“WHO WILL BELIEVE IN ME!”

 

John 17:20-26                 (ESV)

“[20] “I do not ask for these only, but also for THOSE “WHO WILL BELIEVE IN ME”through THEIR WORD, [21] that THEY may all be ONE, just as YOU, FATHER, are in ME, and I in YOU, that THEY ALSO may be IN US, so that the world may believe that YOU have sent ME. [22] The GLORY that YOU have given ME I have given TO THEM, that THEY may be ONE even as WE are ONE, [23] I in THEM and YOU in ME, that THEY may become PERFECTLY ONE, so that the world may know that YOU sent ME and loved THEM even as YOU loved ME. [24] FATHER, I desire that THEY also, WHOM YOU have give ME, may be with ME where I AM, to see MY GLORY that YOU have given ME because YOU LOVED ME BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. [25] O righteous FATHER, even though the world does not know YOU, I know YOU, and THESE know that YOU have sent ME. [26] I made known to THEM YOUR NAME, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which YOU have loved ME may be in THEM, and I in THEM.””

Normally I capitalize any word that IDENTIFIES DIETY, as GOD, JESUS, and the HOLY SPIRIT are certainly WORTHY to be elevated far above my humanity!  However, this morning as I was “editing” this text, I felt I had to CAPITALIZE we WHO BELIEVE that JESUS CHRIST died for our sins, because HE now LIVES in our bodies!

This text of Scripture is part of what is subtitled “The High Priestly Prayer”, and my life doesn’t reflect JESUS enough to warrant being recognized as a BELIEVER?  As the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Timothy 1:15, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that CHRIST JESUS came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”  The King James Version says “I am chief”!!  

Observing THE CRUCIFIXION through “this lense”, it opens my EYES to SEE how much I am LOVED by MY CREATOR!  HE CHOSE (Ephesians 1:4) ME BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, FULLY KNOWING that I would be as pitiful as I am, TO GLORIFY HIS NAME!!!  JESUS went through the TRAGEDY OF THE CROSS just because of me!

There are MANY times that I have to be reminded that I AM CHOSEN!!!  Being WORTHY isn’t something that I would EVER be mistaken for, but I am CHOSEN BY HIM to be ONE of HIS!!!  JESUS prayed for me in HIS HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER when HE prayed for THOSE “WHO WILL BELIEVE IN ME”!!!  I AM BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE!!!