Today's Gospel

Live In the World

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. Today's reading is from the Gospel of John, chapter 5, verses 31 through 47. Pick up where we left off yesterday and Jesus is talking, giving, really, testimony to his relationship with God the Father and teaching us so much about God the Father in the process. Jesus said, "If I bear witness to myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who bears witness to me. And I know that the testimony which he bears to me is true. You sent to John, and he was born witness to the truth. Not that the testimony which I receive is from man, but I say this, that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony which I have given is greater than that of John for the works which the Father has granted me to accomplish, these very works which I am doing, bear me witness that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness to me. His voice, you have never heard. His form, you have never seen. And you do not have His Word abiding in you. For you do not believe Him whom He has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them, you have eternal life. And it is they that bear witness to me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from men but I know that you have not the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father. It is Moses who accuses you on whom you set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me. For he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?"

So there's a lot there, right? Some of these readings in the Gospel of John, they're epic. Firstly, they're long. Secondly, there's a lot of concepts and the literature is rich and beautiful but can be confusing. And that's one of the reasons what is our exercise each day is to allow God to guide us to a word or a phrase or an idea that He uses to capture our attention so that we can live the gospel more today than yesterday. We could spend our whole lives, literally, could spend our whole lives studying this one single passage. But that's not what we're called to do. We're called to live in the midst of the world and witness to God in the midst of the world. But in order to do that, we have to find ways to live the gospel, to grow in the gospel each day. So we're looking for a word or a phrase or an idea each day that can challenge us when we need to be challenged or comfort us when we need to be comforted. And we both need both from time to time.

The phrase that jumped out at me, Jesus said, "But I know that you have not the love of God within you." All right. Imagine for a minute, right, you're just sitting around with Jesus and He says to you, "I know you don't have the love of God within you." That would be devastating, right? That would be crushing. It would be crushing. And so the question is, do we have the love of God within us? And are we encouraging the love of God within us? Are we growing the love of God within us so that we can go out into the world and share God's immense, staggeringly generous love with those we encounter today? Have a great day. And remember, don't just be yourself, be the-very-best-version-of-yourself, or that God created you to be.