what had always been commanded. He did not rewrite the Law. He reminded us of its true requirements. He forced us to look at where we had let ourselves off the hook by lessening the demands, but refusing to consider the implications of those commands, and settling for compliance to the barest, most rigidly literal rendering of them. Ah! I have not killed anybody outright. I’m good. Ah! I have not had the nerve to sleep with another man’s wife, however often I may have dreamt of it. I’m good. Ah! I have never taken anything from my neighbor’s house, though I do everything I can to outearn him and to top him with my own possessions. I’m good. Ah! I am careful to observe the Sabbath, even when it means ignoring family obligations, and even though I make of it an excuse not to help the needy. I’m good. Really? Not on your life.
The same must be said with our efforts to keep His commandments in light of the Cross. In light of our love for God, there is still absolutely no room to suppose we are suddenly empowered, even with the indwelling presence of the Trinity, to comply fully and completely. It was too late for that before ever we were saved. And, quite frankly, it remains an utter absurdity to suppose that any man, post conversion, has ever found himself arriving at perfection of compliance, even if it were measured solely from the moment of conversion. Even if it were measured from the moment of waking up today, which was not terribly long ago, the possibility of full and complete compliance is so improbably slim as to be properly demarked as being impossible. No. We remain wholly and utterly dependent upon God for any goodness that might be found in us. We remain absolutely needy. We remain in desperate need of His intervention to find ourselves able to obey. But, there is this: We don’t find it burdensome.
That much, it seems to me, is the legacy of faith. We may find it impossible, but not burdensome. It’s not some onerous fact of life that we have to try. It’s not annoying. It’s not something we do because, well, what choice is there? We may drag ourselves to work of a morning with that attitude. We may attend our meetings with such a sense of their being little more than a necessary evil which we would gladly skip out on given the least excuse. But, the things of God? No. Even the hard things. Even things like the Great Commission. It’s not burdensome. Scary, perhaps. Challenging to be sure. But, not burdensome. Not some loathsome duty we face with utmost reluctance. Never that.
I’m not sure I have anything more to add to this. Perhaps, I shall simply return to the earlier words of Jesus. “Because I live, you shall live also.” There’s a promise to hold onto. There’s the assurance, even when the test of compliance seems to lead to constant failure. Remember! The contingency that appears in these verses, the “if” upon which all depends, is not an if that depends on you, but one that depends from Him! He loves. Because He loves, we live. Because we live, we love. Because we love, we obey. And, because it is God Who wills and works in us to achieve His good pleasure, we obey sufficiently, even though not perfectly. It is God! That’s the thing I must cling to. It is God start to finish, and I can but thank Him for starting on me. For, I know He shall finish that which He has begun. He always does.
Meeting the People: Judas of James (03/13/12-03/14/12)
