21 Days of Love: John 6 revisited...

Hello friends. I did not provide a post for John 6 because I was traveling and didn't have access to internet. Steven Gidley, a junior Sports Management mjor at Indiana Welseyan University, called me on it. So, I asked him to provide the post for John 6. He graciously agreed! Thanks Steven! Here are his thoughts on John 6...I will post my reflections on John 16 tomorrow. Blessings!

Lenny

Post by Steven Gidley:
In John 6 Jesus talks about being the bread of life, but I appreciate most when he talks about the Spirit giving life in John 6:63 and how our flesh counts for nothing. It is so true how we try to do things on are own and never depend on Christ and the blood he shed for are sins. We are tempted to spend our days in the world playing our own religious games instead of allowing Christ to coach us and the Spirit that gives life to consume us. It is so easy to get in a ditch and try to dig ourselves out by our own power instead of leaning on the power of Christ. Today, play the game of life for Christ our coach and allow him full ownership. I am challenged along with you to live in the Spirit, focusing on God rather than earthly things, and giving God all the decisions we must make each day. Have a good day and walk in the Lord today.

21 Days of Love: John 15

On some days, maybe even most, I experience this gravitational pull away from communion with Christ. Whether it is because I'm busy pursuing good things like service to people or because I'm wrapped up in less than holy pursuits like pleasure, accumulation, comfort, convenience or accolades, I have learned that staying connected to Christ, the Vine, takes lots of intentional energy. Jesus says in John 15:4, "remain in me and I will remain in me." Jesus, perhaps because he refuses to be an overbearing deity, waits for us to abide/remain in him before he abides/remains in us. The power we need to overcome the gravitational pull toward the lesser pursuits of life is found in Christ alone. The only problem is that the power of Christ flows most fully when remaining in him becomes our primary pursuit. You can see our circular struggle. We experience power to pursue him only when we pursue him?!!??!?!? What, then, comes first- our pursuit or the power to pursue him?

John Wesley claimed that it is prevenient grace that makes it possible for us to pursue Christ in the first place. So, even the power to resist other pursuits to pursue Christ comes ultimately from Christ. But it still requires us to submit to his loving lordship. Today, I will submit to Christ's loving lordship and, by his prevenient grace, intentionally remain in him.

21 Days of Love: John 14

If I really love my wife then I will love her the way she most wants to be loved. There are five possible primary love languages, according to Gary Chapman,and they are: quality time, acts of service, words of affirmation, physical touch, and gifts. Chapman says that the key to healthy relationship is to find out our spouse's primary love language and love her/him in that way. This was a huge wake up call for me early in marriage since I tend to love people the way I most want to be loved and not the way they most need to be loved.

I tend to do the same thing with Jesus. I love him through words of affirmation as I sing songs to him. I love him through the gifts of my tithes and offerings. I love him by spending quality time with him, reading his word and praying. I love him through acts of service done in his name. While Jesus must certainly appreciate all of these expressions of my love, they do not address Jesus' primary love language. Jesus tells us the way he most wants to be loved in today's reading, John 14:15. He says, "if you love me, you will obey me." The ultimate way, then, to love Jesus is to discern his will and do it. Submitted obedience speaks louder than our words, gifts, time, and acts.

Lord, today I will love you through my obedience to your commands.

21 Days of Love: John 13

I have to admit that I have not always done a good job at loving people in the church. I have been judgmental, impatient, and unforgiving at times. While we don't have to like everyone, we are called to, in Jesus' words, "love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:34). Again, I confess, I have too often missed the mark of this "new command" Jesus gives us in John 13. Remember that Jesus issues this command just after he washed the feet of his disciples, knowing full well they would betray and deny him. And, shoot, he tells us to love others like he loves us. This means that we too must lovingly wash the feet of those who are bent on betraying and denying our worth, our identity, and our potential.

Lord, Jesus Christ, today I invite your love for me to flow through me to others, even those I do not particularly like. Amen!

21 Days of Love: John 12

Mary anointed Jesus' feet with perfume that was quite expensive, worth the equivalent of a year's wages! Imagine saving up a year's wages, say $50,000, and then throwing it away on the feet of Jesus. It was almost as if Mary did not even consider the enormity of the sacrifice. She was so enamored with Jesus, she gave to him the most precious gift she could give- a small fortune, especially for a peasant Jew.

As I consider Mary's extravagant love for Jesus, I wonder if I am willing to give my most precious possession to him as a sacrifice of love. I'm not even sure what that most precious possession would be. For Abraham it was Isaac, for Mary and Joseph it was their reputation...but what can I surrender to Christ in love for him today.

Lord, show me today what precious perfume I can, in love, pour on the feet of Jesus.

21 Days of Love: John 11

Yesterday our little hamster, named Philly, died. We managed to care for him about 18months before he went the way of all hamsters. Our kids, at least the 7 and 6 year olds, grieved for several hours- a long time for kids to acknowledge their grief. Our 4 year old didn't seem to even notice Philly's passing until, of course, we buried Philly in our yard.

My 7 year old son, Zach, took it the hardest. He lost his appetite and felt sick to his stomache with grief. When I put dead Philly in a plastic ziplock bag, Zach began crying again. I said something insensitive and stupid like "Don't cry, Philly is okay." Zach shot back, "Philly's dead, how can he be okay?" Good question. I was so desperate to avoid the pain of the situation that I denied it. Zach was willing to face the pain without denying its severity.

In today's reading from John 11, we find Jesus not avoiding but going into the pain of the human condition. His friend Lazarus has died and Jesus feels the pain of those who were affected most by the death, namely Mary and Martha. All throughout this story we are struck by Jesus' ability to sympathize and empathize with those in pain. While he does talk about the hope of resurrection, he avoids sugar-coating the suffering of the human condition like some all-too-happy televangelist or like me with my kids at the death of Philly.

Today, I will love Christ by allowing myself to feel for and absorb the pain of the human condition in a manner that causes me to act on behalf of the Marys and Marthas all around me.

21 Days of Love: John 10

My goal in these 21 Days of Love posts is to share a succinct application concerning how to lovingly obey Jesus each day. I encourage the IWU students taking the 21 day journey through John's Gospel with me to dig as deep into Scripture as time allows and to post your thoughts with mine.

Jesus says, "My sheep recognize my voice; I know them and they follow me" (v 27). I don't know of a more succinct verse that encapsulates what it means to be a
Christian than this one. There are so many competing voices floating around in my head. There is the voice of my culture encouraging me toward narcissism and apathy. Then, there is the voice that surfaces from within me. This voice tells me to protect myself, to stay guarded, to play life safe, to resist the urge to give all I have to Christ and his purposes. And, finally, there is the voice of Christ calling me to deny myself, take up my cross and follow him. The voice of Christ calls me beyond myself to the needs of others. His voice calls me to risk vulnerability and pain by loving all and loving deeply. His voice calls me to give sacrificially and pray fervently. His voice calls me to optimistically believe in his power and love to accomplish the impossible, at times through me.

Jesus, today I will discren your voice among the voices and follow you lovingly. Amen!