John 7:6-7 So Jesus said to them (that is, His brothers who had encouraged Him to go to the feast in Jerusalem to make Himself known publicly), “My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.”
What did Jesus mean by “My time?” He meant the time of His death. I conclude that first because in verse 1 we learned that Jesus knew the Jews were planning to kill Him and therefore stayed in Galilee. Second, the Jews’ hatred for Him was obviously on top of mind with Him. The Father was arranging the timing and circumstances in Jerusalem for Jesus to give His flesh to become the bread of life. As for His brothers’ times of death, it could happen anytime. Their death wasn’t contingent on being hated by the world, or anything, for that matter. They weren’t intentionally, knowingly, making decisions leading to their deaths. God could use any opportune situation to end their lives. Not so with Jesus.
For Jesus, His time was the Father’s time. Everything in His life was determined by His Father. Later in John 8:28, Jesus explained His decision-making. “So Jesus said, “‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative.’” Jesus’ time for everything in His life was determined by the Father, or by the Spirit of the Father, the Holy Spirit. They moved as one.
Nothing has changed for Jesus as He lives in us. He moves as the Spirit moves. He lives to the the will of His Father. If our goal is to live to love with Jesus, we must abide in Him. That means our time for everything in life is also determined by God, the Father. He orchestrates circumstances, moves people, and us so that He can glorify His name through His Son in us. At the beginning of every day, if we intend to abide in Him, our “time,” not meaning the time of our death, but the timing of the events of our days, must be surrendered to Him.
In another sense, we are intentionally, knowingly walking into our deaths. We died when Jesus died to our own agendas—our own lives in this world. When Jesus was raised from the dead, we were raised to walk or live our lives in Him, with Him—He abiding in us and we in Him. So today every situation or relationship is an opportunity for me to die to myself, die to my flesh attempts at living for God, and to abide in Christ and live to love with Him. In that sense, our time to die is opportune.
The love of God flows out of Jesus’ timely death, through my timely death, and out of His initiating love as we move together through the day. Our times are in His hands. That’s why James wrote in 4:14-15. “Yet, you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’”
So the encouragement to live to love with Jesus today is to live with the same sense of dependency upon the Father as Jesus does. Trust His timing for everything in your life, as well as with the timing of your death. Live surrendered to the will of God, as Jesus lives surrendered to the Father. Then you will have confidence that God’s will is being done on earth as it is in heaven in your life. Your life and death are in His hands. Out of that understanding and that kind of trust, the love of Christ will flow through your life.
I invite you to become a partner in our ministry. Would you pray about becoming a regular supporter of Elijah Ministries and the Live to Love with Jesus ministry? I hope you will receive the joy and benefit of "giving it forward," so others may receive encouragement to turn their hearts to God and to live to love with Jesus. You may give online or send a check to the address listed at www.spiritofelijah.com/donate.
