"It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love." - John 13:1
When I came to this verse in today's section of The Daily Bible, I could not continue to read. Eventually, I did continue to read, but I came back to this verse and read it over and over again.
The reason today's verse means so much to me is because I know how much it means to many of you. And it means so much to many of you because of what's going on in your lives.
Hey KS, I'm talkin to you. Hey LS, I'm talkin to you. Hey CT, I'm talkin to you. In fact, if you're reading this, I'm talkin to you as I've gone through the whole Day of Praise recipient list and prayed for you individually, along with your circumstances, circumstances which most of you shared when you asked to be on this list and additional circumstances which many of you share as you reply from time to time.
It means a lot to us, doesn't it? When somebody knows us and our circumstances and when they make time for us, to love us and encourage us and pray for us, it means a lot, doesn't it?
And yet, as much as our love and encouragement and prayers mean to us as we share with one another, how much more are we loved by our God through His Son, our Savior, Jesus, the Christ? How much does God's love mean to us?
"Having loved his own who were in the world, [Jesus] now showed them the full extent of his love." (John 13:1)
And what exactly did Jesus do in order to show them the full extent of his love at this point of his earthly life?
He washed their feet.
He suffered for their sin, literally down to the bloody bone.
He died for them, took their place on the cross.
And he conquered the power of their sin, which is guilt.
Then he rose from the dead.
And he conquered the power of their death, which is fear. (Fear is paralyzing. It opens the door to spiritual attack.) Jesus conquered our fears. Give your fears to Jesus.
Then he went to heaven and prepared a place for us. He went to His Father's house and prepared a place for you and me.
Then he poured out his Holy Spirit so that he could live in us and dine with us. Day after day after everlasting and eternal day.
Some of you, at this point, are in a hurry and need to go. So you're in a hurry for this devotion to be done. I understand. More importantly, God understands.
But for those of you who have another minute or two, I just wanted to tell you about an old woman in our church who lost her mind a couple years before she died. She was receiving Holy Communion at her nursing home. Upon being told all that Jesus did in order "to show the full extent of his love" for her, this old and mindless woman was clearly taking time to think about it. After taking it all in, she smiled and glowed and said, "He did all that for me?"
Friends, if you have a minute later today, maybe you could revisit the above list of things that Jesus did in order "to show the full extent of his love" for you.
Because the answer to the question is, "Yes, He did all that for you." And he did it because he knows you and your circumstances and so he makes time for you, to love you and encourage you and pray for you.
It means a lot, doesn't it?
Pass it on and...
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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