(tm) Day 1
Back to John Seventeen, Devotional
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: (John 17:1)
One of the evidences we are becoming spiritually mature is the strengthening of our awareness of the Lord’s timing. While we are immature we tend to rush about in ignorance of God’s will concerning the time during which we should attempt to accomplish our duties and desires. As we grow in grace we come to realize there is a time, a season for the events of the Kingdom of God.
As we submit to Christ’s will and learn to flow in resurrection life, our sense of the Spirit’s timing becomes increasingly clear. This is where patience and trust are required.
In some ways the Christian discipleship is a "dance" in which Christ does the leading. When we attempt to lead and direct Christ, confusion and discord result.
Christ was thirty-three years of age at the time of this prayer. The hour had come for Him to leave the world and return to the Father in Heaven. The Presence of God and of faith were so strong in Christ that He did not weep and mourn because He was "too young to die." He understood that the hour of His departure was now and He was content to abide in the will of the Father.
The wise person seeks the face of the Lord until he understands the Lord’s will for himself. In all his ways he acknowledges the Lord and commits his desires to Him—even concerning the duration of his physical life. Then he abides in that will as Christ gives grace.
The honoring and exalting of Christ results in the honoring and exalting of God the Father. Christ leads people to the Father. This always is true. The nature of the Personality of Christ is such that His glorification always results in the glorification of the Father.
This is not consistently true of Christ’s followers. Sometimes we seek Christ’s glory so we may glorify ourselves.
The mature saints live only for the glory of Christ. When they are honored and exalted the praise flows past them to Christ to God the Father. To God be the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever.