Jesus was God, is God, and always will be God. When Jesus was on the earth he was God and man perfectly intertwined. This is a complicated subject that I don’t want to spend a lot of time on other than to say this – Jesus knew everything. He knew the thoughts of people (Luke 5:22). Jesus knew the failures of each of his 12 disciples before they made them. In fact, Jesus knew their future failures when he called them.
He knew Peter would deny him. He knew Judas would betray him.
Jesus still loved them. Jesus still called them. Jesus wasn’t looking for perfect disciples. If he was they wouldn’t have needed to follow him. The same is true with us. Jesus knows our mistakes before you even make them. He still calls us. He still wants us. He still loves us.
Paul put it this way in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Just before that in verse 6 Paul wrote this, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.”
We see this played out in real time at the last supper in John 13.
Jesus took the last Supper with Judas on one side and John on the other. We know this because John (the disciple Jesus loved) is able to lean back against Jesus at the meal (John 13:22-25) and because Judas is able to dip his bread in with Jesus (John 13:26). Jesus gave Judas one of the chief seats at the meal right before Judas betrayed him and Jesus knows exactly what he is about to do. Jesus also washed Judas’ feet right before this, showing Judas the full extent of his love for him (John 13:1).
The same is true with us. Jesus knows exactly what we are about to do. He knows our failures before we fail. He knows our successes and victories before they are achieved. He still calls us. He still loves us. If we were perfect we wouldn’t need Jesus and we wouldn’t need discipleship. But we aren’t perfect. We do need the One who is!
So come, follow Jesus! This is where you belong.
How humbling is it to be taught by one who knows more about your than you know about yourself?
What does this say about the extent of Jesus’ love in spite of the things we even hold against ourselves? (See John 13:1 – he loved them to the end or the full extent of his love).
5 Responses
I have never been able to fully understand, and to some degree fully accept, how deep his love for me despite my failures and short comings. Even when I look at how after the resurrection he made sure Peter knew he was loved and forgiven. Last couple of days been reading about Saul’s conversion. I see the reluctance of the Christians to believe it, until Barnabas stood beside him. Which then points me back to the importance of having people close to me to mentor and encourage me when I do fall.
We need Barnabas today. Sometimes we need him to stand up us. Other times we need to be him for others.
Matt, a sister-in-Christ were talking about this last night. She has a gay daughter, and I work with many gay co-workers of both genders. We shared our growth and maturity through Christ in how we view and handle this topic in the context of friendships, disciple-making and outreach in general. We’re both a little older (50s and 60s), and can remember a time when anyone gay would have been socially outcast in the worst possible ways. This included both of us sharing how we viewed this topic in our youth, into adulthood and currently. Both of us admitted to a pretty harsh point-of-view (at least internally) relating to the topic from an early age. As we grew, became Christians, and then had to navigate the waters of modern society, and the promotion of the lifestyle in current settings, we saw Christ had worked on our hearts through general maturity…BUT…even more so through the lens of Christ’s view of that person! We are both very challenged to balance the knowledge of sexual sin against the purpose of reaching out to all the lost in our lives. While we’ve both grown considerably, the Lord, other Christians, articles, etc. all help keep us focused on the fact that we were both lost too (despite our personal preferences of sinful topics), and people reached out to us to help us repent and change course. Jesus knowing the fellas even before He called them was a convicting statement in your writing…wow, I’ve got some real heart surgery to keep performing on myself with His scalpel!!!
If we are exactly the same as we were twenty years ago we aren’t in a good place. Relationships are dynamic. If they are static they aren’t growing. It makes sense our view of people would also change over time as we grow and mature. Along with that is our view of self. Then comes the dual realization that I can only change myself (not others) and that I am the one who needs the most fixing (not someone else).
Andy Stanley once said everyone you meet is someone Jesus died for. That is a sobering thought!
Randy Harris used to say (and probably still does) there is nothing you can do to make God love you any more than He already does!
Wow! Praise God.
Matt-Isaiah 9:6 Tells Us 700 Years Before Christ Who He Is–Have You Been Baptized In His Name? Acts 2:38! Be Blessed Charles Kelly Memphis, Tenn