Category Archives: Bible

A Prayer Prompted by John 13:34-35

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34 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. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Dear Lord Jesus,

This new commandment truly sums up so many commandments in one simple sentence. In your infinite wisdom you have given us these words, which are exactly what we need. Our love for others, not to mention our love for you, is so imperfect and falls so short.

And yet among your disciples this love should be obvious. Forgive us for not loving your followers as we should. Take away the judgmental attitudes, the pride, the propensity we have to always think well of our own motives, opinions and values while assuming that others much less often get these things right. None of this is based on love.

Fill us with the love that you have for us so that we might express it to others. Help us to love others with a willingness to sacrifice ourselves for their benefit, even as you gave yourself for us.

And let all people everywhere see this love in us. Let our love for your people and the mutual love among us be obvious. We need you Lord Jesus to immerse us in your love so that it might overflow from us toward our brothers and sisters in Christ.

And let the end result of this love be to glorify your name.

Amen

Betrayal, denial and following Jesus – from John 13

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God forbid any of us should betray Jesus as Judas did. Honestly I’m not very sure what that would even look like today. Possibly, it could be someone doing the opposite of the Apostle Paul. He was an early persecutor of the church who later was converted and became an ardent follower of Christ. Today I can imagine someone following Jesus, serving him in what appears to be sincere, outward devotion encouraging others in a position of ministry. What if this person turns, if Satan enters him as he entered Judas, and then this public Christian turns and becomes a persecutor of the church? It could happen. Maybe someone knows of a story just like this. (I do not.) This would be just Judas-like enough to qualify as a complete betrayal.

More common by far are those who deny Jesus like Peter. Simon Peter was overconfident. He would have gladly laid down his life for his Lord – or so he imagined. Jesus knew better and told Peter he would deny him three times before the night was over. Many of us fit into this category. We’ve blown it when we had the perfect chance to resist temptation or make Jesus look good. Let’s face it, we sometimes find it hard not to go along with the world.

The church is full of Peters and most of us can identify with his weakness. Thank God that he uses weak servants, empowers them with his Spirit, and builds his church through their feeble yet God-infused ministries.

By God’s grace, most of us who follow Jesus do so with a modicum of faithfulness. Our lives give evidence of a modest amount of the fruit of his work. We exercise our mustard seed of faith. We donate our few loaves and fishes to the cause of feeding the multitudes. Someone wishes to see Jesus and we are happy to lead the way to the Savior. We figuratively (or literally, if need be) wash the feet of the saints. These little actions are the big ways that God furthers the kingdom.

One thing that stands out to me in this chapter is how little the other ten disciples could do to prevent the betrayal by Judas or Peter’ denials. As far as I can tell, they could do nothing. There are times when we all have to stand or fall on our own. Even following the crowd, in the end, becomes an individual decision. When that time comes, may we all be found faithful. Let us each take a few more steps today as we follow our Lord.

A Prayer Prompted by John 12:27-28

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27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

Lord Jesus,

We can easily imagine why your soul would have been troubled just prior to going to the cross. The pain, the suffering, the taking of punishment for sin that you never deserved, would have been more than any of us could have handled.

And yet willingly you bore the physical agony, the psychological torment, the guilt that was truly ours. We thank you that you saw this was the very purpose of your coming. We thank you that you saw glory rather than shame in following through with this plan.

And we bow in reverent worship to the Father who glorified his name once and again.

May we never lose sight of the cross and all that it means for our salvation.

To God be the glory great things he has done.

Amen.