March 22, 2021
John 17:6-7, “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.”
Remember here that Jesus is still praying to God the Father. So when he says, ‘your name,’ he’s referring to his Father in Heaven. And then he makes clear that God the Father has a certain people that he has chosen, a people made of Jew and Gentile, whom God will redeem completely through the sacrifice of Jesus. These are ‘yours,’ as Jesus says, and they have been given over to the lordship of Jesus. Everything, Jesus says, that he has, and that we have in this world, is from God.
So we need to worship this God. What are we saying if we don’t want to worship God? That all this good stuff is from us? That we’ve earned it and deserve it? The most important thing a human can realize is that God made the world and he wants your worship. Everything else is fruit from that reality - including our great relationships, our good jobs, a sunny day, and all the beauties that this life contains. It’s all from God - so why not worship him? Our response to the Lord is simple. We should worship him, we should do all things to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31), including going out for a drink with a friend, watching your child take their first step, or loving someone unconditionally and sacrificially. We do all of those things because God has given us life. Worshiping God is not mundane; it’s not painful - it’s a person being the person they should be - because that’s who we are to be - worshipers of the Lord.
Jesus also shows here that prayer is crucial - even Jesus prays. We have direct access to God the Father because of Christ - and he listens to those who love him - so let’s be people of prayer.
Prayer: I love you, Lord. I just, just love you. And I thank you for loving me. What a wonder, that you would say, I am a sinner and have displeased you, and yet, you just want to be with me, so you’ve called me to yourself. And God I thank you for sending Jesus to die for me, so that I could spend eternity with you. You are Lord - my Savior - and my Redeemer. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
40 Days of Joy: Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.” This wonderful painting and Von Gogh’s wonderful style continues to inspire. The movement exudes great joy. I once led a group of teens to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and a 16-year-old stood in front of this painting and said, “wouldn’t it be cool to see like, the real Starry Night painting, the one Van Gogh painted?” And as I told her that this was it, this was the one, she started to cry. Beauty and joy and creativity are close to you, they are right in front of you, and are touchable (though not at an art museum, they frown on that).
