THE APOSTLE OF LOVE

The Gospel-writer John has often been nicknamed “the apostle of love.” Indeed, he wrote more than any other New Testament author about the importance of love – laying particular stress on the Christian’s love for Christ, Christ’s love for His church, and the love for one another that is supposed to be the hallmark of true believers. The theme of love flows through his writings.

But love was a quality that he learned from Christ, not something that came naturally to him. In his younger years, he was as much a Son of Thunder as James. If you imagine that John was the way he was often portrayed in medieval art -- a meek, mild, pale-skinned, effeminate person, lying around at Jesus’ shoulder looking up at Him with a dove-eyed stare -- forget that caricature. He was rugged and hard-edged, just like the rest of the fishermen-disciples. And again, he was every bit as intolerant, ambitious, zealous, and explosive as his elder brother. In fact, the one and only time the synoptic Gospel writers recorded John speaking for himself, he displayed his trademark aggressive, self-assertive, impertinent intolerance. (See Mark 9:38.)…

So it is clear from the Gospel accounts that John was capable of behaving in the most sectarian, narrow-minded, unbending, reckless, and impetuous fashion. He was brash. He was aggressive. He was passionate, zealous, personally ambitious – just like his brother James. They were cut from the same cloth.

But John aged well. Under the control of the Holy Spirit, all his liabilities were exchanged for assets. Compare the young disciple with the aged patriarch, and you’ll see that as he matured, his areas of weakness all developed into his greatest strengths. He’s an amazing example of what should happen to us as we grow in Christ -- allowing the Lord’s strengths to be made perfect in our weakness. (See 2 Corinthians 12:9.) 

-- John MacArthur (1939-2025) in “Twelve Ordinary Men: How the Master Shaped His Disciples for Greatness and What He Wants to Do with You”

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MEEKNESS ISN’T WEAKNESS

“Jesus made a whip from ropes and chased them all out of the temple. He drove out the sheep and oxen, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables.”  (John 2:15 NLT)

Whenever you and I hear the word meek, our minds tend to think WEAK. But meek is not weak. Not even close….

Strength under control. Power under discipline.

Jesus is a prime example of a meek person. Was Jesus weak? Well, go back and watch Him as He cleans out the temple. With a whip made out of cords, He drove everyone out of the temple courtyard in extremely short order. No one struggled with Him. No one challenged Him. I find it hard to believe some wimp could have accomplish this. No one wanted to mess with the man from Nazareth. He was very strong and had great authority.… But He also characterized Himself as a meek person.…

Jesus was meek. He had the greatest possible strength under the greatest possible control. While He was on the cross, He could have called ten legions of angels to come to His aid. But He stayed on that cross and held His vast power in check… out of love for you and me.  

-- David Jeremiah

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FULL OF SUFFERING

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?... No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow -- not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love."  (Romans 8:35-38 NLT)

When you are sad, tired, lonely and full of suffering, take refuge in the sanctuary of your soul and there you will find your Brother, your Friend, Jesus, who will console you, support you and strengthen you. 

-- Charles de Foucauld in “Meditations of a Hermit”

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BE NOT DISMAYED

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”  (Isaiah 41:10 NKJV)

By learning the suffering and burdens of [others], I became aware as never before of the life power that has survived the forces of darkness -- the power which, though never completely victorious, is continuously conquering. The very fact that we are still here carrying on the contest against the hosts of annihilation proves that on the whole the battle has gone for humanity. The world's great heart has proved equal to the prodigious undertaking which God set it. Rebuffed, but always persevering; self-reproached, but ever regaining faith; undaunted, tenacious, the heart of [humanity] labors towards immeasurably distant goals. Discouraged not by difficulties without, or the anguish of ages within, the heart listens to a secret voice that whispers: "Be not dismayed; in the future lies the Promised Land."

-- Helen Keller 

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OUR COMPANION IN OUR SUFFERING

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”  (Psalm 23:4 NIV)

One of the ways in which Jesus is dear to Christians who pray is in His presence to them in times of trouble. For some, Jesus is a brother and companion, the one who accompanies them, who walks along the way with us, who has been where humans have been. He is the Jesus whom the Gospel of John presents as weeping for the death of His friend Lazarus, whom He loved; who sweats blood during the agony in the garden and wrestles with the will of God and the evil of the world, when all His friends have fallen asleep; who later that day cries out on the cross. For others, Jesus is the one who lifts burdens, who takes it from us so we do not have to bear it on our own. For many, He is both. Either way, Jesus is presence… Jesus is God made visible, God made human -- God close to our trials and our everyday life, not distant or uninvolved. This is not the fix-all God or the magician God. The God to whom or with whom we pray in our sufferings is not God as explanation, but God as companion -- a God who suffers and knows suffering…

God as companion in our suffering is both the One who suffers with us and the One on whom we lean. Psalm 46 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a vey present help in trouble.” 

-- Jane Redmont in “When in Doubt, Sing: Prayer in Daily Life”

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THE SECRET TO LASTING JOY - Part 2

Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you.”  (John 15:4a NKJV)

The other half of the secret of lasting joy is that Christ abides  -- lives -- in us. He gives us exactly what we need in any moment: assurance that we are loved in our problems, forgiveness for our mistakes, wisdom to discern what He wants to do to bring good out of difficulties, and supernatural strength to do what He guides in untangling our problems.

There is no joy when we are worried about whether we will have what it takes. But equally so, there is no joy to be compared to the joy we feel when we know that we are empowered by the Savior of the world! That means accepting His strength pulsing into us as branches inseparably connected to Him, the vine.

-- Lloyd J. Ogilvie in “If God Cares, Why Do I Still Have Problems”

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CHRIST’S POWER IN OUR WEAKNESSS

The Apostle Paul wrote: “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time He said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  (2 Corinthians 12:8-10 NLT)

That last sentence is the payoff -- the wisdom God taught Paul. God is always strong, but in our weakness that strength goes viral. The world sees that it is not about anything but Christ. At the end of me, I find strength in God that I never would have experienced otherwise…

As I’ve thought and studied over the years, I’ve changed my mind in some ways. Once I would have made the case that God works despite our weaknesses. Or God works around our weaknesses. But that’s not a strong enough statement. It’s not the real point. God doesn’t demonstrate His strength even though we’re weak -- He demonstrates it precisely through the weakness.

-- Kyle Idleman in “The End of Me”


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