Though situations around us were beyond our control, Father, our lives are still in Your hands. I pray that things will come to a satisfactory conclusion with less pain and no more loss. Amen.
John 5:31-40 (<<click here to read the passage)
Something that I have said many times from the pulpits which I stand behind is that you can read the Bible every day, you can come to church every time the doors are open, you can sound off a prayer before every meal and at the beginning and end of every day, you can know it all and do it all but if you don’t know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, all of those acts and “accomplishments” are as filthy rags.
Isaiah 64:6 reads,
We are all infected and impure with sin.
When we display our righteous deeds,
they are nothing but filthy rags. NLT
(Reading Isaiah 64:4-9 really gets you thinking.)
When I read Jesus’ words as recorded in the Gospels, they seem to speak to me in different temperaments. Sometimes Jesus speaks and His tones seem full of compassion. Other times His words are justifiably filled with anger. To me at least, in this passage from John’s Gospel, Jesus seems to just be stating facts. Yes, they are uncomfortable, but He is just saying it like it is.
…the Father who sent Me has Himself testified about Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form [His majesty and greatness—what He is like]. You do not have His word (Scripture) abiding in you [actually living in your hearts and minds], because you do not believe in Him whom He has sent. vs37-38 AMP
Here Jesus is pointedly speaking of God’s word – Scripture. He plainly states that we don’t have His word living in [our] hearts and minds. If we did, we would believe them. And His next assertion really stings.
You search and keep on searching and examining the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and yet it is those [very Scriptures] that testify about Me; and still you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. vs39-40 AMP
We can know it all and do it all but if you don’t take those words to heart, if we are unwilling to come to Jesus, we cannot have life.
I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows]. John 10:10b AMP
Lord Jesus, help us to not just work on our filthy rag collection, but may we seriously be determined to use what You have given us to draw us closer to You…becoming more like You. Amen.
May 24th, 2021, Mon, 6:50 pm
