Yesterday was a long day! Really long, as it seems like multiple days since I've been here...onward...
John 17-18
Jesus' Prayer for his followers.
"I spelled out your character in detail to the men and women you gave me. They know that everything is from you. They believed you sent me. I pray for them...for those you gave me (not the God-rejecting world). Everything mine is yours, yours mine. Guard them as they pursue this life you've given me as a gift. So they can be one heart, one mind, as we are one heart and mind. My joy completed in them. Guard them from the Evil One. They are no more defined by the world than I am defined by the world. In the same way you gave me a mission in the world, I'm giving them one. Praying for them and for those who will believe in me because of them and their witness about me. Goal: one heart and one mind, with us. Mature in this oneness. I have made your very being known to them--who you are and what you do--and continue to make it known, so that your love for me might be in them exactly as I am in them."
Continue to follow Jesus when we can't see him. As Jesus prayed (Ch. 17), he gathered the disciples up into the life they had lived together and fused it into the life the disciples would continue to live, praying his life and work and their life and work into an identity. It was going to be the same whether people saw and heard Jesus or would see and hear the disciples living it. Jesus spent his last night preparing for the transition from Jesus present to Jesus absent.
Seized in the garden at night. Went to a familiar place, which Judas also knew. "Who are you after?" That's me; let the others go. Simon and another disciple followed, and the other disciple got in because he was known by the chief priest? Don't remember that being there. Other disciple got Peter in.
Annas...same as Annas and Sapphira in Acts 5? Peter denies Jesus. Rooster crows.
I was born and entered the world so that I could witness to the truth. Everyone who cares for truth, has any feeling for the truth, recognizes my voice."
1 Peter 3-5
Inner disposition of wives is what matters. Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. (Husbands) Honor your wives, delight in them. As women they lack some of your advantages. But in the new life of God's grace, you're equals. Treat your wives, then, as equals, so that your prayers don't run aground.
Be agreeable, sympathetic, loving, compassionate, humble...all of you. No exceptions, no retaliation, no sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless. That's your job. You'll be a blessing and also get a blessing.
Say nothing evil or hurtful; snub evil and cultivate good; run after peace with all you're worth.
"The danger of living on the defensive is that we can become belligerent. If we think of ourselves as constantly threatened by others, we can very easily come to think of people as our enemies and feel anger toward them. The church has always had such angry people, writing their tracts and preaching their sermons against an unfriendly world....no cutting off ears, no swinging swords, no anger. Instead, when you do give a defense, do it with the utmost courtesy." EP
Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none will stick. They'll end up realizing they're the ones who need a bath.
Learn to think like Jesus. Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically everything.
Peter's curriculum is prayer, love, hospitality, stewardship, and service.
Spiritual refining process.
Care for God's flock with the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to; because you want to please God. Be content with who you are; don't put on airs. God's strong hand is on you; he'll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.
"Humility as the most important quality for good leaders. Nothing to do with weakness. When we humble ourselves, we operate from a position of strength. We know that we're loved by God and that God calls us to love others. We also know that other people are loved by God and are therefore objects of our concern. When we become leaders, it is simply to lead people to God and to share his love with them. Humble people are confident people, for they know that God is the rock under their feet. Humble people are knowledgeable people, for they know that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Humble people are strong people, for they do all things through Christ who strengthens them. Humble people are leaders. But it's the way they lead that distinguishes them. Instead of leading like a hard-driving cowboy prodding cattle, they lead like a gentle shepherd tending his sheep." EP
Keep a firm grip on your faith. God gets the last word.
Peace to you, to all who walk in Christ's ways.
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