John 14:1-11
Let’s continue to pray for Jim and Marty.
“Notice what you notice.” For the next twelve days we have Jesus’ final discourse, John 14-17. I often have a hard time following Jesus’ words as written by John, so I’ll be praying extra hard for my own understanding!!
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? (v. 9a) What struck me here, surprisingly, was Jesus calling Philip by name. I did not do a full search, but I could not recall any incident where Jesus called one of the disciples by name, except when He said, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat…”. (Luke 22:31) I was touched by Jesus’ personal approach. No doubt He knew all twelve names, but we don’t see Him using those names. So why did it strike me? We sing a song at church where the chorus begins “He knows my name…”. Maybe that’s the title of the song. But at any rate, He DOES know our names! Every one of us…! And if we know Him personally, then we can have loving conversations between us and Him. I’m not there yet, but it’s a goal. GLORY!!
Slava Bohu!
I was struck by how clearly Jesus says he is the way, the only way. When people talk about many ways, that may be true but they are ways to something else, no ways to be present with God in life and eternity. “Eternal life” means something else to them, living forever, being in bliss or peace. Improving to have a better world here, etc. To be god or a god. The way we follow may have some similarities but our goal and end is different.
I have long had a different understanding of “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” We often hear this question as to whether Ghandi will be in Heaven – more realistically, would he be denied entrance to heaven. My thought has been that if Ghandi approached heaven, having never professed Jesus as his savior, then Jesus stands before His Father and makes that decision whether to admit Ghandi or not. That is, it’s Jesus’ call. He is THE WAY! And we truly have no idea what that means!
Fred, I can definitely see that. Jesus sees into each heart and knows what we want most. Jesus truly sees Gandhi.