Daily Meditations on the Bible / We stand with Israel
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.
When do you need God’s peace most?
Sometimes when I am awake in the middle of the night, my mind churns over the problems of the day. Sometimes Satan seems to use these lonely times to remind me of my shortcomings. The lack of peace can be excruciating.
When I come to my senses, I remember what Jesus says in today’s verse. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.”
Continue reading “Peace – John 14: 27a”
All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
In the beginning, God spoke to a select few people. He spoke with Adam and Eve, then Cain and Able. He spoke with Enoch whom he took up to be with him. He spoke with Job, Abraham, and others. He spoke through Moses to the people of Israel. Then he spoke through the prophets.
When Jesus came to earth, God spoke to people as men speak; face to face. For a few short years, the living God lived as a man. Today’s passage marks the last day Jesus would have with his disciples. In this passage, Jesus looks forward to a time when God speaks to all who will listen through his Holy Spirit.
Continue reading “God Calling – John 14: 25-26”
Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
One of the things I appreciate most about God’s creation is its logical nature. Everything of a material nature works according to the laws of physics. These laws have been in place since the beginning of time. The history of science has been one of discovering God’s laws in nature. Once understood, there is a comforting predictability about the nature of the physical world.
In verses twenty-three and twenty-four, Jesus explains another “law” if you will. It is a truism, a principle. He begins, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.” He continues with, “Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.” Then he adds that these words come directly from the Father.
Why does he tell us this? Why is it important?
Continue reading “Predictability – John 14: 24”
Jesus replied, ”Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”
Today we complete the verse that we started in yesterday’s post. Jesus promises that love for Him opens the door to He and the Father coming into your life and living there. The last five words add a flavor to this verse that I find appealing. Jesus says that He and the Father will come and “make our home with them.” The God of the universe is willing to move into your life and take up residence!
Continue reading “Moving In – John 14: 23”
Jesus replied, ”Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.”
Obedience is a tough thing. We humans are not naturally obedient. Oftentimes we tend to the opposite end of the spectrum. When we do “obey” it isn’t always because of love.
In my work as a traffic engineer, I study the behavior of people who drive cars. Have you have ever seen two little black tubes stretched across the street when you are driving? Those are what I and other traffic engineers use to keep an eye on what you are doing. The amount of information they collect is amazing.
Continue reading “Obey – John 14: 23a”
Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, ”But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
Judas asks an interesting question here. This whole chapter in John’s gospel has been about Jesus’ last instructions to his disciples. Throughout this study of John’s gospel, we have repeatedly noted that Jesus speaks as one who is not from around here meaning not from earth. The disciples have a hard time getting their head around the reality that Jesus is God. Yet even when they get that part right, they still do not understand what that means.
Why wouldn’t Jesus show himself to the world?
Judas bases his question on a false premise. He assumes that “the world” sees things the same way those who believe in Jesus see them. This is most certainly not true.
Those who believe in God base everything on the premise that God exists and that there are eternal consequences for our choices in this life. “The world” consists of people who do not believe in God and judge by what they get in this life instead of what awaits them after this life.
Since the world does not accept that God exists, they can look straight at Jesus and not see him. At least for who He is.
Continue reading “Vision Test – John 14: 22”
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.
By my count, the word, “love” shows up in some form in John’s gospel fifty-seven times. I’m thinking that many occurrences might indicate a theme.
Jesus says, “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.” If I love Jesus, I would want to please Him. Obeying His commands fits in with that desire to please Him. So what did He command?
God’s command is to love God “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” The second command is like it, “… love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22: 36-40) In John 13: 34 Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”
Taking all three of these commands together, Jesus says in effect: Show your love for me by loving God the Father above all else (as Jesus does), loving your neighbor as yourself, and love others who believe in me just as I have loved you.
It seems like it would be a very good idea to know what Jesus means when he uses the word, “love.”
Continue reading “A Kind of Test – John 14: 21”
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
A new day is coming! It is a day when the disciples understand what Jesus is telling them. It is also a day when the world does not see Jesus, but somehow the disciples do.
What kind of day is this going to be? When is this day going to be?
The day Jesus said this was the day before he would be tried, flogged, and crucified for claiming to be the person he was. Two days later (the third day) he would come out of the tomb, alive. Was that the day Jesus was talking about? After Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit had come upon the disciples with signs and wonders, the disciples were filled with the power of God. Was that the day they knew that Jesus was in them?
Continue reading “A New Day – John 14: 20”
Because I live, you also will live.
What does it mean to “live?” I don’t mean to be “alive” like a plant or animal might be, but to really live.
The world’s definition of living is about consuming. How much stuff can you get your hands on? How much food and drink can you consume? How many things can you get? How many friends can you collect?
Once you have gone down that path the next step in the world’s definition of living is, “How good is your stuff?” Do you have the best food? How expensive is the stuff you buy? How new is your car? How elite are your friends?
Each step down this path is more expensive, more demanding, more consuming. At the end of the road, this path looks more like a treadmill than a life.
The kind of life that Jesus is talking about is very different. It harkens back to the separation from God that occurs in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve touch the forbidden tree. On that day they died. Not physically, but spiritually. They lost their innocence in God’s sight and become separated from God. The relationship with the people He made was forever changed.
Continue reading “Real Life – John 14: 19b”
Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.
Once again, Jesus speaks of the world as a place. Not the whole world, not all that we humans will ever know, but a place. He speaks much like we might speak of Hawaii as a place. It is a long way off. It is a unique place on this planet. But it is just one place among many. Jesus speaks in that same way about the world.
Two thousand and a few years ago, Jesus walked the surface of this planet as any person might. The difference was that Jesus had been here before he came to be a man. In fact, he made this place. Being Jesus must have felt a bit like a painter would feel if he could become part of his own painting.
Continue reading “Seeing Jesus – John 14: 19a”