Tag Archives: abide in my love

Pursuing Love, Walking in the Spirit

Rooted and grounded in love

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The great grey shrike on Cannock Chase

“That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Eph 3: 17-18)

Love is the ground where the word of God takes root.  It’s the foundation where the house is built. It brings stability and strength. Love characterises the “good and noble heart” of Luke 8:15 that keeps the word of the kingdom and bears fruit with patience. The Greek word translated as “Noble” is Agathos. It’s the same word used in Mark 10:18, when Jesus says only God is good. Similarly, the Strong’s definition of Kalos (“good”) relates to every manner of perfection; flawlessness, in a word. A good and noble heart Is one that is flawless and perfect, not one that is corrupted by sin.

By contrast, Jeremiah 17 :9 tells us “the heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” The Hebrew word “anas,” translated as “desperately wicked,“ has the sense of weakness and frailty associated with an incurable illness. If ever there was a word to describe our sinful nature, this is it. It is definitely not good ground, and never will be. The only “good and noble” heart that Scripture shows us is the heart of God Himself. And the wonderful thing is, that when we are born again of the Father and He has given us a new heart, this is the very “heart of flesh” that we receive. It seems to me that the seed of the word of God can only be sown in the heart of flesh that we receive by the Spirit at the new birth. This is the ground of love with the word takes root and bears fruit.

This is not just theology and spiritual ideas: it works. When we choose to build on the ground of love we experience God‘s blessing. “Give, and it shall be given to you“ does not just refer to money or resources: when we choose to give love to others, God gives back to us, even in the small things. In fact, He often teaches us through the small things so we can apply his teaching to the bigger ones. If you know me, or have read some of my other articles, (eg “Between the Chapel and the Damned”) you will know that I am a bird watcher. A hobbyist bird photographer, to be precise. The picture above is of a distant great grey strike. They are very rare winter visitors to the UK, and there has been one this Winter on Cannock Chase, just a few miles from my house. There are apps that pinpoint the location of these rarities, so people in the birding community know roughly where they are. Yesterday morning I went out to try and find the great grey shrike. I only had a couple of hours, because I needed to meet with Anne by 10.30 so we could be on the same page about what to say at the retirement party that was being given in our honour (we have just retired from our business) at 12.00 o’clock. In other words, I had a relational commitment, a commitment to prioritize love.

I spent about an hour walking around and waiting in the area where the shrike had last been seen, but to no avail. My time was running out, and I was going to check one more likely place, but then I felt quite strongly that the Lord said: “No. It’s time you headed back now.“ On this occasion I did what I was told (on many occasions I don’t!) and started back down the path towards the car park. After a couple of hundred yards I turned the corner, and there was a little group of birders with their  cameras and telescopes all pointing in one direction. Yes: it was the great grey shrike. It was a good distance away, but happily I was able to see it and take some pictures. Five minutes after I arrived it flew off. If I had gone to check that other area before turning back, I would have missed it. God wants to bless us, even in our hobbies.

The word from Jeremiah about the heart of man goes on to say: “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.“ (Jer. 17:10) He blessed me by allowing me to see that bird, of which there are at the time of writing only three records currently in the UK. But, and more importantly, it blessed Him that I listened to what He said and did what I was told, and put my love for other people before my personal interests.

The point is this. I know full well that my natural heart, my heart of stone, would have gone to check that other place before heading home. I would have said to myself, “It will only take five minutes, and that won’t make any difference to the circumstances of the rest of the day.” And indeed it wouldn’t have: when I got home events had actually been delayed by half an hour or so, so I would have had plenty of time. But my new heart, my heart of flesh, was open to hear the word to prioritise Love, and because I was able to respond to it I walked into the blessing that God had planned. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be given unto you.”  (Matt 6:33)

Even, in this case, a great grey shrike.

Pursuing Love, The word of God, Walking in the Spirit

The Bread of Life

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“Unless you eat the flesh of the son of a man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise Him ap at the last day.” (John 6:53)

When Jesus said this to the Jews and the rest of the crowd that was following him, his listeners were variously puzzled or scandalized, and at that point the gospel account said “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” (v 66) Verse 60 quotes many of his disciples as saying “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”

Taken literally and out of context it’s not hard to understand; it’s impossible. But pieced together with other verses I think the meaning is clear, and as we shall see at the end, carries a wonderful promise.

We’ll start with the idea of eating. This discourse follows the feeding of the 5,000. We must remember that John refers to the miracles of Jesus as “signs.” Jesus actually says to the crowd:  “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.” This particular sign points to verse 51:  “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

If Jesus is the bread of Life, and his flesh “is food indeed” (v 55), how do we eat it? He has given us the clue already, when he was talking to the disciples after his meeting with the Samaritan woman; “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” (John 4:34)

If His food was to do the work of the Father and to finish it, what is ours? Again, He tells us. John 6:29 says “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” His food is to do what His Father says; our food is to do what Jesus says. Jesus came that we “may have life, and that in abundance,” (John 10:10) and His words  “are Spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63). When we obey His words our actions and decisions are imbued with His life. So it’s worth repeating: to eat His flesh is to do what He says. That is our food, that is the bread that came down from heaven. Our food is to do His work and believe in Him. Just as the Son didn’t do anything unless he heard it from the Father, we need our spiritual ears to be attuned to the whisper of the Holy Spirit so that we can hear everything the Son is saying to us; and, even more importantly, we need our hearts and our wills to be submitted and committed to Him so that we can obey what He says when we hear it.

But Jesus wasn’t just talking about eating His flesh; he also said that we need to drink His blood.  As we know from 1 Cor 11:25, the cup is the New Covenant in His blood. To drink His blood is to partake of the covenant by which He promises us His life, and the power and the provision to do His life giving work, because that’s why He came, and that’s what He send us to continue: for His life to irrigate the desert, for His light to shine in the darkness, for the glory of His love to fill the Earth. When we drink His blood, walking in the forgiveness and access to the throne that His covenant  promises – “remembering His death until He comes” – we can have faith to receive everything we need from Heaven in order to do His work and to take His kingdom back from the enemy who stole it. So we “do not labour for the food, which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” (John 6:53)  The blood has paid the price of all our sin and it secures our inheritance and our access to the promises of His covenant.

John 6 Verses 56 to 57 says “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I and him. As the living father sent me, and I live because of the father, so he who feeds on me, will live because of me. This is the bread, which came down from heaven – not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”

Now we need to flick through a few chapters and land on John 15:7-10, because here the Word circles back to the same teaching, and here is where we find that wonderful promise that I mentioned at the beginning of this article:

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”

The word “if” here does not denote a condition; it denotes a consequence. When, rather than if. It doesn’t mean that Jesus will love us as long as we obey Him, because He loves us all the time. But I think  He is saying that when we do what He says we stay (abide) in the place where His love is focussed at that moment for us to operate in – the person we are talking to that He wants to bring into His Kingdom, the person in the congregation whose broken heart He wants to heal, the prisoner He wants to set free –  the specific “works prepared beforehand for us to walk in” of Ephesians 2:10. When we do what He says and abide in His love we become the agents for that love to flow into the situations that He is leading us into. He shines the spotlight of His love on a need He wants to meet, and when we obey His instruction we remain in that circle of light ourselves.

So if we want to be active agents in His Kingdom, we need to hunger for His bread, which is to hunger for His commands. Because when we do what He says, drinking also the blood of His covenant and remembering His death and all it means for us until He comes, we move in the sphere of His love and truly walk in the Spirit, where all of His promises are yes, and they are amen.


Key scriptures from John 6 and John 15

Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” (John 6: 26-27)

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” (51)

Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6: 53-54)

“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. (John 6: 56-57)

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6: 63)

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will [fn] ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” (John 15 7-10)