Lesson 86

In Today's Scripture, Jesus offers believers the greatest possibility that exist for mankind. The role that Jesus suggests today for believers is the reason for and culmination of creation. In Yesterday's Scripture, Jesus told the disciples that when He returned to the Father, He would pray to the Father and God would send another Counselor, the Spirit of truth, that would be with them always. Because of the relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, this offer of the Spirit extends to include all of God.

Jesus began the offer by saying that soon the world would not see Him. Soon, He would be executed and buried. But, His disciples would see Him. Through the will of the Father and the power of the Spirit, the Son would defy death and return in resurrected glory. And Jesus says that the disciples would participate in His resurrected life. "Because I live, you will live also." Because we, as believers, are baptized into the death of Christ, we are raised with Him to a new life. The "Body of Christ" is a body that will never know death because it has passed over into a new realm of existence.

And, the great offer of Christ, is that by participating in the Body of Christ, the Father and the Son and the Spirit come to dwell within the believer. "In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." In Christ, all the fullness of God dwelt. In the same sense, in believers, all the fullness of the Father and the Son dwells in us.

The life of a believer that is indwelled by God will be a life that is centered around love. A love that flows from God to the believer and through the believer to those who we come in contact with. "One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him." Jesus even qualifies that those who love Him will be those who keep His commandments. And, He has recently given these disciples His commandment, that they love one another.

This new offer is so important that it is repeated again in slightly different language almost immediately. "If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him." If more believers fully believed that God dwelt within us, our lives and services toward God would be radically altered. Most of the time we feel weak and hopeless when we face the world and our own temptations. But, the infinite resources of Almighty God are within us! God Himself is in us, and there is nothing that God cannot accomplish.

In fact, God is accomplishing marvelous things at every moment all around us. And, He has offered to allow us to participate in these great works to the extent that we are willing to believe in them. It is not that God's work will not be done. God will achieve what He has set His mind to do. It is only whether we, ourselves, will participate in God's work. If we have faith and are willing to act in obedience to His love, we are allowed to participate. If we hold back through timidity or uncertainty, we only deprive ourselves.

God makes you an amazing offer. We live in a world where people will buy lottery tickets and enter sweepstakes at incredible odds. God's offer is rock solid and attainable. The odds are all in your favor. Can you afford to ignore the offer of God? Can you afford to live the rest of you life without Christ living within you?