Reflecting on John 17:6-8“For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them.” (John 17:8)
The disciples somehow sensed that Jesus’s message was God’s message.
What they heard from Jesus, and saw in Him, rang true for them.
They did not understand it fully, but they believed it to be true anyway.
When I hear Jesus’s message through the Jesus stories, I feel the same way.
Jesus reveals the heart and character of God – the truth of God.
God reveals His true nature to Moses – His glorious goodness (Exodus 34:6-7).
Compassion, grace, patience, abounding love, faithfulness, enduring love, forgiveness.
These qualities are clearly seen and heard in Jesus – God’s glory revealed in Jesus.
These are the things that convict and convince me about Jesus’s message.
This is the truth I want to know, the truth I want to show.
The bible experts of Jesus’s day did not accept Jesus’s message.
Despite their devotion to the scriptures, they did not know God this way.
My concern is that this is still happening today – not accepting Jesus’s message.
When christians reject these qualities, they are rejecting Jesus, and God.
The world will know we are Jesus followers by… not our beliefs, but by our love!
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, to accept your message means more than just saying we believe it. It means embracing it as our own, and living it out as best we can with Jesus's help, as Jesus followers. May it be evident in my life that I accept Your words as God's words!