Prayer
Briefly prepare your heart in silence, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken your sense of anticipation that God is about to speak to you through His Word. Then, before you read, I invite you to pray this prayer from 1 Chronicles 29:11:
“Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendour, for everything in heaven and earth is Yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; and You are exalted as head over all.”
Be exalted in my life today. Amen.
Reading
51 Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.’
At its most fundamental, to obey the word of Jesus is to turn away from one’s sins and entrust oneself in full surrender to His saving Lordship (Mark 1:15). Remember that in John 6:29, Jesus said: “The work of God is this: to believe in the One he has sent.” Obeying His Word is not about earning our salvation. It is faith in Jesus that brings one into a relationship with Him in which, if one truly continues to live in surrender to His Lordship, one is infused with His character and His Life.
We see this principle playing itself out “in miniature”, at the level of human relationships. When we have a close friend or even a mentor whom we admire and aspire to be like, and with whom we spend a lot of time, they being to “rub off on us”. We gradually become more like them. We may even unwittingly adopt some of their mannerisms or speech patterns. When others see the changes in us they may say that we have really been “inspired” by them. It’s as though something of them has become part of us.
The same pattern of transformation also happens when we are in a discipleship relationship with Jeus as our Lord. The difference is that being inspired by Jesus is not just a psychological event. It is a spiritual reality. His Life actually enters into us by His Spirit and from within us His Spirit infuses us with His Life. We do not only live in close relationship with Jesus. The Spirit of Jesus lives within us.
And that is why those who obey Jesus’ word by repenting of our sin and embracing His Lordship will “never see death”. We will never see death because Jesus lives in us and He is Eternal.
Jesus said:
“Before Abraham was born, I am!” (v.58)
“I AM” is the great Name of God (Exodus 3:14) which signifies that God is eternal. And because Jesus is God the Son, He is eternal and He was for eternity by the time Abraham was born.
So, because Jesus is eternal, when we fully enter into communion with Him, we become infused with the same eternity and we “will not die”.
Contemplation
Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn this declaration over and over in your mind. Keep it in mind throughout the day and live in step with Your King, Jesus.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ:
- I will seek to be infused with the Life-giving presence of Jesus.
- I will live in faith-filled obedience to His Word.
Lord Jesus, please infuse me with Your Spirit of Life today. Amen.
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