Live to Love Scripture Encouragement

John 20:26 “After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.’"
Just like Jesus appeared the first time to the disciples, He materialized in a closed room and stood in their midst. Again He said, “Peace be with you.” It was important to Jesus and to John that Thomas was present. He wanted his readers to know of Jesus’ love for Thomas. Maybe it was because John wanted to encourage those who want proof that Jesus lives. The risen Christ not only appeared once, but twice, to them just for Thomas’ sake.
This gives us confidence to encourage people who doubt or question the reality of Jesus’ resurrection to seek Him and settle for nothing less than a personal encounter with Jesus. Jesus will give them His peace and the Holy Spirit.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 20:24-25 “But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’”
Before we judge Thomas too quickly or harshly, let’s consider the bright side. Thomas wanted to have first hand experience with the risen Christ. I don’t blame him, so would I. Is it enough for us that God’s word tells us that God is love and that He loves us? For some, yes, that’s enough. For others, who want to be touched deeply, just hearing about God’s love isn’t enough. They want to experience His love first hand. Furthermore, I think of John’s opening to his first epistle where he wrote, 1 John 1:1-2 “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life —and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us —“ Did you hear that? We have looked at and touched with our hands. That’s what Thomas is known for. That’s his testimony. I touched the risen Word of Life with my own hands, so I can testify with confidence that He died and lives. We can have peace with God and fellowship with Him and each other.
To live to love with Jesus, we must have Him with us. We want to see Him, touch Him, and be touched by Him. We are living testimonies of the grace of God to a sin-trapped, death enslaved world. May we have the same desire as Thomas to be fully engaged with Jesus and surrendered to the reality of His resurrection life in us.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

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John 20:23 “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained."
Notice that the Holy Spirit’s ministry is a ministry of discernment. “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained." They will have the ability to discern what God has and hasn’t done. Another way to think of the blessing Jesus gives through the Holy Spirit is this: The Holy Spirit enables us to keep in step with what God is doing in and through our lives and the lives of others. We learn from this verse that it’s not a given that everyone’s sins are to be forgiven. We need the Holy Spirit to know when to affirm the work of forgiveness in the lives of the people God puts in our paths. We also need to know when God has not worked. We conclude that if God has forgiven someone’s sins, then He would give them a spirit of repentance and conviction of sin. They know clearly what they have done and are aware they need forgiveness. The Holy Spirit gives us discernment as we listen and watch how they respond to their own sins. In contrast, if God has withheld forgiveness from a person, the Holy Spirit knows it because He has not done the work of conviction, brokenness, and repentance. The Holy Spirit then will not witness to us that God is at work, and so we will withhold encouraging them that their sins are forgiven.
What we learn from this passage is that our relationship with the Holy Spirit is vital if we are going to live to love with Jesus. We need His discernment to recognize those in whom God has worked his gracious work of repentance and forgiveness.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 20:21-22 “So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ and when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”
Being sent by Jesus as the Father sent His Son is to produce peace. The next verse tells us what He meant. The Father sent Jesus in the power of the Spirit, and He sent His disciples and all believers in the power of the Spirit. So peace be with you! You have the presence and power of God in you everywhere you go. You have no reason to fear or be troubled. You are no more alone in this world than Jesus was.
The Holy Spirit’s presence in Jesus’ life is how God, the Father, is manifested in His life. The Holy Spirit’s presence is how Jesus is manifested in our lives. Peace comes from a total submission to the Holy Spirit just as Jesus was submitted to the Spirit of the Father. If our purpose in life is to live to love with Jesus, then we can walk peacefully, trusting Him to do what pleases Him to glorify the Father in our lives. May we heed carefully what Paul, the apostle wrote to the Colossians. Colossians 3:15 “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.”

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 20:20 “And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”
And so will we! There is a day and a time when we who believe and trust in Jesus will see the Lord in His body. What a day that will be! The author of Hebrews wrote of this moment. Hebrews 9:28 “so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”
The last time some of the disciples saw Jesus He was bloodied from head to toe with gashes and nail and spear wounds. Imagine their joy at seeing Jesus alive and well within 3 days. What do you think they saw when He showed them His hands and side that made them rejoice?
Seeing Jesus’ wounds, most of them to a great degree healed, in His resurrected body meant He had been to the Father and had returned as He promised with the Holy Spirit. I wonder if any of them recalled His words from the previous Thursday.
John 16:19 Jesus knew that they wished to question Him, and He said to them, "Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, 'A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me'?
John 16:20 Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy.
John 16:21 Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.
John 16:22 Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
Today as we live to love with Jesus, let us rejoice and be filled with joy. Jesus who appeared to them lives in us.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com