Scriptures: Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21: John 17:20-26
Key Verse: “I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26)
Have you ever had a visitor stay at your place for a period of time, and your daily routine wasn’t interrupted much but merely modified, which surprisingly enriched your life? In the winter of 2005, I connected with a former colleague from Taiwan on the phone. We chatted joyfully about the old times when both of us were teaching English in a bilingual kindergarten. Then she mentioned that it was time for her to plan her travel but she did not know where to go. So, I casually suggested that she could come to the States and stay with us. I don’t remember all the details on how she made her decision at the end, but we had her with us for a month or so.
After I announced this to my husband and my daughter, we thought about how we could provide a good experience for her without stressing ourselves out--we previously had an unpleasant experience when one of my students and her daughter from Taiwan stayed with us for a couple of months in 2002. We prayed about it and trusted that everything would be just fine. Indeed, her staying with us enriched our lives and strengthened our friendship. We recently connected on the phone about a month ago. She told me that she would never forget her wonderful experience staying with us, which brought her to faith in Christ and gave her hope for a marriage that she had dreamed of. Now, she is married to a faithful Christian and is a lovely mom of three beautiful children.
Jesus has foretold his coming to us. Are you excited? Would Jesus’ coming interrupt our daily routines, enrich our lives, or overwhelm us? Most blessed and lasting relationships happen when both sides hold the same values and have the same life purpose. Jesus commanded us to follow the Great Commandments; Jesus taught us everything that we need to do and to be his disciples in the Great Commission. If we have been adapting Jesus’ values and living for the same purpose, our daily routine shouldn’t be interrupted but enriched when Jesus comes to us. However, we probably will be overwhelmed to some degree because it’s Jesus, not just any one.
If we pay enough attention, we might notice that God keeps sending new people our way for us to get to know, to build relationships, and to love and forgive. Sometimes, God leads us to unfamiliar territories to meet people who haven’t experienced God’s love or lived out their potential to be God’s people in the world. What if God is calling you to be the person passing on Jesus’ teaching and values and spreading God’s love in ways that you haven’t imagined? It has been a blessing and honor for me to be on this call. It’s my prayer that we are all iin this together as Jesus’ disciples and ambassadors of God’s love, to be the answer of Jesus’ prayer in John 17:26, which is, “I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” Amen.
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