No Vacancy

Jesus said to his disciples: "Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him." Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, "Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?" 

Jesus answered and said to him, "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me. "I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name -- he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you." (John 14:21-26)

All of us Church goers and dwellers should listen closely to this passage. Do we keep his words?  Do we love Jesus? These are critical questions because if we don’t, answer “yes,” we will not be loved by the Father, and the Holy Spirit will not make its dwelling in us.  That quite the consequence of not keeping Jesus’s word.  

That word is “love.”  If we refuse to love ourselves, our neighbors, and God then we are empty and we might as well hang out a sign “Room for Rent” meaning we are looking for something or someone else.  

We must be careful because we never know who or what will take advantage of that empty space and vacancy. Evil abhors a vacuum and always looks for an opening into our soul.  It’s best that sign should read: “No Vacancy.”

Deacon David Pierce