Week 37: The World Hates Me

Day:  258        Verses Memorized:  681          Working On:  John 16
The John Squad
Please click here to chart your own progress - even though I'm the only one still doing this
My Progress:
15 Chapters down.  I can't believe I made it this far.  I feel like I'm in the home stretch and the verses have been coming so easily to me.  The chapters have been getting shorter, so it keeps me motivated because I can see how much progress I'm making.  I've been aiming to do a chapter a week, but I'm not sure I'll make that goal for this week, since 16 is 33 verses and seems a little difficult.  But I'll certainly give it my best shot.  I am just so thrilled to have come this far.  I actually believe that this can be done now and I no longer have feelings of doubt.  However, I do understand that after I "finish", I will never truly be done.  As soon as I memorize the last verse, I am going to need to spend a few solid months in serious review.  Chapter 6 is still a killer and I know that a few other chapters have gotten rusty.  But my plan for now is to go full-steam ahead to the end and then go back and review for as long as it takes me until I can recite the entire thing from start to finish.

Some Thoughts:
"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own.  As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world."  What an honor to be hated by the world!  Lately, I have been feeling more and more that I do not belong to this world.  Just flipping through a couple channels on TV, I want nothing to do with this place.  What a privilege to be chosen out of this world.  I don't care if this world hates me.  I am a citizen of heaven and just passing through.

"I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last."  How on earth do you wrap your brain around that one?!  First of all, Jesus is calling me His friend?  Secondly, He has chosen me?  How desperately unworthy I am.

Twice in this chapter, Jesus gives the command to love each other.  And countless times He has said that if we love Him, we are to obey his teaching.  Most of this chapter is about remaining in Him so that we can obey His commands and share in His joy.  It still infuriates me when I choose to disobey and do not act in love.  I fall often.  I don't know why He keeps holding up His end of the deal when I have failed so miserably so many times. 

I am one little branch, but I am clinging onto the vine with all my might.

Week 36: Do I Really Love Him?

Day:  251          Verses Memorized:  654          Working On:  Ch.15

The John Squad
Please click here to chart your own progress - even though I'm the only one still doing this
My Progress:
I completed Chapter 14 this week.  I am extremely pleased with my progress.  However, these chapters are growing a little more difficult, because Jesus is doing a long narrative and I sometimes get stuck so easily.  I was hoping to be able to do one chapter per week for a while, but I may fall short of that goal.  (Alright, I may as well admit it... My "official" goal was to complete this project in 2 years.  My unofficial secret goal was to do it within a year.  There I said it.  I was a coward and made a wimpy goal so that I wouldn't be disappointed if I made a challenging goal and failed.)  Either way, I am happy to have only 7 chapters to go and I have renewed energy and motivation.  People must be praying for me.

Some Thoughts:
14:15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command."
14:21 "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me."
14:23 "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching."

Yikes!  Do I love Him or not?  I sure do like to think that I love Him, but how about that obedience...

Amazing Truth:  "On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you."  That just struck me as totally awesome.  First off, because it took me probably an hour just to get that one verse straight, I had some extra time to really think about its meaning.  So many verses in the Bible talk about how Jesus is in the Father.  But these ones got my attention because it talks about how we are in Him and He is in us.  It's just neat to think that we are that important to Him, and we share such an intimate relationship.

Most Encouraging Verses Ever: 
"You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."  Don't misunderstand and think that means we can ask Him for whatever the heck we want.  Clearly, if we ask anything that is in the Father's will, He will do it.  Time to figure out what is in the Father's will so we can ask!

"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."  Hooray!!  So ten years from now, the Holy Spirit will remind me of all 21 chapters of the Book of John and I will be able to recite them flawlessly.  How nice to have a Counselor to help us remember things.  Now, if He would just remind me where I put my car keys once in a while...

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you."  Does that sound awesome or what?!

"Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."  I know that one is easier said than done, but it is still nice to hear Jesus say it.  They guy who speaks for Jesus on my Bible on CD does an outstanding job and there is something so soothing about his voice.  With the craziness and evil in this world, I find it so comforting to just sit and listen to chapter after chapter of this book and reflect on Jesus' life of love that He gave for us.

"The prince of this world is coming.  He has no hold on me..."  I just think it's so awesome how Jesus was totally in control the entire time, even when people thought He was completely defeated.  How He was able to humble Himself in such a way is beyond me.  I can't imagine submitting to evil the way He did in order to save me while I was still evil! 

I am looking forward to memorizing the next couple of chapters.  I am feeling more and more of Jesus' distress as the hour is approaching, but the really difficult verses don't come until around chapter 19.  I am still worried about memorizing those ones, but I reckon I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Week 35: Really Dirty Feet

Day:  244          Verses Memorized:  623          Working On:  Review

The John Squad
Please click here to chart your own progress - even though I'm the only one still doing this
My Progress:
I am finished with Chapter 13 and will move onto Chapter 14 after a couple days of review.  I was hoping that I might be able to do about a chapter a week now that these last several chapters are all around 30 verses.  However, I glanced over the next couple chapters and it seems that Jesus is doing an awful lot of theological talking which seems like it will be hard to remember.  Sometimes I have a hard time connecting the ideas in my head so it requires a lot of extra time and study to really understand what is being said. 

Some Thoughts:
I just can't get over the way in which Jesus treats Judas in this chapter.  He has known all along who was going to betray Him.  He knew right from the beginning.  Yet, none of the disciples had any clue, which leads me to believe that Jesus treated Judas just like all the rest, with nothing but love and respect.  In this chapter, Judas is still present during the washing of the disciples' feet.  Can you imagine stooping down to wash the feet of the man who was about to betray you?  And going further, after Jesus' heart becomes troubled and He begins talking about being betrayed, He dips the bread in the dish and gives it to Judas.  I never thought that much of this verse - I always thought it was just His little symbolic way of pointing out who the traitor would be.  But in my studies, I have learned that dipping bread in a dish and giving it to someone indicates a high honor and respect for the person.  Jesus was humbling Himself and honoring JUDAS! 

"A new command I give you:  Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another."  Another verse I have known for most of my life.  But after meditating on these past few chapters and gaining a deeper understanding of what His love is really all about, I am realizing how vastly far I fall short of this command.  I can't imagine loving anyone to depth that Jesus has loved me.  

"Then Jesus answered, 'will you really lay down your life for me?'"  I can't help but see the paradox here.  Peter is promising to Jesus that he will lay down his life, when really, in about 24 hours, it would be the complete opposite.

"My children, I will be with you only a little longer".  Just a few short chapters ago, Jesus was telling the Jews this exact same statement.  I just love how He adds "my children" and talks to His disciples with such love and leadership.  Even as His own heart is troubled and He is about to face the most awful death and rejection, He is ministering to His disciples rather than focusing on Himself.  Astonishing.

"Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later."  Again, just a few short chapters ago, He said the same thing to the Jews only with a different ending.  "I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin.  Where I go, you cannot come."  8:21.  So the Jews will look for Him and die in their sin because they cannot come where He is going.  But His disciples, while they cannot follow now, will follow later.  I am happy to be among the disciples who will follow later rather than one of the Jews and die in my sin!

As I reflect on this chapter and see Jesus' humility and servanthood, I am in awe once again even just catching a glimpse of who He is.  I just can't comprehend this kind of service and ministry to others, especially ones like Judas.  I am beyond thankful that Jesus chooses to wash my feet even though I betray Him each time I sin. 

Thankyou, Jesus. 

Week 34: Now is the Time

Day:  237          Verses Memorized:  585          Working On:  Review

The John Squad
Please click here to chart your own progress - even though I'm the only one still doing this

My Progress:
I loved Chapter 12.  I am excited that memorizing is coming much easier and am hoping that I'll be able to keep up my pace.  I'll spend a couple days reviewing previous chapters and will start Chapter 13 by the end of the week.

Some Thoughts:
"Now is the time for judgment on this world.  Now the prince of this world will be driven out."  Such bittersweet words.  As the hymn goes, "did e'er such love and sorrow meet or thorns compose so rich a crown."  Time for judgment.  And every ounce of God's wrath would be poured out on his perfect, sinless Son.  He would receive all of it.  God's wrath would be exhausted.  How awful, terrible, sad, and unfair for our Savior!  How wonderful, awesome, amazing, and glorious for us!

I am so thankful that I have been chosen to walk in the light.  Why I sometimes desire to take a stroll in the darkness is beyond me.  How I can take this phenomenal sacrifice for granted and despise God with my sin sickens me. 

"Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him."  I have been attending a Bible Study and we are learning about God's Holiness.  We studied this very passage in Isaiah 6 where Isaiah saw God in His holiness and was overwhelmed.  His response was, "Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips."  "Woe is me" literally means, "I am undone" or "disintegrated."  We are so unworthy to even be in the presence of such a holy God.  Can you imagine?  When we even catch a glimpse of His perfection, we immediately realize our own imperfection and basically, we're put in our place.  Who do I think I am, anyway! 

I'm really beginning to see Jesus' submission to the Father as I've memorized this chapter.  What a perfect example of what my own attitude should be.

Onto Chapter 13...
I'm thankful to be on this journey but I am also afraid of what lies ahead.