Inspirational Thought of the Day:

Christ knew of His imminent crucifixion and yet He was thinking of us.

Scriptures of the Day:

John 13:1

“Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end.”

John 15

:4 “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. 9 Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you; remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete. 17 This I command you – to love one another.

A person’s final words are often the most important. So it is with our LORD. Christ knew of His imminent crucifixion and yet He was thinking of us. John 13-15 is full of critical advice from One Who saw clearly what our priorities ought to be.

Serve. First and foremost, Jesus displayed serving one another by washing the feet of those He created. Though He was LORD, He humbled Himself and thought of others above Himself. He commands us to do the same and promises a blessing for doing so.

Believe. This world and our flesh will cause us to doubt. We need to tenaciously cling to our faith in God.

Obey. Obeying His commandments is a blessing to us. Sin ravages our souls. Obeying God brings blessings.

Peace. Christ tells us to not “let” our hearts be troubled. We have a choice and His grace is sufficient.

Remain.  He pled with us to remain in Him – the word remain appears eleven times in John 15. He knew our tendency is to drift and beckoned us to draw near to Him so we could bear fruit and live worthy lives.

Persecution. If the world hated Christ, it will hate us, too.

Love. We are called to love one another. The love that Christ showed us is selfless and sacrificial.

As we leave one year and embark on the next may we consider these encouragements from our God, our LORD and Savior. What insight can we gain from this past year that we can carry with us into the next? May we live the way Christ commanded us to, by His grace and enablement.

Oh, God, we are humbled by Your example. Please help us to follow You wholeheartedly and apply Your word in our everyday lives.

Denise Pass | Author | Singer | Speaker | Worship Leader