Hebrews 1

This morning I started Hebrews. I took a little detour from John. I plan on getting back to finished John, but we have been in Hebrews in Sunday School and I really want to read through it.
I love how Hebrews starts.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

I was thinking about these first few verses, and right away, I am struck by the first sentence. At many times and in many ways. In thinking about the history of mankind, there are so many events that point to the interjection of God among men. The author of Hebrews is most likely thinking of the Old Testament when he says at many times, but there is so much more! How Constantine chose to make Christianity the religion of his regime in the 4th century, thus spreading Christianity across Europe. Then how the Lord was with the colonists who left England to escape persecution for their faith in Christ and arrived in North America. Theses are just a few examples I thought of.

The point is that God speaks! He has interacted with mankind throughout our history, and now, He has spoken to us by Christ. I love verse 3 when it says that He upholds the universe by the word of His power. This is a truth that most of us Westerners do not talk about much. The word of Christ keeps the universe from falling into chaos. It keeps our bodies from breaking down at the molecular level. It keeps our buildings standing, oceans from advancing, and the moon from falling into our atmosphere. The word of Christ up holds all of this. Christ is the glue that holds everything together. Nothing could function in life if it were not for His constant faithfulness in upholding His word.

Application: We are able to live because of the word of Christ. He not only upholds the universe, but our lives as well. Praise Him!

John 11

I was reading this morning in John 11, the story of Lazarus. This is one of the most unique and insightful stories into the heart of Christ. We know that Jesus was a friend of Lazarus as well as Mary and Martha. There are a few parts of this story, that if read over quickly, can often go missed.

Jesus hears of Lazarus' sickness, and instead of making a journey to Bethany to heal him, Jesus lets the sickness take Lazarus. Jesus actually spends two days going the opposite direction of Bethany, back to to Judea where the Jews were planning to stone him. Jesus then says in verse 15

"and for your sake, I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe."

What! How can this be? How can Jesus choose not to heal someone when they are dying? Isn't Jesus supposed to love people? How can He be glad that He was not there to heal Lazarus? In verse 4, Jesus answers these questions.

"This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."

This story amazes me because Jesus knew Lazarus was going to die. Yet Christ's goal was not about making people happy. It was about the glory of God. By waiting until Lazarus had died, and then raising him, Jesus knew many would believe in Him, and that God would receive much glory.
Jesus makes one more statement in this text that is absolutely remarkable, and demands a response. After speaking with Martha about when Lazarus will rise again, Jesus says

I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet he shall live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?

This is the question we must all answer. Do we believe this about Jesus? That He is who He says He is?

What an incredible statement. "I am the Resurrection and the life." Is there anyone other than God that can say that? If this is true, then we humans have nothing to fear in this life. We know and believe in the one that has conquered death. He has promised us eternal life if all we do is believe in Him. But do we believe this?

Application: If you are a follower of Christ, remember those words. Remember that the one who holds the keys to death lives within you and has promised you everlasting life. It will change you how live and view each day. If you know Christ, you are going to live forever. You will never not exist. This life is but a vapor compared to eternity. So live in the light of eternity today. Because you believe that Christ is the Resurrection and the life.

John 6

John 6 is an important chapter. For the disciples, for the Pharisees and for us. Jesus goes into a long discussion about how He is the bread of life and how if we are to have eternal life we must believe in Him and eat of this bread. Then something very interesting happens.

"When many of his disciples heard it, they said, 'This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" verse 60

How often do we say that? I feel like that is quite a common response in my life. "Lord, that is really hard, do you really want me to do that?". In this text, Jesus says very specific things to people. And He tells them a very simple thing to do. "Believe in me". As I am reading John, I am seeing how the mark of a disciple is truly obedience to the Master. Do we believe what Jesus says, and do we do it?

Following verse 60, Jesus asks one of the most significant questions of His disciples. "Do you want to go away as well?" In other gospels He says "Who do you say that I am?". And Peter responds, "Lord to whom shall we go. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and come to know, that you are the Holy one of God!" verse 68-69

Do we really believe Jesus has the words of eternal life? Do I? I think sometimes I forget. I forget that the God I pray to is the source of life. True life. I can only experience this eternal life now if I am abiding in this word. When Jesus talks about eternal life, there are two aspects of it. It is, of course, life with Him in heaven for eternity. But it is also a quality of life here on earth. We are saved to eternal life now. If I am not abiding in the Word, being obedient to the word, listening for Christ's voice and obeying Him, than I am a disciple that is not experiencing eternal, abundant life, and fullness of joy. Living to gratify my desires is settling for earthly pleasures. Why do we settle for earthly pleasures when eternal joy is offered to us. C.S Lewis was right when he said

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Application: As a disciple of Christ, is your life defined by your believing in Him, abiding in Him, and obeying Him? Do you realize that you have the words of eternal life? Are you experiencing this quality of eternal life now, and fullness of joy?

John 4

I have missed a few days of blogging. But I am back at it.

As I have been going through John, I have just been reminded of glory and supremacy of Christ. I read through John 4 the other day, the story of Jesus' encounter with the woman at the well. I have read this story multiple times, and heard quite a few sermons about it. But there were a few things that I read that I had never noticed before that struck me. First, Jesus declares Himself to be the Messiah in verse 26. He just comes right out and says it. This is interesting, because other than this instance, it isn't until much later in the gospels that Jesus makes absolute statements like that. It seem like for most of His ministry, he actually avoids telling people blatantly who He really is. I wonder what makes this instance so special? Is it the woman, the encounter? I am not sure.

I love later in this chapter, verse 42. "They said to the woman, It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves's and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world." This amazes me. A few verses earlier, it says that Jesus stayed with the people of the Samaritan's woman town for two days. In those two days, many of the towns people came to the conclusion that Jesus was truly the messiah to come. Just by being with Jesus, they knew who He is. And they had confidence in that. As I have been reading later in the book, many of the Jews constantly asked Jesus for signs to verify His identity. These Samaritan women did not need any signs. They just believed and knew indeed that He is the Savior of the world.

"And many more believed because of his word" John 4:41

Application: Do we believe Jesus because of His word? Do we trust that word? Can we recognize His voice? If we were to see Jesus for two days, would simply spending time with Him be enough to convince us He is the Son of God?

John 1

I have decided to spend my time in the book of John as I get back into regular bible reading. I think if we are serious about following Christ, it is a necessity to constantly be in the gospels learning about Him, His character, and how He responded to people. It is very profitable to hear from Paul, Peter, David, and Moses, but if we really want to get an insight into the life of Christ, there is no better part of scripture than the written accounts of His life.

The last few days I took some time and read through John chapter 1. There were a few things I noticed that I have not before, and a few things I was reminded of.

I was reminded of the necessity of recognizing the eternal nature of Christ, as a member of the Trinity, separate from the Father and the Spirit, yet one with the Father and Spirit. When John declares that "in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God" and then proceeds to tell us that "he was in the beginning with God", John is making a radically monumental statement about the person of Christ. I was reminded that it is imperative that followers of Jesus recognize and know that He is God. That Christ was not created by the Father, nor is He secondary to the Father in power, but it is by and through Christ that the Father created the universe. This is a huge implication to our understanding of the power, authority, and nature of Jesus.

Two things struck me later in the chapter. When Jesus calls Andrew and Peter, Andrew does something that goes often overlooked. He brings his brother Simon Peter to Jesus. Now I love Andrew. I love him because I think I am a lot like him. Andrew was a disciple that was a leader, but in most situations took a secondary role to his brother Peter. But Andrew always seemed to know the best thing to do. He simply brought people to Jesus. I want that to be a defining characteristic in my life. I want to be known as a man who brings people to Jesus. Andrew didn't need any accolades. He was content with Peter being in the spotlight. He just wanted to be obedient to Jesus. I really admire that.

Application: Know who Christ is. Let it transform how you look at Him throughout your day. When you are unsure of what to do in a situation, bring people to Jesus.

What is this about?

So I have decided to start a new journey in my life. During the last few months, I have noticed that it has become difficult to get alone with the Lord. As life seems to be increasingly busier, discipline becomes more of a challenge. I created this blog to be a challenge mostly more for me, but for you as well. I have seen the necessity in my life to have a consistent daily time alone, in the Word, seeking the face of God. When this happens, the focus of my day tends to be on Christ and others. When it doesn't, it sets my day up to be focused on myself. So my hope and aim in this blog is that I would share something that God spoke to me during my time in the Word. But I also hope this can be for you as well, that it would inspire you dig deeper into Christ, whatever way you feel He is asking you.

I want to get away from calling our time in the Word "quiet time", "bible time", or "devotional time". I would rather avoid using the word time at all. I feel like time denotes something we must do, as if it is a task to check off a list of other tasks. Encountering Christ through the living Word, is no task. Experiencing Him should be like wanting to see a friend. It should come naturally. I think every American has grown up either consciously, or sub-consciously, to believe that the measure of our spirituality is indicated by some sort of spiritual check list. If we have had our "devotional time", whether that is a five minute bible and breakfast on the go, or a fifteen minute glancing at a devotional book, we feel like we are pretty good and we are seeking God. What if God asked us to stop what we were doing, turn from our evil ways, put on sack cloth, repent, and seek His face until He tells us to go else where. My guess is most of us Americans would not obey Him. We would say, "But Lord, I spend time reading from J.I Packer's devotional books, isn't that good enough?". I really don't think the Lord want's a mere fifteen minutes of our day. He wants our lives.

I do not mean to create guilt ridden obedience. That is not my intention, nor do I think that is a biblical response. This is my conviction and I have become increasingly aware of my need for Him, and to hear from Him through His Word. I hope and pray that you are motivated to act, by His spirit, from a changed heart. My first post will be tomorrow, Dec 1.

Ephesians 3:13-21



JN