meandean

i'm not so sure that john is this mysterious disciple whom jesus loved. all the disciples ran for their lives when all this started. but what i do see is family there at the cross. and who i believe this disciple to be is his half brother james, who according to jewish ways and customs, was the next in line for kinsman redeemer. thus jesus is passing the responsibility over to james, and jesus continues to honor his mother as his word says too. mary was a widow by now, the family is all grown up, and about their own buisness, and he is making sure she will be taken care of. sometimes it is difficult to love the ones closest to you, but we must continue in his love or we can easily be snared and try to justify our wrongs. people know the difference of gods love and our own, his love is genuine-comforting warm and bold,while ours is shallow, empty, and reserved. love is an action choice, it is either growing or dying, it can never remain the same.and for me. i know i need to let go of the disappointments and just let gods love pour through me for others.

it was God's divine plan of forgiveness that put to death his son,Jesus. acts 2:23-24. jesus also said no man could take his life but he would gladly lay it down. Gods will allowed Jesus to be delivered into the hands of men. on this side of the cross we see the bloodied and beaten Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews. yet directly on the other side is the throne room of God. our responsibility is are we going to place all of our trust into who he is, and receive forgiveness or are we just gonna be a face without a name within the crowd, hurling insults in non belief. Jesus knows how weak we are. He understands our vulnerbility, He wants to be our shepherd. His love is at the center of his desire and we are that object of His desire. but we don't always see this in our lives when overwhelmed with tragic circumstances or hear him speak as we slowly grow cold and tired, and feel empty and alone. so we are constantly tempted to stray, yet we hear these words, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. and they are tremendously comforting to me.

he basically says have you ever seen a stressed out bird or a over worked tired flower? no because they are free to enjoy life as they simply trust the father.

oh yeah. i had seen a guitar at my friends shop with two autographs on it. it turned out that the two who signed this guitar was the lead singer and lead guitarist from my favorite band at the time. now i can't play a lick but i needed that guitar. i even bought a case for it as well. a couple of weeks went by and i started to think, why in the world did i do that for? it just so happened that a local church had their music ministry broke into and some things were taken. i was able to finally get rid of this guitar that controlled me, and its use went to the praise band. so what i thought would make me happy, actually made me heavy, and i was able to finally able to unload that heaviness with giving back to god with praise.

no, not at all. jesus never separates the two. he is warning us that whatever gets your attention will eventually get you. it takes us away from heavenly things and drowns us with earthly matters. rich people will have a harder time serving. they have much to give up. look at the rich man in luke 12, that jesus calls a fool. what was his dilemma? it was being so rich he didn't know what to do with it all. sadly, he never asks god what to do with it, or even offers it back to god, and in the end it controlled him. he used it for himself.

it means to use all that we have for the glory of god. you see, its not wrong to possess things,but it is wrong for things to possess us. look at the following verses v.22 they try to get your eyes, v.23 they get your eyes than sooner or later they get your heart, then in v.24 they get your will. its been said outlook determines outcome, and that is certain in this case.all blessings must be given back to god immediately for his glory or they will soon control us. heres a challenge to all saints, just go through your home and see what you cant give up to god immediately, then you will know what controls you.

he is hitting the bullseye of our hearts and mind. we are very selfish and insecure people.we try to do everything ourselves,for ourselves, with the mindset of lifting ourselves above everyone else. and jesus cracks our empty dry hearts with these loving words. it brings to mind jeremiah 2:13. we have to decide which cistern we are.

he was motivated by selfishness. it was all me, myself and i, leaving everyone else, especially god, out of the quotation. love is a choice and it is obvious this guy was in it for himself. so we have to be on gaurd against all covetness.whether it be people, places or things." not all treasure is silver and gold, mate."-captian jack sparrow in the curse of the black pearl.

there is a whole lot of " i wills" in this passage much like isaiah 14:13-14. selfishness is so hard to overcome, thats why jesus said it would be so much easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle. we all have it, sometimes its subtle, other times it shows itself before the person actually shows up.it could just show itself with a name, anybody have a person like this in their life besides me? you bet. if it is hard for us to give up our possesions, then they have become our god. we must quickly give them back to god for his glory, or they will eventually take over our lives.

thats our spiritual draino, it keeps the pipes clean from all the blockage.but we must also be free to forgive quickly, as he freely forgave us. if we choose not to forgive, we end up dry and bitter, critical and very sharp, pointing our fingers at others, telling the world it is their fault for their lot in life, and we want see justice on them, but sympathy for us.we are warped people for sure. thats why we need to understand grace and mercy