Listen

“I won’t leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

John 14:18-21

Think

Every day, I sit in my big green lounge chair and play my guitar. The chair is positioned so that I look at a photo of my father’s family taken one hot Mississippi summer afternoon years ago. Four generations are represented. In each smiling face, I sense my strong family legacy — I know they are in me. They walk and live through me each day.

Jesus tells us that we have a legacy with him. In John 14 he says: “I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you.” That’s a family tree you can lean on. Jesus also says that our legacy as Christians is known by its love. Jesus tells us to love him by living like him — to complete the family circle of love he enjoys with God in heaven. Clearly, God is always near.

Show Jesus you love him today by living according to his example. May the circle be unbroken.

Bill Ogletree

Pray

Lord, thank you for the faith legacy of family and others who lived before. Show me how I can offer love today to those in need. Amen.

Go

I know who goes before me

I know who stands behind

The God of angel armies

Is always by my side

from “Whom Shall I Fear” by Chris Tomlin, 2013