Today's Lectionary TextJohn 14:15-21“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 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.”  Today's Devotional
Reflect: Do you love Christ? Do you keep His commandments? Or, do you struggle with a
competing motive? According to this passage, what I the role of the Holy Spirit in your life? What commandments is Jesus talking about? Encouragement: ‘If You Love Me’ Do I love the Lord? In my head I know that it is all about love space loving God Anne loving my neighbor. In my mind, I'm convinced that love fulfills all the law and the prophets. In my intellect, I am sure that if I do not have love, I have nothing, I have been taught well. But do I love, Lord? What my head knows, my heart contradicts. I find myself attached to too many things. I claimed to realities that are passing away. I can't seem to detach from these bondages of by a willpower, good theology, or moral clarity. In my head I want to love you, but honestly my heart has other desires and distractions that are more powerful than my mind. I am defeated and at the end of myself. Today as I reached the limit of my capacity to unite my head and my heart, I receive a strange knowledge. It is clearly not coming from within me (for I have reached the end of me), but from beyond me. It is the spirit of truth. Somehow, through no effort of my own, I see not only that Jesus is in God and God in Jesus but that Jesus is in me! My heart clings to Christ and my head celebrates this gift. Yes, I do love you Lord, but even this is a precious gift from you. May this gift spread wildly in a world of desperate and integrity of my mind and heart. By Blake Busick
Prayer for ReflectionFor those who feel that they are alone in this world, that we might reach them with the love of Christ, so
that the movement of God’s mission in the world spreads more wildly. “Excerpted from the book “Catch Fire in 50 Days: Joining the Movement of God’s Mission in the World” by Blake Busick and Christie Latona.” |
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This Week's Lectionary
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