Our Selfless Savior

The incredible selflessness of our Savior is completely overwhelming, drawing us to a place where we contemplate His remarkable character, His kindness, His goodness, His faithfulness! My thoughts have been on John 17, that extraordinary moment where Jesus prayed for His disciples. Verses 11-13 say this; “𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒚 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆, 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆. 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎, 𝑰 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒌𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒔𝒂𝒇𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆. 𝑵𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑺𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅. 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅, 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒋𝒐𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.”

At a time when you would most expect Jesus to be thinking of himself. He wasn’t. When our Redeemer’s darkest hour was upon Him, facing a brutal death on a cross, you really would think His cries to the Father would, understandably, be selfish. They weren’t. His thoughts and prayers were for His friends, His disciples, for you and me! Astounding. 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘂𝘀!

What was it that Jesus prayed for those He loved so much? He prayed that the Holy Father would protect them by the mighty and awesome power of His name – just as Jesus had protected them. He prayed that they would be one just as the Father and Son are one with the Holy Spirit. And He prayed that they would have the full measure of Jesus’ joy within them! The full measure of Jesus’ joy!

Our Savior, our Glorious LORD, wants joy fulfilled in your life, his desire is to multiply your joy – not subtract it. He wants you to have joy, and joy abundantly, so much so that this He prayed for you! My prayer is that you would have that full measure of Jesus joy, that calm delight, and abundant rejoicing that characterizes our Savior! 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘂𝘀!