Know, Grow, Show. Reflections From John 15Намуна

DAY 18: CONCLUSION

What I get from this passage is that it is all about my relationship with Jesus and the other branches – my fellow Christ-followers.

It’s not about keeping a set of rules and regulations. As I said earlier, the Pharisees were very good at it. However, it was cold and calculated to the last dill and cumin. Love was something they did not understand. They understood religious rituals and not a relationship, which was always in God's heart; we would desire Him deeply. Hence, they misunderstood Jesus. They never understood the compassion that caused him to smash Sabbath rules to heal the cripple.

Religion can snuff out and replace relationships so subtly that we can fail to recognize this shift in our hearts. We need the Holy Spirit, to help keep us in check and connected.

Having walked with Jesus for more than 40 years, I have become more and more aware that I want the second half of my life to count even more. I want to make an impact, leave a legacy of love, and change the culture around me to reflect more of His Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.

All this is possible with lasting effect when I function from a place of knowing Jesus intimately and as in verse 17 Jesus once again emphasizes “love each other”.

As I end, I am more convinced than ever that being connected to the vine is not about “spiritual disciplines” (and there is a place for that) but rather my relationship with Jesus and each other.

As Paul eloquently puts it

1 Corinthians 13:1-7 (The Message)

The Way of Love

13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

REFLECT AND ASK YOURSELF|

How has this devotion influenced you?

What will you change because of this reflection in John 15?

Write down what you will do differently.

How will you practice abiding in the presence of God daily and how will you love for people to bring glory to the Father?

Well done for completing this study. I pray that your relationship with Jesus will be radically transformed and you will bear much fruit in the coming days.

This devotional is taken from the book written By Navaz DCruz by the same title. To read it please go to Amazon and Kindle