A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” — John 13:34-35
Special Glasses
Recently, we were at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. Many of the rides require the use of special glasses so that you can experience the full effects of the video screen and motion of the ride. Without these glasses, the ride would not work in the way it was created to – to thrill us and make us feel like we were participating in the action of the ride.
As I sat outside one morning, I thought of those glasses and wished I had a pair to see the exquisite detail in God’s creation and experience it like I was one of the birds, or a fish in the pond, or a dragonfly zipping over the water. Wouldn’t that be cool? Have you ever wondered what it would look like if we could see God’s creation in all of its glory?
I wanted special glasses to experience more of God, to fully participate in this world as He created it instead of how it appears from our human perspective.
What struck me next was a fun and challenging thought: what if we had Jesus glasses?
What if we had the ability to see people the way that Jesus saw them? We could look at someone and see their inner beauty, their pain, their needs, their hunger for love.
Instead of seeing outward appearance, with our Jesus glasses we could see each person as God created him or her to be. We could enter into that person’s world and feel what it was like to walk a day in their shoes.
What if we could put Jesus glasses on and enter into His world of love, grace, justice, mercy, and forgiveness. Imagine if we could feel the rush of love surrounding Jesus as He reaches out to touch someone hurting. Wouldn’t that be a great “ride?”
Instead of sitting on the back of an imaginary dragon flying through the sky, we could experience the world through the eyes of Jesus!
Experiencing Jesus’ Love
Even though we don’t have special glasses, Jesus told us how He would like the world to experience His love:
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” — John 13:34-35
We allow others to experience Jesus by loving them the way Jesus loves us: sacrificially. If we love others like Jesus first loved us, our actions will work like those special glasses. Our love will invite pre-believers into our world, to see a life in relationship with Jesus, to experience the peace and hope that flows when God is at the center of our lives.
It would be a lot easier if we had special glasses to give to our neighbors and friends to help them experience the love of Jesus. Instead, they only have our lives to look through. Do our lives give them an experience of the love of God? When they look at our lives, is everything filtered through sacrificial, selfless love for others?
Could your neighbors and friends experience Jesus by looking through you?
Folks, we are those special glasses! To someone who doesn’t know Jesus, our love for one another should let them know that we are Christ-followers. Entering into our world should allow them to experience the full glory of God’s love.
Yet, much of the time, I’m pretty sure my world looks a lot like theirs. How do we develop a life that looks thrilling and desirable to others?
Loving Like Jesus Did
I’m back to those Jesus glasses. Every single day we need to put on our Jesus glasses and love others like He did. How do we do that?
The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, our Helper.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. — John 14:16-17
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 have said to you. — John 14:26
The Holy Spirit is better than any set of glasses we might dream up. The Spirit of Truth resides with us at all times. The Holy Spirit is always available to help us, to teach us. We can remember how Jesus loved because the Holy Spirit will bring all that Jesus said to our remembrance.
Some of my favorite verses about the Holy Spirit are in John 16:
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. — John 16:12-15
Better than Jesus Glasses!
In these verses, Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth and speak to us the things that are to come, essentially telling us the very thoughts of God. The Holy Spirit is better than Jesus glasses! The Holy Spirit speaks love into our hearts and minds. We only need to listen for Him. Jesus will tell us how to love others as He loved us by working through the Holy Spirit.
Where is the Holy Spirit leading you to show more love?
For even more from Kim Erickson, check out her book His Last Words: What Jesus Taught and Prayed in His Final Hours (John 13-17).
Imagine knowing you only have several more hours to live. Picture the faces of your loved ones gathered around you. Allow the emotions to rise up in your heart.
What would you say?
John 13–17 records Jesus’ last words to the disciples before His death, revealing what was most important to Him. When we study those words and prayers today, we enter deep into the heart of Jesus and come away changed: overwhelmed by the love of God, inspired to follow Him, and empowered to spread the gospel.
