To Joy (part 5)
The Father’s great plan is a loving, joy filled family. And the means by which he goes about it is through his Son who played his part to perfection in his human lifetime and now continues his perfect work through his disciples.
His disciples, then, become the means by which the world gets to see what the loving, joy filled family of the Father looks like. And it’s based on one very simple point, summarized by Jesus in John 15:17, “This is my command: Love each other.”
And when his disciples do that they will “bear fruit,” as Jesus promised in verse 16. Bear fruit, that is, in other people’s lives. Because what people see is the key to God’s kingdom, that it’s all based on love.
Which all sounds very nice and logical, but Jesus also based everything he did on love and he was hated, so he knew his disciples would be hated too (verses 18-19). They could set a magnificent example of love and joy in the hope of people responding, but people would deliberately steel their minds against responding, just as they did with Jesus.
At our favourite coffee shop there’s a girl serving out the coffee and goodies who’s like that. We’ve tried to be nice to her, ask how busy she’s been and all the usual banter to warm up the relationship and get the girl to at least smile and respond, but she won’t respond at all. She races silently through what we ask for, and makes it very clear she isn’t interested in any kind of connection with us. I wondered why that is.
To me, Jesus answers that in these verses, because in essence he’s saying (in my words) – “I’ve deliberately chosen you to love and work with difficult people, because if you become gracious, loving, patient, thoughtful and kind with them, you then have the absolute right to ask the Father for the needs of these people and he will begin to move in their lives as well. That’s how it works, my friends.”
And that’s how we bear fruit that will last: we love and keep on loving, because the Father loves answering the prayers for those who do…(continues Friday)
Buck To Basics 