Month: May 2019

Reflection on John 13:31-35

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Scripture

“Now I am giving you a new commandment. Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should love one another.”

Observation

It is the night of Jesus’ betrayal and arrest. Judas leaves the room to go and prepare his treacherous act.

In the midst of all this, Jesus’ thoughts are for His friends. He tells them He will soon be leaving them; they will look for Him but will not find Him.

He gives them a final commandment to love one another as He has loved them. Their love will be the proof to the world that they are His disciples.

Application

Jesus’ commandment to His followers is that we are to love one another as He has loved us.

Jesus loved us so much that He laid down His life for our sake.

He loved me like that, and He loved my christian sisters and brothers like that.

To be a follower of Jesus means that I have to love them like Jesus loved them.

The bottom line for the christian life is to love each other with sacrificial, self-denying love.

The New Testament spells this out in different ways so that we shall know what love looks like.

The person with much money should share with those who have little. We should share the burden of those who are weighed down in any way. We should help to meet the needs of other believers.

This might look like buying a car for someone or cooking a casserole or mowing a lawn.

The remarkable thing is that when love becomes a habit, Jesus dwells among us.

Prayer

Lord, please help me to love all my christian brothers and sisters. I find it hard to show love to some people, so I ask for a special measure of your grace to do this. Amen.

Reflection on Revelation 21:1-8

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Scripture

And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

Observation

Heaven and earth disappear to be replaced by a new heaven and a new earth. The new Jerusalem comes own from God like a bride dressed for her husband.

The Lord declares that God’s dwelling place is now with His people. There will be no more death or pain. It is finished! All who are thirsty will receive living water, and all who overcome will inherit all the blessings.

Application

We might be tempted to believe that all of this talk about new heavens and earth, and a new Jerusalem is future tense. In a sense this is true, as the ultimate fulfilment of this vision is yet to come.

In another sense, it is already here. When Jesus died on the cross, a new covenant, a new age, was inaugurated. In prophetic literature this is described as a new heavens and a new earth because everything has been made new.

The new Jerusalem comes down from God as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. That is the church; we are the bride and we are clothed in Christ.

God’s home is already with us. He wipes away every tear. He gives living water to all who are thirsty.

All of these promises receive their full glory at the end of all things. But they are also real right now.

We have the promise of God that He is with us- Emmanuel- now. He will meet every need that we have.

To see the promises come to life, all we have to do is trust. As we walk with the Lord day by day, He will light the path for us.

Prayer

Lord, our imaginations of heaven barely scratch the surface of what you have prepared for us. In this present age, we know the joy of your presence and the glory of your Son. Grant me the grace to see you in every part of my life. Amen.

Reflection on Acts 11:1-18

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Scripture

When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”

Observation

Not long after Peter visited the house of Cornelius and the household was saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, news gets back to Jerusalem. When Peter arrives there, he is criticised for eating in the homes of Gentiles.

Peter recounts the story of his vision of unclean animals, the command to eat and the subsequent visit to the home of Cornelius. He tells how when he began to speak, the Gentiles believed and received the Holy Spirit.

Application

At first, the believers were all Jewish, and they understood Jesus’ ministry in the context and the culture of Judaism. It does not appear to have occurred to any of them that Gentiles could be saved. The next big issue that plagued the church was whether Gentiles needed to become Jewish in order to live as a follower of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit kept on showing them that the gospel was bigger than anyone could have imagined.

Salvation is for everyone who will repent- that is turn away from their sins- and follow Jesus.

The gospel is freely available to all people. In Revelation, John talks repeatedly about people from every tribe and nation and ethnic group.

There are no prerequisites for following Jesus, apart form a heart that loves God. God’s grace is like a flooding river that flows right over the top of human distinctions.

“God so loved the world” means the whole world. Every human being from the North Pole to the South, and all the points in between is loved by God.

We are all candidates for heaven if we accept Jesus as Lord.

Prayer

Thank you Lord for your great and amazing grace that is so big that it even includes sinners like me. Amen.