Today's scripture: John 5:30
Jesus is God. He is part of what we call the Trinity: God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit. One God manifested in three Persons.
The Son came to earth to be the once-for-all sacrifice to provide salvation,
and while He was on earth, He worked in perfect unity with the Father.
According to one commentary, Jesus is saying in today's verses, "I am the
Son that can do nothing separate from the Father, and contrary to his will, but
do all things in conjunction with him; who sees all that he does, by being in
him, and co-operating with him, and do the selfsame. I am the Son to whom the
Father shows, and by whom he does, all he does; and to whom he will show, and
by whom he will do, as a co-efficient with him, greater works than what, as
yet, he has done ..." Jesus did not "seek to gratify his own will, as
distinct from his Father's, or in opposition to it; for he had no private end
to answer, or separate interest, or advantage to pursue ..." (John Gill's
Exposition of the Bible).
Now, we are not God ... far from it! However, we
can learn from how the Son worked with the Father. We too should do
"nothing on [our] own initiative." We should "not seek [our] own
will." Instead, we should always seek God's will.
We have choices to make every day. Some are minor; some are life-changing.
Before we head down any path, we need to seek God's will. We need to align
ourselves with Him and, just as Jesus did, not try to do anything on our own.
So, as you head down whatever path that's in front of you today, pray for God's
leading. Pray for His will. Follow His path.
Today's
scripture: John 5:25-29
The Bible contains so many mysteries ... one of them is what happens when
someone who follows Christ dies. Some contradictions seems to exist.
In one of my favorite books, Paul writes to the Christians at Philippi, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live
on in the flesh, this will mean
fruit from my labor; yet what I
shall choose I cannot tell. For
I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with
Christ, which is far better"
(1:21-23, NKJV). Then to the church in Corinth, he writes that being absent with
the body means to be present with the Lord (see 2 Corinthians 5:8).
We can infer from these verses that a Christ-follower who dies will be with
Christ immediately. Yet, today's verses seem to say that the dead in Christ
will, one day, hear His voice and
live. This seems to say that those who have died in Christ are still in the
grave. So does this mean that Paul is wrong? Or is John?
As I've said before, I'm no theologian. I have no degrees in Bible literature.
I can only interpret based on my own study and what I've learned from teachers
and preachers whom I trust. The best interpretation I have is that, upon death,
a believer's spirit immediately comes into the presence of the Lord. Now what
that manifestation is, I don't know. Is it an ethereal, ghost-like being? A
temporary body?
I don't know. But I do believe that when I die, I'll be with Jesus. Then one
day, my earthly body will rise and be turned into the glorified body I'm
promised.
When it comes down to it, though, what really matters is that we will be with Jesus one day. Or at least
of those of us who know Him will. The question is: Do you know Jesus? Are you a
child of the King? Have you committed your life to Him?
We don't know the number of our days. We don't know when Jesus will return for
His church. If you don't know Him, if you have never committed your life to
Him, do so now. Ask Him to take over your life. Read the Bible. Find a church
home.
Then you can be confident that, no matter how the mystery is one day revealed,
you'll be with Jesus. Forever.
Today's
scripture: John 5:24
The gospel message is so simple ... and yet so profound.
While other belief systems require our performing well, the gospel tells us
that we can do nothing of ourselves to be saved. We can't do enough good deeds
because who defines what is enough? We can't weigh the balance of being kinder
more often than we're unkind, or loving more than we hate.
We can't serve our way to salvation. We can't give just a little more money or
time to guarantee our place in heaven. We can't do anything.
Well, except for one thing. We can be, as Jesus describes, "... he who
hears My word, and believes in Him who sent Me ..." Another version puts
it this way: "... the person whose ears are open to My
words [who listens to My message] and believes and trusts in and
clings to and relies on Him Who sent Me ..." (Amplified).
We do need to take action. We do need to accept the gift that God so graciously
offers us. But we don't have to do anything else. Of course, as I've written
many times before, while accepting God's gift of salvation is the only
necessary action we need to take, we do serve Him through our
"works," just as James wrote (see James 2:14-26).
So simple, yet when you stop to think about how God chose to bless us with
salvation and eternal life, so very profound. He loves us so much. So very much.
The concept of grace just boggles my mind. We don't deserve His favor, His
love, His forgiveness. Yet, He gives all of these so freely.
What amazing grace. What amazing love.
Today's
scripture: John 5:18-23
The Christian concept of the trinity is difficult to understand. How can one
God be three persons? It's beyond our human ability to truly understand.
However, this is what the Bible says. Jesus, God the Son, came to earth to
provide for our salvation. He talked many times about how God the Father worked
through Him and how He was equal with the Father.
Just as in today's verses. Both the Father and the Son give life to the dead.
Both the Father and the Son do great things. Both the Father and the Son should
be honored.
It's interesting in verse 22, though, that Jesus says He, not the Father, will
judge. Clearly, each part of the triune Godhead has his own distinct
"responsibilities," for lack of a better term. God the Father is creator;
He is sovereign. God the Son is redeemer and judge. God the Holy Spirit is helper
and encourager, who convicts us when we sin.
No matter what, we should be giving honor to each person of the triune God.
Worshipping and praising. Approaching with awe and wonder.
For He is good, gracious, merciful, loving, holy, compassionate ... and so many
more attributes that this page can't fill.
Today's
scripture: John 5:1-17
It never ceases to amaze me how the religious leaders responded to Jesus'
miracles. Instead of being in awe when He cast out demons, they accused Him of working
for the ruler of demons (Matthew 9:34; 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15). Instead
of being filled with wonder when a dead man lived again, they conspired to not
only kill Jesus, but Lazarus also (John 11:53; 12:10).
And in today's verses, instead of rejoicing when a man was able to walk for the
first time, they persecuted Jesus "because He was doing these things on
the Sabbath."
Why did they ignore or fight the evidence that was right before their eyes?
Because Jesus wasn't the conquering Messiah they thought He should be. Because
He didn't fit their mold. Because He dared to call them out when they behaved
contrary to how they should.
We shouldn't be surprised. We too want Jesus to fit into our lives rather than
our fitting into His. We want to live how we choose, yet still receive healing
or provision or protection. We want Him to be a Messiah of our own making.
God is God, manifested in three Persons—Father, Son, and Spirit. He is
all-powerful, all-knowing, holy, and just. He loves unconditionally. He is
always with us. He is unchanging. And His thoughts and ways are higher than our
own.
He cannot be put in a man-created box. He cannot be molded to fit our idea of
who God should be. He is who He is. We can either accept Him, or we can reject
Him. We can either be His disciples, or we can be as the Pharisees were and
turn from Him because He's not acting as we believe He should be.
It's our choice. We can see the evidence of who He really is and follow Him. Or
we can ignore the evidence and follow our own path.
It's our choice.
