2021-12-17
Good Morning Dear Ones,
We can believe that our God is completely unselfish and that living through Christ leads to eternal life. The Lord sacrificed the physical life of His only begotten Son, so that we can be eternally forgiven, justified, and live eternally in heaven with Him [1 JN 1: 9; RO 4: 3; JN 3: 16]. In making this sacrifice, God demonstrated His agape toward us. His agape is more of a response than a feeling. There are some truths to understand. 1) The Father gives glory to the Son, so the Son can give glory to those who have genuine faith in Him and live according to His teaching. We must put our decisions and actions in line with our professed belief in Him. The Father sacrificed His Son expressly for the purpose that our salvation is possible. He is true to His word and wants us to be also. God has made His commands clear to the Son, and the Son makes them clear to us. He does this through inspiring the writers of the Scriptures with His wisdom. That is why the Bible is the most consistent writing of all time. An often -repeated directive from God is that we should “love one another as the Lord loves us” [LV 19: 19; DT 7: 9; JN 13: 3-35; JN 15: 12; RO 13: 9-10, etc.]. We are told in EPH 4: 31-32, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling, and slander along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
The Lord claims “ownership” of us [2 COR 1: 22; EPH 1: 13-14]. RO 14: 7-8, “For none of us lies to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” God commands that we should love like He loves. He has told us, RO 8: 38-39, that nothing and no one can separate us from His love. Long ago, the Father gave authority to the Son to lead believers to eternal life. Christ showed God’s glory by finished all the work on earth He was given to do. Do you remember the metaphor I wrote about how God is the CEO who makes decisions, Christ is the Vice President in charge of salvation, and the Holy Spirit is the VP in charge of inhabiting our spirits, explaining God’s commands, and helping us to live according to His will. Remember that “If you have seen Me,” Christ said, “then you have seen the Father [JN 14: 9, 11]. DT 6: 4-5 reminds us that there is only one God. We learn in the NT that our one God has three personalities: the Father we can’t see, Christ (the visible image of the invisible Father [COL 1: 15], and the Holy Spirit.
Eternal life means to know the Lord Jesus, and thus, the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit transmits God’s will to us. Please read JN 17: 1-26. There aren’t many words about the time before the creation of the world, but one such verse is (5), where Christ prays: “And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began.” 1 PET 1 20-21 is another. “He [Christ] was chosen before the creation of the world but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God.” The greatest gift that God has given those who believe is biblical truth. We, who believe in Christ, know that it came from God and is truth. Therefore, we can receive it without concern. Remember EPH 3: 12. Truth came from God, Who gave it to Christ, Who gave it to us. God gave the Lord Jesus those who will proclaim faith in Him. We are to pray for them (even if we don’t know their names). Christ prays for us, even though He is no longer in the world, but He knows that we are still in it.
PRAYER: Dearest Father, we know and experience Your love every day. The name that God gave Jesus [Immanuel, meaning God with us –[IS 7: 14; IS 8:8; MT 1: 23]. With what You gave us in the Scriptures, we know that the teaching of Jesus is truth. When we believe in Your Son, profess genuine faith in Him, and live His teachings, we are allowing His glory to shine through us. Today, we ask that You hear our prayers for the wellbeing of all who believe, our fellow Christians. This prayer also extends to anyone who respects You and/or wants to embrace Your principles. You are a kind and good God, One Who loves us with all His heart. You are our Covenant Partner and Kinsman Redeemer. We thank You for Your blessings and presence in our lives. We praise You for all the goodness You show us. We ask for Your help in remaining true to the truths You teach us through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen/
NEXT WEEK: I’m commanded to continue writing about JN 17: 1-26 next week. I’ve been asked on several occasions to offer my testimony, so I won’t repeat the whole story here. However, it wouldn’t hurt if you were to read some of the ways God has shown his agape toward me. Remember, I’m just an ordinary person who loves the Lord-nothing more. You know I was born and raised in a conservatively traditionally Jewish family. My parents were not necessarily devout and observant in their inherited faith, until I was about age 11. So, I didn’t have any relationship with God personally prior to that age. Then, my father decided to become devout, to give me a Jewish identity. I was immature and rebellious, having not awakened to the fact that God had me in His sight from before I was born—something like Jeremiah [JER 1: 5], although I wasn’t set apart like him to be a prophet. The conservative Judaism to which I was exposed didn’t reach my heart and soul. In the 8th grade Sunday school class, I caused an uproar by expressing the belief that Jesus Christ is God’s Son and not just an ordinary man. The words bubbled up out of me with no prior thought. Since traditional Judaism denies Christ’s deity, some hotly debated discussions followed, and my father was furious. Once I was age 25, I could no longer deny faith in the Lord Jesus and “converted” to Messianic Judaism [not recognized as a denomination by traditional Jews]. That was the beginning of a journey to age 39, which I felt the call of the Lord to the ministry. I’m still that same ordinary person, just one who loves the Lord Jesus. I am happiest when I am doing ministry work. To me, these are some of the ways that God has shown me His agape. He also gives me the strength to continue, despite the loss of my dear Peter-to whom I was married for 44 years. Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 23: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2021. All Rights Reserved.
<-- Back to Archives