If the latter is true, then would that not include dying to our own selfish desires that Christ may be magnified to everyone we meet? My most diligent efforts to wake up before everyone else are usually thwarted by a sweet child needing to use the bathroom and, well, if mama is awake, then you absolutely must give her a hug and kiss. In a family of five, it is not so easy to find alone time, even something as mundane as using the bathroom has become a team sport. If you’re a parent, this may sound all too familiar. Simon and some of the others go looking for Jesus and interrupt his time in prayer.
One small example is found in Mark 1:35 - it’s early in the morning and Jesus has gotten up to pray and spend time alone with the Father. Throughout Jesus’ whole earthly ministry, he demonstrated time and time again a self-sacrificing type of love. I believe that he was not just foreshadowing his soon-to-be sacrifice, but also referring to the day-in-day-out sacrificing of our own self-centered desires.
Jesus said, “This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you” ( John 15:12, HCSB). My husband? Yes! Anyone else? Well, I’m being completely transparent, I’m not so sure. When I look at the premise of John 15:13, I must admit there aren’t many people for whom I’d be willing to do that myself. The enormity of that never ceases to blow my mind.
Our Savior, beaten almost to the point of death, then carrying a massive wood beam that would become the cross on which he would hang thereby, living out his own command. As I sat down to ponder what Jesus meant in John 15:13, I couldn’t help but close my eyes and visualize the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus would make shortly after his time with the disciples.
0 kommentar(er)
