They have kept thy word.

       John chapter 17 has always been one of my favorites (of course I have many! J ).  Today I was reading verse six and it was Jesus speaking about his disciples: I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them to me; and they have kept thy word.  What?  What did He mean they kept His word?  Right up until the end of His human life, the disciples still didn’t understand what was going on and still doubted who He was.  So, I had to look up what ‘kept’ meant: to guard by keeping the eye upon. (Strong’s)

       Jesus said the disciples heard the word, received the word, and believed (For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. 17:8) but when you read, you realize they still had doubts, questions, and misunderstandings until after Jesus reappeared after His resurrection.  With all these flaws- and more- how could Jesus say they kept His word?

       Well, they were the first ones to hear the good news from the mouth of the Savior in His human form.  And though lots of people heard the same good news, many had hardened hearts and couldn’t receive it.  The disciples heard and received it even though they didn’t comprehend it all then.  Three years with Jesus and they had not achieved true understanding. Still, they were the ‘guardians’ of the words Jesus spoke, and they kept listening and receiving all He had to say.

       They also went out and did all He told them to.  From following a man to secure a room for Passover to going out in teams of two preaching the good news and ministering to folks, the disciples did what Jesus asked of them- at least most of the time we read about.  I guess that’s something to say.  I’d like to believe I could do what the Lord asks of me 100% of the time, but like the disciples, I’m flawed, and I occasionally doubt, question and misunderstand.  Still, I choose to follow Him knowing that He can use me as I am with all my flaws for His glory.

       Now we are the ones to guard His Word here on the earth.  We are living epistles of the Lord walking on the earth (2Cor. 3:2) to show forth who He is, how much He loves them and that He wants to be with them right now.  Jesus wants to use each and every one of us.  We, in our flawed state, with our doubts, fears, questions, mistakes, misunderstandings and stumbles, are to keep His Word and express the love of Jesus Christ to the world.

Are we succeeding yet?