Love and Buzz Lightyear

It was the day of the feast when the lamb was to be sacrificed and Jesus had given instructions to Peter and John to prepare the Passover for him and the rest of the disciples. Upon entering the city of Jerusalem, they were to expect to encounter a man carrying a pitcher of water, and once they found him, they were to follow him and ask to use his guest room. That's exactly how they found themselves alone that evening in a large, furnished upper room.  Knowing the agony that was coming his way, Jesus was eager to celebrate with them what would be his last Passover on this earth. John begins his account of that night by saying of Jesus, "having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." Already loving these men that his Father had given him, he is about to love them to the complete end, to the outer limits, or as Buzz Lightyear would say, "to infinity and beyond".

How did He love them (and us) so fully that night?
Was it by taking up a basin and towel and serving them?
Was it by taking up the cross and dying there in our place?
Was it both of those things and everything He promised in between?
Was it the promise of beautiful dwelling places in Heaven, of being received there?
Was it the promise He made to do whatever they asked in His name, the promise that the Father loves those who love the Son, who keep his commandments?
Did he show His love by calling us friends, by praying for us, by giving us peace, joy and eternal life?
Did he show us the extent of his love by promising to not leave us as orphans, but to give us the Helper, the Spirit of truth, who would guide us into all truth?

John must have been captivated by this "love" talk he witnessed that night, must have listened intently to everything Jesus said, for he recorded it in great detail. He remembered how several times that night Jesus spoke of the Helper. In fact, the subject was so important, Jesus emphasized it, in at least four different occasions, throughout the night. "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me, but when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth;
john14:16-17john14:26john15:26john16:13

Have you ever thought about how important that promise of the Spirit was to that small group of weak men? Was it love that prompted Jesus to give them something they would need so much, before they even knew they needed it?

John later wrote in a letter, "Look how great is the love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; this is how God showed us His love, that He sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the sacrifice that pays the guilt of our sins." "And this is His commandment," John writes in that same letter, "that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. We know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us." And again John repeats, "By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God." (John's first letter)

Does God abide in you?

 "The one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son. And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." It is a simple equation, "He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life." 1john5:10-12
Have you agreed that Jesus Christ is God, that He has come to this world to be your Savior, to die for your sins?
There is no witness without the Spirit, there is no Spirit without new life in Christ.
If you believe in the Son, you have life and the Spirit is the witness within you to that truth.

"having also believed, 

you were sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit of promise, 

who is given as a pledge of our inheritance"

ephesians1:13-14

"And it is the Spirit who bears witness, 

because the Spirit is the truth." 

1john5:7

The Spirit bears witness within me, always there, always sure, reminding me of my position in the family, of the love of the Father, of the truth, of the words of Christ, of the mind of God. It is a gift of love with infinite proportions. How precious is the Spirit of truth to you?