To the End

Now before the Feast of Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour has come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

John 13:1

Jesus had been living on earth for around 33 years. I wonder how it felt to be constrained by time for the first time ever. But Jesus knew without a doubt what was coming. And in a sense, so do we. I know this world is not my home. Every day is a step closer to abandoning this world and going home to be with my Father. The question is, can I say what Jesus said? Can I say that, “I loved to the end”? Ministry gets hard. Not just difficult, but hard. Stale. Mechanical. It can become this if you don't have love. So many Christians focus on how our lives should be lived, what we should do, where we should go, how we should talk, how to be more relatable to the world, and the list goes on. But how is it that our highest calling of LOVE has been neglected and ignored? It is usually an afterthought, “Oh yeah, and let it be done with love.” But that isn't what the bible teaches. Without love we have nothing. Nothing. But what is this love that Jesus had until the end? It is Galatians 5 love. “The fruit of the Spirit is love…” Only through the Spirit can I live in this love. Am I lacking love? I can have a free filling of the Spirit and be filled with His love.

I want to be able to say like Jesus that I have loved to the end. The end of my time here on earth? Yes. But even in smaller segments too. Can I say that I loved my students to the end of the school year? Can I say I loved the Guatemalan people to the end of my time here? I don't know what’s next. I don’t know what God has for me here on earth, but every season I want to look back and be able to say that I gave my all and loved to the end. I want to look back on my life and be able to say that by the grace of God, I loved to the end. Not my love, but His love through the Spirit. That is the only way. It is impossible to love in my own strength. IMPOSSIBLE. But the bible tells me that with God nothing will be impossible, that His strength is perfect and available for those who recognize they can’t do it. 

Jesus came to earth as a baby, a human being. He grew up, He knew why He had come. But He didn't take a step into ministry until He was filled with the Holy Spirit. Remember? He was baptized by John, the Holy Spirit descended like a dove, He was driven into the wilderness, and then started His earthly ministry. He was a man of many sorrows, yes. But He was a man who LOVED. That is what I have been seeing as I read through the gospel of John. Religion uses people. Jesus loves people. Religion sets up traps and makes people stumble. Jesus loves people and laid down His own life for sinners. And the bible says that His Spirit has poured this love out on our hearts (Romans 5:5), we have it! We need to walk in it! Time is running out! We are one day going to leave this earth and go to the Father. I want to be able to say that I loved like Jesus through the power of the Spirit to the end. Are we lacking love? Be filled with the Spirit.