Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
How do you think Jesus regards you as an individual? You believe that He "loves" you, because you've read John 3:16. But how does He love you? Do you feel that maybe He loves you like you love your faithful dog--or is His love different? Does He respect you? Does He honor you? Does He actually value your opinion? Does He like to hear what you say? In other words, is He interested in your prayers aside from being merely the Source for your requests--your spiritual "Santa Claus"?
He says something very thought-provoking in Revelation 3:21: "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne."
You can't imagine that the Father treats His Son as anything less than in full confidence. And you can't imagine that Jesus would invite you merely to "sit" on His throne by His side as only an observer who cannot participate. Just to have your picture taken There for the fun of it. No, it's more than that! Jesus is totally sincere; it means that when He invites you "to sit with [Him] on His throne," He must honestly share with you executive authority; He must respect you as a friend who has His full confidence. Otherwise, why would He say that?
In fact, if we turn to John 15:15 we find He told "us" through His disciples that He "no longer" calls us "servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you." And Ephesians 1 tells us over and over that the Father has "adopted" us as His children "in Christ."
Hold your head up high! Unworthy as you feel yourself to be, you are "somebody" in Christ!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 25, 2004.
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