Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

John 17:11

The greatest journey of this life is the journey home to the Father.  It isn’t a long way from the hand to the foot, and it’s even less from the head to the heart, but the distance of a breath has separated much of mankind for an Eternity.

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The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

John 1:9

Man, the carnal man, lives in darkness.  All mankind has turned aside from the truth, the true light, and has gone to corruption.  There is nothing wholesome about man, and nothing good in what he can do.  Ever.

The Spiritual Man, however, as Paul described, has died to it.  He has died to himself, to the world with all its desires, and has died to himself.  The case is so edged that Paul states that he is crucified to the world and the world is crucified to himself (Galatians 6:14).

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In one meeting, upon a riverbank, Old met New.  One was fulfilled, and one was just beginning.  He must increase, and I must.  He must become greater, and I must become less.

For, the law and the prophets were until John, and since that time, men were forcefully entering the Kingdom with violence (Luke 16:16).

The old system was to be replaced, and it was the New that mattered now.  The law was given through Moses, Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).

Jeremiah the prophet wrote this oracle:

 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Jeremiah 31:31-34

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And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.  My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.

Matthew 18:34-35

Jesus has commanded that we love one another, and in order to do this, we must be willing to forgive.  Total forgiveness may begin with an act of the will, but always must proceed to the depths of the heart.  Forgiveness is being willing to live with the consequences of another’s actions.

In order to forgive, you must first be willing to say, “that was wrong.” When there is no attributable wrong, how can there be forgiveness?  If you cannot say it was wrong, what are you forgiving?  What forgiveness is not is trying to minimize the hurt so that no offense can take root.  This may seem profitable in the short run, but lacks the integrity to go the distance.  No, rather, when someone does something wrong, it is important to acknowledge that what was done was wrong.  It is from this place that all forgiveness can happen.

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Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

Matthew 8:23-25

The word for “save us” in the Greek here is “sozo”, the same word meaning to save from sin and hell, to heal, and to deliver.  The disciples were asking Jesus to rescue them from death.  What the disciples couldn’t see, beyond the clouds, beyond the winds and storm, was the real realm of God and destiny, over both their Teacher and themselves.

Jesus passed through crowds unharmed, simply because it was not his time to die.  Jesus found ways to hide himself at other times.  Other times, the Spirit would not permit Him to go up to Jerusalem, simply because it wasn’t His time.

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For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.  He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.  For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.

John 3:16-21

This seems to me one of the most commonly referenced and the littlest truly studied passages in the Bible.  It is one of the best tools for evangelism, for it sums up the entirety of the message of Jesus in one little place.  It may be that it is just this writer’s perception that it is one of the littlest studied passages, it maybe that so few people do much in depths studies in the Gospels or otherwise, or, it may just be that it seems that this section is so commonly understood, it must, of course, be understood already.  When we come to think over these words, we can wrongly assume we understand them all.  Yet, as there is no shadow of turning in God, it stands to reason, that if we could plumb the depths of any passage, without taking it grossly out of context, and know the fullness of the weight of the words in the realm of Heaven, we would know Him much better than we know now.  Suffice to say, these words are spirit, and they are life.

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Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart.

1 Peter 1:22

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (1 Timothy 1:5).  This is what we are aiming for.

We are called to love.  The verse at the beginning indicates our problem.  We cannot love without God (1 John 4:7).  Why?  Because our souls are corrupt without Christ.

We are called to love from a pure heart, because it is only out of pure, sincere motives, that we can truly open up and be open to others, without being hurt.  It is in the place of His perfect love, with no fear, that we are able to truly be brothers.  This is the mark of the authentic gospel.

And, this cannot happen without sincere, gospel faith.  It simply can’t.  When you walk by the Spirit you do not gratify the desires of the sinful nature (Galatians 5:16).  It is by faith that we come to know and believe in God’s great love for us (1 John 4:16).  It is in the secret place of Him that we are able to live.

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