Imagine Jesus saying, "Our Father is mean!" C'mon, I am sure that Jesus would say that if he hasn't understood his Father's will. Do you know what his Father did to him? His Father literally forced him to suffer on the earth to test his loyalty to the Father. He wanted us, the people, to see how Jesus suffered for His sake. What kind of Father is He?
A lot of us once had to submit to the mean parents, the mean coach, the mean boss, or even the mean spouse. I don't think any of us ever gleefully submit to anybody's will. That is until we finally understood God's will behind those mean parents, mean coach, mean boss, or even mean spouse, that we will gleefully submit to them. Or maybe we never did. Well, why should we?!
How did Jesus gleefully submit to his Father?
The answer lies in Luke 2:40, "And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the FAVOR of God was upon him." What is the other word for receiving the favor from God? It is grace. According to the definition, grace is a special undeserving favor coming from God in assistance for a special purpose. So if we replace the word "favor" with "grace", we will see that God's grace was upon Jesus. It sounds ironically doesn't it? Jesus' Father strengthens him for His meanness. Jesus even temporarily cried to his Father, "Please take my cup away!" It was the most greivous time for Jesus, the evidence came from his bloody sweat. The science indicated that we also have a small ounce of blood in our sweat whenever we grieved, but a very few of us ever experienced a hematidrosis. But it also sounds like Jesus experienced a silent therapy from his Father for Jesus once cried, "Father, why had you abandoned me!" Oh how much more does Jesus have to suffer? Then he died. Thus the ministry of reconciliation came into the picture!
If Jesus didn't undergo those past sufferings, then he shall suffer in the eternity as he grieves for each one of us. He is now gleefully watching us in the heaven above and walk among us on the earth as we learn His ways. He prays that each one of us will also takes up his cross and finish the race. We are called to be persons of influential.
How can we gleefully submit to our mean someone?
The answer lies in John 1:16, "And from his [Jesus] fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." Luke says that Jesus began to do and teach so that you all may continue to do and teach. In the same way, Jesus received the grace from God so that His grace may be upon you and you. By His favor, we will learn more and more about His will, His mysteries, which shall strengthens us to takes up Jesus' cross.
To be an influential person: "A dead seed produces many."
John 12:24, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."
Prepping for the lesson of "Grace" in IgniteASL.com
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