You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am ….I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master… —John 13:13, 16
To have a master and teacher is not the same thing as being mastered and taught. Having a master and teacher means that there is someone who knows me better than I know myself, who is closer than a friend, and who understands the remotest depths of my heart and is able to satisfy them fully. It means having someone who has made me secure in the knowledge that he has met and solved all the doubts, uncertainties, and problems in my mind. To have a master and teacher is this and nothing less— “…for One is your Teacher, the Christ…” (Matthew 23:8).
Our Lord never takes measures to make me do what He wants. Sometimes I wish God would master and control me to make me do what He wants, but He will not. And at other times I wish He would leave me alone, and He does not.
“You call Me Teacher and Lord…”— but is He? Teacher, Master, and Lord have little place in our vocabulary. We prefer the words Savior, Sanctifier, and Healer. The only word that truly describes the experience of being mastered is love, and we know little about love as God reveals it in His Word. The way we use the word obey is proof of this. In the Bible, obedience is based on a relationship between equals; for example, that of a son with his father. Our Lord was not simply God’s servant— He was His Son. “…though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience…” (Hebrews 5:8). If we are consciously aware that we are being mastered, that idea itself is proof that we have no master. If that is our attitude toward Jesus, we are far away from having the relationship He wants with us. He wants us in a relationship where He is so easily our Master and Teacher that we have no conscious awareness of it— a relationship where all we know is that we are His to obey.
Journal DJR
Good morning Lord, It’s true, I recoil at the idea of Master…as in slave and master. I suppose that is correct because that is not the type of master you are. To get my head around the master concept I think of the master and apprentice system from the craft guilds. And the “masters” I’ve learned from in business and art. I learn from them, not because they make me, but because I want to. So that much is like our relationship, but then the analogy breaks down. I want to be like them in certain regards, but I see they have shortcomings that I dont want to follow. Unlike you. I also can and have surpassed them in certain areas. Unlike you.
The type of love you have is relentless: “Our Lord never takes measures to make me do what He wants. Sometimes I wish God would master and control me to make me do what He wants, but He will not. And at other times I wish He would leave me alone, and He does not.”
You are beginning to see and understand my love. I dont force. I woo. And I can wait. I’ve been teaching you to remain curious as I myself am curious. Because I have given you free will and choice. What will you choose? How much of what I offer will you receive? I’m curious, and watching. Like the prodigal’s father, I wait and watch.
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