Day 239: "If You Love Me"

John 14:15-31; 2 Chronicles 21:2-22:12; Psalm 79

Every time Jesus opened his mouth, it was like, "Whoa. Crazy awesome." This passage is no exception. He seems to focus on two main ideas. First, and he says this several times: "I you love me, you will do as I command....If you love me, you will do what I have said....If anyone loves me, they will obey me." Ok, three times, it must be important. On the flip side, he says that "anyone who doesn't love me, won't obey me." Makes sense. So what has Jesus commanded? Well since he is God, we basically ask, "what has God commanded?" Let's pause here for a second. Here Jesus says that those that love him will obey him, will do what he says. It seems simple enough, except there is a problem. SO MANY people have NO IDEA what Jesus actually has said. They may think they know because they go to church and listen to the pastor speak. So why am I saying this? Not many people have an idea what Jesus has really commanded because they HAVE NOT READ what he said. They don't read their Bible. I used to be one of those Christians: I  went to church, served here and there, and thought I was doing good. Then, my eyes were opened, and I realized how can I follow Jesus when I am not pursuing him? He is constantly moving forward and I was going nowhere. I was further and further from him and had no excuse except that I was lazy. I started reading my Bible daily, and my life has never been the same. Ok, back to the story in John: just in the New Testament, he says things like love your enemies, love The Lord with all your heart, love your neighbor as your self, humble yourself, trust in him, sell everything and give to the poor to follow him, and many more. Loving Jesus and obeying him means giving up everything we want and trading it for everything God wants. It means sacrificing more than we think we can in order to give God glory, break away from temptations and sins, help others. It means making life all about God and growing his kingdom and not about me and my earthly comforts and pleasures.

The second thing Jesus talks about in this passage (which was what I was writing about in the first place) is the Holy Spirit. The spirit will come to "help," to comfort, encourage, or defend (as the notes in my Bible say. This Spirit will "show you what is true." How do we get this Spirit that reveals truth? Back up a verse or two: "If you love me, you will do as I command. Then I will ask the Father to send you the Holy Spirit." Oh. So it all comes back to loving and obeying Jesus. People and churches that hurt rather than heal, judge rather than love, I believe, probably don't have the Holy Spirit of Truth. If they did, they would know what Jesus says, love him, and obey him, which doesn't include hurting and judging. We need to stop pretending we are following Jesus, throw off the "Christian" mask and ACTUALLY follow him, read his word, and receive the Spirit of Truth. If we do that, the world could be radically different. Look at what Jesus did through 12 men who did just that.

Jehoram, the son of the pretty awesome Jehosaphat, was a terrible person. He murdered his brothers, disobeyed God and worshiped idols, and built shrines that led the people astray. God was ticked. Because of his disobedience he suffered. When he died, "no one even felt sad." Whoa. That's sad. It makes me think about what people will think and feel when I die. I don't want them to be sad, because I don't want to make anybody sad ever, but not because I've lived such a terrible and dishonorable life that they are glad I'm gone. Jehoram could have followed the example of his father and grandfather and continued their positive legacy, but he wasted his position as a leader and died a painful and empty death. Tragic. And his son Ahaziah is no better. Things can turn from beautiful to ugly in no time at all. Whatever sin entangled these people's hearts, it was bad. They were killing their own family for power, control, selfishness, idols--worthless stuff. God wanted purity, life, love, faithfulness. All that these people did was pervert that with sin, idolatry, unfaithfulness. But what is woven within this story is God's ability to maintain power. His hand is not far from these people and he removes them when he chooses. God is not absent and the wicked are under his control.

From the psalm: "Our God you keep us safe. Now help us! Rescue us. Forgive our sins and bring honor to yourself....Then we, your people, will always thank you. We are like sheep with you are our shepherd and all generations will hear us praise you."