Seeking the Life in Christ: September 2024

Friday, September 20, 2024

A New Reality for the People of Christ

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John

September 20, 2024

A New Reality for the People of Christ

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me.

Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.

But take heart, because I have overcome the world”

John 16:33

Jesus tells his followers that when he is through birthing God’s New Creation, his followers will have the very same standing with God the Father as he does. When our prayers embody the life of Jesus, our prayers are unimpeded as they ascend to God. Think of what that means! When we pray in the Life of Christ, we receive the full and undivided attention of God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.

Jesus says that when we pray in his name, we are not going through him to God; we are speaking directly to God the Father. Jesus’ incredible promise is really hard to wrap our mind around, and that only becomes more difficult when you consider what he next told his disciples: “But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone” (John 16:32a). Jesus made his promise in the full knowledge that his followers, in their human frailty, would falter and not always remain faithful. Our prayers will not always fully embody the life of Jesus. Jesus knows all of the pitfalls that are in the pathways of his disciples and responds by making yet another incredible promise: “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

My Takeaway You are God’s beloved child with whom He is well pleased, and upon whom His favor rests. What is true for Jesus is true for Christianoi, the people of Christ. As a disciple of Jesus, you have unfettered access to God the Father. Yes, these promises of Jesus seem impossible for us to fully grasp. Even so, I invite you to join me as I take a leap of faith and choose to dwell in God’s new reality for the people of Christ.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life. The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Thursday, September 19, 2024

No One Can Rob You of That Joy

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John

September 19, 2024

No One Can Rob You of That Joy

So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again;

then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.

John 16:22

In John 16: 12-22, Jesus is describing to his disciples the indescribable. God’s New Creation is about to be birthed into existence. How can you describe that? Jesus gave his disciples just a taste of what was coming, and then tells them to trust the Holy Spirit. One of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to teach us the significance of what happened on those three days, and how to live out of this new reality.

The two greatest aspects of God’s New Creation are the gift of the Holy Spirit and the gift of prayer. The Holy Spirit is Jesus’ very presence with the believer. The Holy Spirit is our guide, our teacher, the One who empowers our souls to live as fully devoted followers of Jesus.

Jesus told his disciples, “So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy” (John 16:22 Emphasis mine). You are reading this today because of the truth of Jesus’ statement. The joy the disciples experienced at seeing the resurrected Jesus changed them forever. It was that joy that compelled them to follow Jesus’ command to go into the whole world and make disciples of Jesus for the transformation of the world.

This joy wasn’t just for those eleven disciples with Jesus the night he was arrested. St. Stephen experienced that joy and so did St. Paul. Teresa of Avila experienced that joy, as did Saint Teresa of Calcutta. So did Martin Luther, John Wesley and Detrick Bonhoeffer.

My Takeaway: So have I, and so can you!

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

A Daunting Challenge

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John

September 18, 2024

A Daunting Challenge

And when (the Advocate) comes, he will convict the world of its sin,

and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.

John 16:8

God’s people have always longed for the day when God’s justice will prevail throughout the world. Jesus promised that with the coming of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, God is working to answer the longing of our heart.

Jesus has promised that our Advocate will guide and empower us. Jesus is not saying that the Holy Spirit will be working independently of us to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. Jesus is saying that the Holy Spirit, working in and through his followers, will bring justice to the world. When the followers of Jesus lead lives of honesty and integrity, they will stand apart from the ways of the world. Their lifestyle will contrast sharply with the ways of people who do not believe in Jesus. When the followers of Jesus speak out against injustice in the world, their beliefs will contrast sharply with the ways of the world. When the followers of Jesus work diligently in ministries of mercy and justice, their ideals will contrast sharply with the ideals of the world. When the followers of Jesus live with the hope of God’s future in their heart, their sense of inner peace will contrast sharply with people living without hope. It will be through the lives of fully devoted followers of Jesus that the Holy Spirit “will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment” (John 16:8).

The challenge of Jesus to his followers is to open our hearts and our lives to the Holy Spirit so that Jesus can live his life through us. This challenge is daunting because the persecution that confronted Jesus awaits his followers as well. However, Jesus has promised us that he will always be with us; nothing can separate us from him. We can do everything through Christ, who gives us strength. (Matthew 28:20, Romans 8:39, Philippians 4:13)

My Takeaway: The Good News is that Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to us. Now the question confronting us is whether we are up to the challenge that comes with receiving the Spirit?

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

It’s All About Control

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John

September 17, 2024

It’s All About Control

“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.”

John 15: 18-19

In my meditation on September 12, 2024, I Am Leaving You with a Gift, I noted that John uses the word, world, to denote the opposition to the Kingdom of God. Within the world are those who choose not to believe and obey Jesus, and there are the forces of evil that oppose the reign of God. It is into this world that Jesus sends his disciples.

In today’s world culture, more than any other time in my life, I am seeing the manifestation of Jesus’ prophesy: “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you” (John 15:18-19). Why does the world hate Christians? At the risk of oversimplifying a complex issue, in a word the answer is control. It’s all about control.

Within our fallen human nature, we long to live life on our own terms, we want to sing as our own personal anthem, My Way:

And now, the end is near

And so I face the final curtain

My friend, I'll say it clear

I'll state my case, of which I'm certain

I've lived a life that's full

I traveled each and every highway

And more, much more than this

I did it my way

I planned each charted course

Each careful step along the byway

And more, much more than this

I did it my way

My Way by Frank Sinatra

My Way lyrics © EMI Music Publishing,

The followers of Jesus willingly submit their lives to the will of God, and faithfully endeavor to do life God’s way. For a world bent on each person doing what seems right in their own eyes, a Christian becomes a threat and a target of hatred. On any given day, the issues discussed in newspapers and social media typically take positions opposed to the teaching of Scripture. Even so, the promise of Jesus is that while we are called to be in the world, but not of the world, we are not left alone.

My Takeaway: “But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me” (John 15:26).

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Monday, September 16, 2024

Three Words, One Command

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John

September 16, 2024

Three Words, One Command

This is my command: Love each other.

John 15:17

This morning, as I read John 15: 9-17, three words caught my attention: love, friend and joy.

Repeatedly, Jesus affirms his love for his disciples. Over and over, he affirms his command for his disciples to love others in the very same way he loves them. I believe it is his love that makes it possible for us to produce fruit; it is his love that raises us up in friendship; it is his love that fills our lives with joy. This word love gives me pause to examine my life for evidence that I live my life in the truth of Jesus’ love for me.

Jesus’ words, “Now you are my friends” (John 15:15) inspired the praise song, I Am A Friend of God, with its simple, yet profound, chorus: “I am a friend of God. I am a friend of God. I am a friend of God, he calls me friend.” This word friend gives me pause to examine my life for evidence that I have more than head knowledge about Jesus. Do I live my life in the reality of a relationship with Jesus? If so, is that relationship more like boss and employee or servant; or do I hear him call me friend? (Israel Houghton, I Am A Friend of God)

Jesus said he wants me to be filled with his joy. Six times in his Farewell Discourse Jesus speaks of joy. In Psalm 23, King David said that his cup overflowed with the goodness of God; in John 15:11b, Jesus says to his disciples, “Yes, your joy will overflow.” This word joy gives me pause to examine my life for evidence that Jesus’ joy overflows in my life.

Often, I hear Christians express confusion over Jesus’ promise that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using his name. The last two verses in today’s passage provide the context for Jesus’ promise: “I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other” (John 15:16b-17).

My Takeaway: When our focus is on producing lasting fruit for God’s Kingdom and loving each other, when our asking is aligned with God’s will, Jesus’ promise becomes crystal clear.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Friday, September 13, 2024

Bringing Glory to God

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John

September 13, 2024

Bringing Glory to God

“When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples.

This brings great glory to my Father”

John 15:8

In John 15, Jesus says he is the true grapevine, and his Father is the gardener. What if your church announces the Gardener will be meeting with your congregation to cut off every branch that isn’t producing fruit. He will also prune the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. Ouch! I wonder how many people will show up to meet with the Gardener.

I believe our willingness to sit still for the Gardener is directly proportional to our ownership of Jesus’ expectation that we produce much fruit for him. Note that Jesus twice says that he expects much fruit from his disciples, not just some fruit. (John 15: 5 & 8) Our willingness to sit still for the Gardener is also directly related to our staying close to Jesus: “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me” (John 15:4). Knowing I am in Christ, and he is in me emboldens me to allow the Gardener to cut and prune, even if I do cringe and cry ouch!

Our mission is to make disciples for Jesus for the transformation of the world. The fruit Jesus is expecting us to produce is fruit that helps people know and love him. We are also called to produce much fruit in ministries of peace and justice that transform the world into the Kingdom of God. This passage should give us pause to examine our life for evidence that our focus, our priorities are aimed at producing much fruit for Jesus’ Kingdom.

My Takeaway: I must never lose my personal expectation that I will produce much fruit for Jesus. When I am faithful, I will hear Jesus says to me, “When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father” (John 15:8).

And also you!

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Thursday, September 12, 2024

I Am Leaving You with a Gift

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John

September 12, 2024

I Am Leaving You with a Gift

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart.

And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.

So don’t be troubled or afraid.”

John 14:27

There are times when we look at Scripture through an either/or lens, and there are times when we use a both/and lens. Today’s passage is an either/or. John uses the word, world, to denote the two-fold opposition to the Kingdom of God. First, within the world are those who choose not to believe and obey Jesus. Secondly, within the world, is the “ruler of this world” (John 14:30) which is a literal reference to Caesar and his forces and a figurative reference to the forces of evil that oppose the reign of God.

It is within this world, dominated by both the human forces who oppose the Kingdom of God and the spiritual forces of wickedness, that Jesus sends his disciples; but Jesus does not send us alone. He assures his followers that the Advocate, as Jesus’ representative—that is, the Holy Spirit— will teach us everything and will remind us of everything of which Jesus spoke in Scripture. (John 14:26)

Jesus also promises that as we live in fidelity with his teachings, we will experience peace of mind and heart. And the peace Jesus gives us is a gift the world cannot give. So we don’t have to be troubled or afraid. (John 14:27)

Jesus sending his disciples into harm’s way, equipped with only the promise of his Advocate and his peace, is somewhat akin to sending a soldier into combat without a weapon or body armor. The Apostle Paul added the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-17) to our equipment list, but it is designed only to enhance our witness and experience of Jesus’ peace, which really doesn’t seem sufficient against the combined forces of this world.

My Takeaway: St. Teresa of Avila is quoted as saying, "Dear Lord, if this is how You treat Your friends, it is no wonder You have so few!”

Still, I want to be counted as among the friends of Jesus.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

We Are In Jesus; Jesus Is In Us

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John

September 11, 2024

We Are In Jesus; Jesus Is In Us

When I am raised to life again,

you will know that I am in my Father,

and you are in me, and I am in you.

John 14:20

Today’s passage contains one of the most profound theological truths about God. But before we look at today’s text, we first need some background information to help us grasp this truth. In Matthew 16, Jesus was in the region of Caesarea Philippi when he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” You remember that Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Do you also recall how Jesus responded to Peter? “Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being” (Matthew 16: 13-19) There are some truths about God that we cannot grasp on our own. We need God to supernaturally reveal His truth to us. We call such an experience with the Holy Spirit, Revelation Knowledge.

Now, let’s look at today’s passage. Jesus promises us the gift of his very presence in our lives. His presence, the Holy Spirit, our Helper and our Comforter, will teach us to dwell in God’s greatest Glory, the deepest theological truth of God:

Jesus and God are in each other;

we are in Jesus;

and Jesus is in us.

When the Holy Spirit quickens within our spirit, and we respond, “Yes and Amen” to this theological truth, this truth will be transformed from information to revelation knowledge. When we experience this revelation knowledge, we will grasp the meaning and power of praying in Jesus’ name. We don’t pray in Jesus’ name by tagging ‘in the name of Jesus’ at the end of our prayer. We pray in Jesus’ name when the substance of our prayer expresses the Glory of God in Christ, when our prayer exemplifies the very life of Jesus.

My Takeaway: When our heart aches for the things for which Jesus’ heart aches, when our heart desires the things Jesus desires, when our heart loves the way Jesus loves, we pray in Jesus’ name.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

Jesus Is The Way, The Truth And The Life

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John

September 10, 2024

Jesus Is The Way, The Truth And The Life

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

John 14:6

As we continue to read the Farewell Discourse of Jesus, keep in the forefront of your mind the foundation Jesus laid for this teaching. In Jesus, the Glory of God has been revealed. In Jesus, we see the heart of God the Father. Jesus, as the revealed Glory of God, washed the feet of his disciples, loved his disciples, and was the Passover Lamb who took away the sins of the world. Jesus is the revealed Glory of God. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus shows us the way home to paradise, the way home to God our Father. Jesus and God the Father are one.

Therefore, because of all that Jesus is, he can make the most comforting promise in the Bible: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am” (John 14:1-3).

This one promise is the tipping point of our response to all the claims Jesus has made on our lives. Our fidelity to Jesus’ command for us to go and make disciples depends on our response to this promise. Our willingness to entrust our lives to God so that He can use everything in our life for His purpose of transforming us to become like Jesus depends on how deeply Jesus’ promise resonates within our soul. Is Jesus’ promise to you sufficient to earn your unconditional, unqualified obedience? If yes, hallelujah; rest in his assurance that you will always be with him.

My Takeaway: If not, what else must he do to earn your loyalty?

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Monday, September 9, 2024

A New Commandment

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John

September 9, 2024

A New Commandment

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

John 13: 34-35

Jesus begins his Farewell Discourse by reflecting on the exchange of glory between Father and Son. The very essence of God is goodness, mercy, holiness and love. The Glory of God is the revelation of God’s essence. This glory is revealed through the presence of God. God, as a burning bush to Moses, and as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night for the Israelites during the exodus, are examples of God’s Glory. The ultimate expression of God’s Glory is in the life, death and resurrection of our Lord, Christ Jesus.

The Glory of God is meant to be an unbroken circle. God’s glory is shown or revealed to His people, and in return His people give glory to God. This responsive glory is expressed in adoration, honor, praise and obedience.

Jesus gave his followers a new commandment to obey. The Latin translation of commandment is also the root of the word mandate. In French, the word for mandate is mandé, and over time its use within the church was changed into Maundy. The Maundy Thursday service during Holy Week is in remembrance of John 13:34, “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.” There is no greater way to glorify God than giving ourselves to fulfill this new commandment to love each other as Jesus loves us. Jesus said that our love for one another will prove to the world that we are his disciples. That seems so simple, yet it is the one thing that has proved the most difficult for Christians to fulfill.

We can do well in loving those people who are like us, but not so well loving those who are different from us, or who we suspect may betray or deny us. Peter’s exuberance in proclaiming his devotion to Jesus, only to be confronted with the truth that he would soon deny Jesus, should be for us a startling reminder to fix ourselves firmly at the feet of Jesus.

My Takeaway: The farther away we get from Jesus, the more impossible it becomes to love one another the way Jesus loves us.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Friday, September 6, 2024

One Of You Will Betray Me!

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John

September 6, 2024

One Of You Will Betray Me!

Now Jesus was deeply troubled, and he exclaimed, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me!”

John 13: 21-30

Jesus had washed the feet of all twelve disciples. Now they were reclining at the dinner table partaking of their Passover meal. That they were reclining is a very important detail. Only those who were free reclined while eating; slaves and servants ate either standing or seated. Although the Israelites were living under Roman occupation and oppression, Passover celebrated God setting them free from slavery in Egypt, and every Jew would partake of the Passover meal while reclining at their table. Reclining people gathering around the table are touching one another; the Passover was a very intimate meal for Jesus and his disciples. The text includes the detail, “Jesus responded, “It is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl” (John 12:26a). In first-century Israel, sharing a meal together was yet another indication of intimacy and right-standing relationships.

As Jesus looks around the table at his disciples, his friends, he knows one will betray him to the religious authorities, one will publicly deny even knowing him, and all but one of the remaining men will scatter into hiding after he is arrested. Even so, Jesus reclined at the Passover table with his disciples; even so, Jesus washed the feet of all twelve.

My Takeaway: I noted in the previous passage that Jesus had laid down a pattern for his disciples to follow. As you ponder Jesus’ interaction with his disciples, what do you hear God saying to you? Do you have an attitude toward someone that God wants you to adjust?

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Thursday, September 5, 2024

Jesus Never, Ever Lowers the Bar

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John

September 5, 2024

Jesus Never, Ever Lowers the Bar

I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.

John 13: 15, 17

Jesus looks his disciples squarely in the eye and demands uncompromising loyalty and obedience, knowing full well that his disciples are destined to fall short of his expectations time and time again. In today’s passage, Jesus tells us that he has laid down a pattern for us to follow. We are to be humble followers of Jesus who never think of ourselves as better than others, and who never think of menial service as something beneath our station in life. Then Jesus hints that one of his disciples seated at the table with him doesn’t grasp this teaching. In the following passages, Jesus will identify Peter as another disciple who will fall short of the expectations Jesus has set for Christianoi, the people of Christ.

Jesus never, ever, lowers the bar. This is why we will never, ever, outgrow our need for the church, for the sacrament of Holy Communion, for prayer, for accountability partners or groups, and personal devotional and worship time. For some, the poetic lines of worship songs may seem a bit over the top; “I need thee, O I need thee; every hour I need thee” or “This is the air I breathe . . . Your holy presence living in me; This is my daily bread . . . Your very word spoken to me; And I I'm desperate for you; And I I'm lost without you.” Do we really mean it when we sing these lines?

My Takeaway: I do, because as we will see in several days, Jesus was quite serious when he said, “For apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5b).

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

The Mind of Christ

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John

September 4, 2024

The Mind of Christ

Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.

John 13: 1

John’s Gospel is reaching its climax, and John sets the stage beautifully in the very first verse of Chapter 13. We learn the Passover has come. This is the third Passover in John’s Gospel, and he has been continually pointing to the fulfillment of Jesus’ mission as the sacrificial offering of Passover. In the opening verse John states, “Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father.”

In the previous passage Jesus said, “For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me” (John 12:45). Betrayal by one of the twelve disciples, denial by the leader of the disciples, Jesus’ suffering excruciating pain and public humiliation are just some of the markers along the path Jesus took on his return to the Father. What does the path taken by Jesus on his return to the Father reveal to you about God?

John shows us the Word has become flesh, as Jesus “took the humble position of a slave” and washed the feet of the disciples. Jesus wrapped his humility in love: “He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.” The Gospel of John uses the word agape, love, more than the other three Gospels combined.

When you think of your identity as a Christian, or perhaps, a leader in your church, is your mind flooded with memories of Jesus loving his disciples to the end, to the uttermost? Do you remember the Messiah washing the feet of his disciples?

My Takeaway: A very early hymn of the church was incorporated by the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2:5-11 to remind us that as the followers of Jesus, we must have the mind of Christ Jesus.

In your relationships with one another,

have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God

something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

Philippians 2:5-8 NIV

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Friday, September 20, 2024

A New Reality for the People of Christ

Thursday, September 19, 2024

No One Can Rob You of That Joy

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

A Daunting Challenge

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

It’s All About Control

Monday, September 16, 2024

Three Words, One Command

Friday, September 13, 2024

Bringing Glory to God

Thursday, September 12, 2024

I Am Leaving You with a Gift

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

We Are In Jesus; Jesus Is In Us

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

Jesus Is The Way, The Truth And The Life

Monday, September 9, 2024

A New Commandment

Friday, September 6, 2024

One Of You Will Betray Me!

Thursday, September 5, 2024

Jesus Never, Ever Lowers the Bar

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

The Mind of Christ

Seeking the Life in Christ

About Me

Blog Archive

Followers

First Think - Then Pray

Books I Am Reading

Recent Books I Have Enjoyed