What truth did the Spirit guide you into this week?
One word has resonated with me a lot this week. Love.
Love was practically dripping off the pages of the week’s reading. In total, I counted the word love used 30 times in John 11-16.
The verses that stuck with me the most are 13:34-35 and 15:12.
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. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (Jn. 13:34-35)
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (Jn. 15:12)
As I read this, I ask myself how well I am doing at loving others as Christ loves me. The answer I find myself coming to is quite embarrassing if I’m completely honest.
Piggybacking a bit on my reflection from last week’s reading, I go to work every day and certainly don’t hide my beliefs from my coworkers, but do my actions and attitudes reflect what I say I believe? Do I show them the love of Christ? Do they see him in me?
What’s interesting is that I have always considered myself to be a loving and caring person. But the more I look to Christ and think about His love for me, the more I realize how far off the mark I really am.
To effectively shepherd God’s people, I need to learn how to see them how he sees them and how to love them as he loves them; this has been my prayer this week.
What does it mean that Jesus is the vine, and you are the branch?
So I am teaching on John 15:1-17 this week. While studying this passage, I came across an interesting article that talked about the sap that the branch gets from the vine. I didn’t read all of the article, because it was long, and I have a habit of skipping over the long ones. Nonetheless, it piqued my interest as I thought this idea added some depth to this beautiful picture of our lives with Christ.
So I looked up a much shorter article on sap and precisely what it does. 😛 To put it simply, sap carries vital nutrients to all the living parts of the tree/vine/branch. Without sap leaves wilt, fruit doesn’t form, and the branch is basically useless.
As I write this and I think about the times in my life where I have tried to go my own way, or maybe I just wasn’t walking in close step with Christ, I realize how much I was like a wilted branch. Cut off from the life-giving sap, my life was useless, and I bore no fruit. It’s only after coming to abide in him that I began to taste that sweet life-giving sap from the vine.
Now, filled with sap from the vine, I can know the joy of being molded and shaped by the Father, of bearing fruit, and of bringing glory to his name.