Personal Accountability

John 21:22  "Jesus saith unto him, 'If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee:  follow thou me.'"

The other day a truck came into our shop with these words "God is Good, don't follow me, follow Christ" written in white letters on black mudflaps.  Good advise, but wait, what does the Apostle Paul say?  "Follow me as I follow Christ."  There are those who follow us and we need to leave a path that leads them to Jesus.

The above verse is set in the context of Jesus having asked Peter three times "Do you love me?" and his exasperated answer.  Jesus then indicates by what kind of death Peter will glorify God and ends with "Follow me".  Is that an invitation or command?  Sort of sounds like a command from LORD to slave.  Here it is the LORD going before, leading, not sending Peter out on his own.  He is the best leader there is!

Peter, who has now had an indication of his future, looks around him, sees John, and asks "What about him?"  Now that is a perfectly human response common to all of us.  What is he going to do, where is she going to go, how come I have to bear the heavier burden, etc, etc, you may add your own questions.

In essence Jesus responds to Peter with, it is really none of your business.  Your responsibility is to follow me.  We really have a full time job/responsibility making sure that we are following Jesus.  We can't do that and make sure everyone or anyone else is following Jesus.  Yes, in making sure we are following Jesus He may lead us to helping others follow Him too.

In the same line of thought, Paul by inspiration of the Holy Spirit says, "But let a man examine himself..." in relation to communion.  God is so good!

We are each, individually, personally  accountable to God for our own self, to follow Him.  Jesus says to us as well as to Peter, "Follow thou me"!

It is hard to break into the story of Jesus instructing Peter to follow him, but at least start at verse 15 and be encouraged.  The questioning by Jesus to Peter relates to the three times Peter denied Jesus after His arrest.

Until next time, Keep Looking Up!

Ron

Life's Tough Times

John 17:26  "And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it:  that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."

This is the end of what is called Jesus' high priestly prayer.  It amazes me that Jesus knowing what is to happen to Him in the next few hours is able to talk of His Father's love for Him.

We face tough times in our lives, whether it be health issues, financial reverses, family rejection, despondency, social rejection, persecution for the name of Jesus, or you fill in the blank.  It is easy in these times to wonder where God is.  Does He know or even care?  Yes, He does and He has a plan for each of our lives and desires to fulfill it even though it includes the difficulties of strained relationships or other hardships of life.  And more of the dross will be removed for having surrendered to Him in taking us through these times.

Yet, what Jesus says in this verse is even more fantastic.  He prays that "the love wherewith thou hast loved me 'may be in them....'".  The love that God possesses is a complete, all encompassing, nothing lacking love.  It is a love that is able to love when there is nothing given in return.  It is a love that loves when hated, rejected, cursed or ignored.  It is a love that is bigger than we are and Jesus prays that it will be in us!  Thus it is possible to love God and others when life's challenges come our way.

Yes, God loved Jesus and sent Him to the cross.  What a powerful demonstration of the love between the Father and the Son that has been given to us.  Let us allow Him to demonstrate that love through us to those around us.

God loves you,and you and I can love others too!

Keep looking up!

Ron

Jesus, the God Man

John 1:19-21
"Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou raise it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body."

Actually there are a number of topics that come to mind in reading these three verses. One would be our tendency to focus on material things. Jesus had just cleansed the temple and that upset the Jews and in these verses their focus was on the physical temple building.

But why did or could Jesus say "in three days I will raise it up"? We, or at least I, have a tendency to think of the physical here also. Death of the physical body seems so final. But Jesus recognized that his person wasn't his body but his spirit. The body may die but the spirit lives on. Because he was/is God he didn't need someone else to bring his body back to life three days later, he could and would do it. His body was merely the temple in which he was residing.

What an encouragement this is to us. Our body is not who we are, but is where we now dwell. When death comes to this body, we vacate it and live on. Yes, our body will some day be resurrected if we should die before the return of the LORD, but we will not resurrect it, Jesus our creator/redeemer will. This mortal body will be changed into an immortal one that will be able to live in heaven for eternity. Glory!

Yes, Jesus was/is God who lived in a body subject to the same limitations and death to which we are subject. John 4:6 tells us that he was "wearied with his journey". We also read that he "hungered". We know that he "suffered and died". We also know that the testimony of his life and the testimony of God by voice from heaven and the testimony of those who lived during his life time and many other testimonies prove that he is "VERY GOD".

Be encouraged and "Keep Looking Up"!

Ron