Today's Gospel

Stay the Course

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where we are exploring the genius of Jesus' teachings in the gospel. And each day looking for a word or a phrase or an idea from today's gospel to anchor our lives so that we can go out into the world, experience circumstances, situations, people, experiences, and we can experience them with the gospel at the center of our lives. Today's reading comes from the Gospel of John 16:23-28. "In that day, you will ask nothing of me. Truly I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, He will give it to you in my name. Here thereto, you have asked nothing in My name. Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. I have said this to you in figures. The hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in figures, but tell you plainly of the Father. In that day, you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will pray to the Father for you, for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from the Father. I came from the Father and have come into the world again. I am leaving the world and going to the Father."

What jumps out at you today? For me, it's the relationship between Jesus and the Father. He's clearly trying to teach us that he has this bond with the Father. He's clearly trying to teach us that he isn't just doing whatever he wants. Over and over, he says, "I've come to do the Father's will." And there's a beautiful humility there. There's a beautiful obedience there. There's a beautiful discipline there. To stay on course, to state a path, to do what he was sent to do, and the temptation to wander away from that must have been massive when we think about the fact that he was true God and true man. That he was fully God, yes, but he was also fully man. And so the temptations to walk away and choose a more comfortable path or a more pleasurable path must have been enormous. How do we know? Because every day we are tempted to take more comfortable paths, to take more pleasurable paths. But Jesus calls us back. He calls us back into alignment. He calls us back into relationship with the Father to do His will. It can be a hard thing sometimes. But when is the last time you said to God, "God, what is your will in this situation?" Try that today. Have an amazing day. Remember, don't just be yourself, be the very best version of yourself. All that God created you to be.