Daily Devotions
John
Understanding profound truths
Text: John 14 : 12 - 31
UNDERSTANDING PROFOUND TRUTHS
What profound truths Jesus taught His Disciples! There was no possibility of comprehending everything that Jesus had just taught! It would take a lifetime to fathom all that Jesus had just spoken! Would a lifetime be enough to comprehend these deep spiritual truths? If the Disciples were to try and understand all that Jesus said all on their own, they would not go very far.
Jesus of course knew that, and thus He gave the Disciples another gracious promise.
“He who has My commandments and keeps them,
it is he who loves Me.
And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father,
and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
John 14:21
How comforting were these special words of encouragement! Let us take time to ponder what Jesus meant.
TAKING SIMPLE STEPS
Jesus had spoken truly profound words to His Disciples. He spoke of His Resurrection. He also spoke of a special union between Him and the Disciples! How could anyone fathom such lofty concepts! How would the Disciples ever understand all that Jesus taught!
The challenge to the Disciples was to take some very simple steps first.
1. A High Regard for the Teachings of Jesus
a) Whether or not the Disciples fully comprehend the Teachings of Jesus, they must nevertheless have the highest regard for them.
b) They must learn how to regard them as on par with the Hebrew Scriptures. The teachings of Jesus were nothing less than “commandments”.
c) They must work at fathoming what He had taught. The thoughts were truly profound and it would take a long time to understand all that He had taught. Nevertheless they must persevere. They must keep turning over and over all that Jesus had taught them in their hearts and minds, ever seeking to understand the truth.
d) They must also seek to keep His Word in their hearts. This would require effort on their part. They must do their utmost to hide His Word in their hearts.
e) They must of course seek to practise the truth of His teachings in their lives. The Truth as Jesus taught was meant to be lived out. The acquisition of mere academic knowledge was never the goal of Jesus!
2. A Deep Love for Jesus
Perhaps, the teachings of Jesus were difficult. But what about love for their Teacher? Would that be difficult too? Love for Jesus should not prove difficult at all. How could the Disciples not love their Teacher?
a) He had befriended them!
b) He had taught them deep truths!
c) He had enlightened them with the Word of God.
d) He had breathed eternal life into their souls.
e) He had begun to transform their lives.
How could they not love Jesus? But Jesus wanted them to know that the love He spoke of was not located in their feelings alone! That love for Him must be channeled properly. If there is love for Jesus that was genuine, then it must be expressed in the keeping of His commandments! No less! Many may speak of how they loved Jesus, but few have kept His commandments. That wasn’t the kind of love that Jesus wanted from His Disciples.
If the Disciples could take these two simple steps, then they could expect wonderful reciprocation from Jesus and His Father!
THE PROMISE OF “MANIFESTATION”
If the Disciples were to just concentrate on loving Jesus and if they were to also work at keeping His commandments, they could look forward to a wondrous response from both the Father and the Son.
1. “And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father”
The Disciples would know the love of the Father in a special way. Just as Jesus felt and experienced the love of His Father, so would the Disciples be specially loved by the Father – provided that they truly learned to love Jesus!
The Disciples already knew that Jesus loved them dearly. They knew that Jesus, “having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (John 13:1). Jesus confirmed that He would indeed specially love them in response to their love.
2. “And I will love him and manifest Myself to him”
What a wondrous promise this was. What did He mean by these words?
a) Jesus would look up the Disciples who loved Him after His resurrection.
b) In His manifestation to the disciples who loved Him, He would take away all their doubts and fears.
c) The Disciples may not be able to understand all that Jesus had taught them at this point of time, but they must not let that lack of comprehension get them down. They must exercise their faith and look forward to the day when Jesus would manifest Himself to them.
THE CHALLENGE TO LOVE JESUS
Let us be challenged to examine our love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Can we say that we truly love Him? Is that love expressed in the way we regard His teachings? Do we hide His Word in our hearts? Do we seek to live out His truths in our lives?