If You Love Me

Keep My Commandments


John 14:15 


"If you love Me, keep My commandments," Jesus said.


If is such a scary word sometimes.  Don't we worry about if?  There's a commercial on TV about if for an insurance company.  They claim you don't have to worry about the "ifs" in life if you will buy their product.  But that isn't really true, is it?  There are no guarantees in life.  But Jesus is asking us to do something to prove our love for Him--He's asking for our trust, isn't He?  


Love and trust go hand in hand.


True love obeys.


Jesus asks us here to obey Him as a proof of our love for Him.  As the old song says:


              Trust and obey
                  For there's no other way
              To be happy in Jesus
                  But to trust and obey.


Trust You, Lord, with our loved ones who don't know You?  Trust You with the ones who have strayed from You?  Trust You with our illnesses, our financial situation, our children, our relationships, and OBEY You, even when it seems counterintuitive?


If must be proven.  


Jesus proved His love for us-on the cross.  


He said there is a cost of discipleship: If anyone comes after Me, let them deny themselves, pick up their cross, and follow Me.  Not an easy thing to do!  And not to be entered into lightly.  We enter in to the life of a believer knowing that the cost may be all we have: our friends, family, jobs, health, wealth, and time.  He is our example in all things-just as He gave all, so we give our all for Him.


There is reward for those who follow: endure the temptation to live your own way, and you will receive the crown of eternal life!  


James 1:12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.


Not just peace in your heart, but a real joy, and let me tell you this one beats happiness by a long shot!


Psalm 16:11 In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.


Jesus is returning and you will be rewarded by Him!


Rev. 22:12 And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.


It's not for nothing that we give Him everything!


Matthew 19:29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.


Don't give up--don't give in to the world--yes, count the cost, but remember that there is a reward!  Run the race with me and let us see what God will do!

Foot Washing

Jesus, The Servant

Supper was over, and Jesus got up, took off his outer garments, and put a towel around His waist.  To everyone’s astonishment, He washed their feet—their dirty, grimy, muddy, city-filthy feet.  Peter almost wouldn’t let Him touch His feet.  He of all the disciples knew what kind of man he was, or at least he’d been the most vocal about it.  “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man” had been what he told the Lord on the Sea of Galilee.  Now he felt as uncomfortable as then.  But Jesus talked him into it.

Now Jesus put his robe back on—that beautiful single-piece fabric His mother and others had lovingly crafted for Him, the same one that would be gambled for in a day or two—and told the disciples:

If I, your Lord and Master, can serve you by washing your feet, the most menial of tasks, then you should also wash one another’s’ feet.  After all, the servant is not greater than the Master.  If you do these things you are blessed.

I do not speak concerning all of you, for I know whom I have chosen—but that the scripture (Psalm 41:9) may be fulfilled:

⁹ Even my close friend, 
   someone I trusted, 
one who shared my bread, 
   has turned against me.

It didn’t pertain to all of them.  Washing feet is about service.  If you’re His, you serve.  What He asked wasn’t for His enemies.  Judas had no part of this.  Although Jesus washed his feet, Judas was a false disciple.  He didn’t believe, so he wasn’t a part of the group. 

But if you’re His, you serve your brothers and sisters.  That’s who I want to be.  I want to be someone who washes my brothers and sisters’ feet.  I’m asking God to show me who I can help.  How about you?

Mary's Gift

A Story of Extravagant Love

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.  Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.  Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected,  “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.”  He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.  You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

Martha served, Lazarus sat at table, and Mary worshipped.  You could easily see how Martha represents work, Lazarus represents witness, and Mary represents worship.  Martha, formerly chided, served—but not alone this time.  She must have had help.  There is no complaint when Mary does not help her this time.  There is a place in the believer’s life for work.  Faith without it is dead, and no faith.  Martha is a representative of one part of what believers must be.

Lazarus the witness: Obviously we’re looking back at Chapter 11, when Lazarus had been raised.  Missler notes that it seems like whenever anyone is raised from the dead, they’re hungry.  Remember Jairus’ daughter?  Bring her something to eat, Jesus said. 

We are like Lazarus—dead without Christ, then bound with the grave clothes (sin) and finally seated at the table with Jesus. Where do we see believers seated with Christ?  Revelation 19:9, Blessed are those which take part in the Wedding supper of the Lamb.  Lazarus is us!  The witness of Jesus is what allows us to overcome the enemy.  Revelation12:11 says and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives to the death.  Testimony and witness are the same word—a witness gives his or her testimony that what they saw is true.  We must all be "Lazarus" in a sense--showing others what the work God has done in our lives looks like.  But my favorite person to relate to here is Mary.

Mary the worshipper: Mary took a pound of Nard—otherwise known as myrrh, and anointed Jesus’ feet with it and wiped it off with her hair.  Nard was a perfume made by crushing.  It symbolized death and was used in embalming. 

Mary wiped his feet with her hair—hair is the glory, the covering of a woman—her crown.  Chuck Missler states that to the extent that Mary is in the role of the Bride, she is offering her crown to Him.  When do we receive crowns?  When we are given our rewards at the Bema seat.  We then cast them upon the glassy sea, Rev. 4:10.  I think John’s being called to heaven to view the things which will come to pass there is a “type” of our Rapture for this reason: see the sequence of events?  The Tribulation cannot occur until the Lamb receives the seven-sealed book, which doesn’t happen until after the crowns are thrown on the glassy sea, which is right after the rapture of the saints and subsequent Bema seat judgment.

The other Gospels note that Mary anointed Jesus also on His head (Matthew 26:6-13 and Mark 14:3-9.)  It would have run down His clothing and been caught in His hair.

She isn’t making petitions or asking for help, she isn’t even praising, just worshipping Him.  

Mary’s sacrifice here is amazing—she’s giving away her dowry!  This would have been the money she would have taken to the marriage.  Unless there was some other source of money, Mary would likely now remain single throughout her life. 

I was overwhelmed by Mary’s extravagant worship of Jesus.  Could this fragrance, clinging to Jesus’ beard, His clothing, his hair, have clung to Him, reminding Him of her love for Him?  Might this have been the one thing that strengthened His resolved and made Him able to bear the horrors of the cross?

Jesus had said, earlier in John, “If I be lifted up on the earth, I will draw all men unto me.”  The word for lifted up has two meanings—the physical act, as in His death on the cross, and the act of exalting.  If Jesus is exalted, in my life, will others see Him?  Even if they don’t, I want to be this extravagant in my worship of my Lord. 

Her sacrifice was extravagant.  It was more than a gesture.  Her worship was extravagant.  It wasn’t requests, it wasn’t just praise—it was much more.  It was her love for Him.  Her love, then, was extravagant.  It cost her something.  I want to make a sacrifice and love Him wholly, with all I am.

I penned this while thinking about her amazing sacrifice:

Extravagant Love

Extravagant love, offered once, for all

She withheld nothing and gave everything

Proffered the one thing that was hers alone

In recognition of that gift He would give—

Her gift was expensive

But His more so

She knew it would cost His life

But this one fragrant offering

This shining moment

In service, in love,

Will be hers for all eternity.

What do people see when they look at you? 

The Fear of Man

John 9:18-23

But the Jewish leaders would not believe that the man had once been blind. They sent for his parents ¹⁹and asked them, "Is this the son that you said was born blind? How can he now see?"

    ²⁰The man's parents answered, "We are certain that he is our son, and we know that he was born blind. ²¹But we don't know how he got his sight or who gave it to him. Ask him! He is old enough to speak for himself."

    ^22-23The man's parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. The leaders had already agreed that no one was to have anything to do with anyone who said Jesus was the Messiah.

Jesus had just healed a blind man, one who had been blind from birth.  It was an amazing miracle—the cure was so profound that even those he’d been around every day didn’t recognize him.  (See verse 9.)  The blind man didn’t know who had healed him, except His name was Jesus (v.11.) No one had ever opened the eyes of the blind before (9:32), yet the Pharisees refused to “see” the miracle’s message!  Their obedience was “blind,” and blinded them to the truth of who Jesus was.  

They interrogated both the man and his parents.  The man began to truly “see” Jesus through steps of faith, but his parents reacted in fear and became lost.

When the Israelites traveled through the wilderness headed toward the Promised Land, they had God guiding and protecting them.  They had a pillar of cloud (shade and air conditioning!) by day, and a pillar of fire (protection and warmth) by night.  God was with them every step of the way, just as He had promised:

Yet in Your manifold mercies You did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day, To lead them on the road; Nor the pillar of fire by night, To show them light, And the way they should go ~Nehemiah 9:19.

Even though they knew that God was with them, they were still very much afraid of the people of the land (“There are giants in the land—we look like grasshoppers to them!” Num. 13:33.)  It doesn’t seem rational to fear people of any size when your God stands among you in the form of a fire, but fear is irrational.  Fear causes us to stumble in more ways than we can count!  This formerly blind man’s parents were the prey of fear.

        Proverbs 29:25 says The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe.

        His folks were afraid of the Jews and didn’t want to be put out of the synagogue.  What was the snare?  Acceptance of the religious rulers’ decrees would bring them social acceptance but at the same time it would bring them spiritual rejection.

        Jesus said in Matthew “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

        And in Luke, “"But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!”

        Of whom is Jesus speaking?  He’s talking about fearing the Lord.  Proverbs says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

        Fear is an old tool of the devil.  If he can get you to fear man, he can keep you from the love of God.  Nothing can separate us from God’s love (Romans 8,) except ourselves.  Fear will do this in your life. 

        Some scriptures:

By humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches and honor and life ~ Prov. 22:24

The fear of the LORD leads to life, And he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil ~ Prov. 19:23.

The fear of the LORD prolongs days (Prov. 10:27a) and in the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, and His children will have a place of refuge. (Prov. 14:26.)

In what ways has fear taken hold in your life?  Do you fear what people will think?  Are you afraid of doing what you know is right because of this?  Consider His promises to you.  Ponder His words and relent of being afraid!

Oh, beloved, now is the time!  Today is the day!  Repent of being fearful and become faithful!  God knows your heart and He wants to free you from fear.  Be free!

“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32.)

Dear Abba,

I ask for forgiveness for walking in fear in some areas of my life.  Please free me from the fear of man, of circumstances, of my own actions.  Free me to serve You with all of my heart, and make me able to go and honor You wherever You send me.  Amen.

The World Hates Jesus

Therefore Jesus told them (His brothers,) “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.” ~John 7:5-6

The world hates Jesus because He exposes their sins.  John told us (3:19-21,) and this is the condemnation—that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Before we came to Christ, we hated Him, too.  Ephesians 2:1-10 says:

And you He made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together in Christ, (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

We all once walked in that way.  We were all guilty and we were all without hope, but God…I love that!

Isaiah told us, years before Jesus came to save us all:  He was despised and rejected by mankind ~Isaiah 53

Jesus predicted His own death: He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.  ~Mark 8:31

Luke 9:22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

Jesus knew what He was about.  He had already planned to redeem us. 

1 Peter 1:18-19 You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Because I was redeemed by His precious blood, I need to think about how I live now.  Jesus knows the battle we face every day, as we choose to either serve God and worship Him or serve our own desires. 

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”  Matthew 6:24

The word mammon is often translated “money,” but it would more accurately describe the world system—in which money is important.  You can’t serve both God and yourself, and you can’t serve God and still be able to do whatever you want.

John says the world is one of our three main enemies—the world, the flesh, and the devil (1 John 2:16.)  He warns us not the love the world—if we do, the love of God isn’t in us.

This became very real to me when I was young.  I had just started going to church and attending a Bible study.  My husband and I were at a bar.  I hadn’t quite gotten to gist of how to be God’s child yet.  I was rambling on about my life to the woman behind the bar, telling her how happy I was in Jesus, and then she invited me to the back for a little “snort” of something.  I’m ashamed to say I went—and when we came back I kept up the dialogue. 

At that point she turned to me and said, “Don’t preach to me when you’re high!”  She had probably hoped I would shut up about God if I was loaded, but that didn’t work!  I wasn’t even really high—I didn’t feel any affect at all.

I realized she was right.  I couldn’t do both—I could either preach, or get high.  I had read this very verse, and knew it wasn’t going to work the way I was trying to live.  So I told her she was right, and that from that point on I wouldn’t be getting high any more, and that I would tell people about the Lord instead.

Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.

Ephesians 4:17-24 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,  having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 

But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 

You have not so learned Christ!  Be renewed!  Don’t fall prey to the enemy’s schemes.

and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:5-7.) 

Because of Jesus—His precious blood—we have freedom to be able to choose life.  It’s not because we were special; in fact, God chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, so that He can get all the glory.  That’s okay with me, because I benefit from it all!  Because He chose me, I can choose Him, and life, and blessing.  Praise God! 

But the world hates our Lord, because He points out their need.  He wants to see them healed, but they avoid Him.  If only they could come to Him and know what I know now!  I must share what Jesus is doing in my life so they might see and turn and be saved.  Pray for the workers of the harvest!