Tuesday after Quinquagesima (Esto mihi) Sunday
Posted on February 21, 2023 by under
Scripture: St. John 14:21-24 (NKJV)
14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”
23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.”
Devotion
The old saying, “Talk is cheap,” usually means that people can say anything they want, agree to anything, or reject anything, to get along or fit in with the need at hand, but to see what people really believe, we should look at how they act.
There is an essential connection here: the words of Jesus are the words of God the Father Himself. There is no difference, or wedge, between what Jesus says and what the Father says. Rather, Jesus came specifically to explain God the Father as no one else ever has or could. John testifies ( John 1:18): “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”
So how can it be that we who love Jesus could be found to not work and live according to His Word? As long as we live in the body of sin, we cannot attain that perfection. But someday, whether by His glorious appearing or by a blessed death while trusting in His mercy for the forgiveness of our sins, we will spend a blessed eternity with our Lord and Savior. May He keep us faithful until then, as He has promised!
Prayer: O Lord, we beseech Thee mercifully hear our prayers, and, having set us free from the bonds of sin, defend us from all evil; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
