What about him?

John 21

Jesus had just told Peter how he would one day die. You’d think he’d have tons of questions about that day, but instead he turns his attention on the Apostle John. What about him? Jesus tells him not to worry about it and focus on following Him. That’s a good reminder for us today. We can focus a lot on the futures of other people. How is God going to use that person? What is his future like? Is that person going to be punished for his sin? God says this, you worry about following me. I’ll take care of them. The fact is, being an active disciple of Jesus should be our entire focus. We don’t have time to look to our left and our right. Not if we’re going to be truthful disciples of the Master.

The choice to believe

John 20: 19-31

Above all else faith is a choice. It’s the same choice Jesus gave Thomas — Don’t be an unbeliever be a believer. Jesus wasn’t exhorting Thomas to get more information about the resurrection. He wasn’t exhorting him to pray harder. He was saying you have all the information you need to decide to believe. But the choice is yours.

The same is true for us. There comes a point where all the information, all of the head knowledge, in the world can’t take us to the point of faith. I love the line in Josh McDowell’s book, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, that basically says that the evidence can only take you to the foot of the cross. It’s faith that helps you step over the line.

You see, at its core, the decision to believe in the resurrection is simply the choice to believe. We’ve got a set a facts. We could take those same facts and believe in Jesus’ resurrection, and we could take those same facts and choose to believe they are just chance or have some other — less miraculous — explanation. But the question is, will we be a believer?

Jesus asked Thomas to be a believer not an unbeliever, to be the kind of person who believes not the kind of person who doesn’t. We need to make that same choice. We need to choose to be the kind of people who believe Jesus, the kind of people who take him at his word.

Otherwise, we’ll just be a Doubting Thomas.

Liar or Lord

Sorry everyone…I messed up when I posted this a few days back so it didn’t get sent. It’s for Sept. 26.

John 19: 1-16

This passage reveals the real reason that the people of Jerusalem wanted to crucify Jesus. They didn’t believe Him. He had claimed to be God, but they didn’t buy it. And there was only one thing to do if He claimed to be God but wasn’t. They had to kill him. Leviticus said they had to stone Him for blasphemy. The real question came down to whether Jesus was liar or the Lord? The people of Jerusalem came down on the fact that He was a liar. Unfortunately, many in today’s world are doing the same. I’ve always been of the belief that if you really, truly believe that Jesus is Lord, that He is the unique Son of God then you have to make Him Lord. There’s nothing else you can do with the Son of God. If He is the Son of God, everything has to change. Your priorities have to be rearranged. There’s really no choice.

If someone looked at your life, would they think Jesus was a liar or the Lord?

Seeing the Lord

John 20: 1-18

Mary’s witness at the empty tomb is the core of the Christian message. He is alive. I’ve seen Him. It’s still the most important thing we’ve got to tell the world. He is alive. I’ve seen Him. You say you’ve never seen him? But you have. You’ve seen him work in your life. You’ve seen him work in the lives of others. You’ve seen Him change lives.

He is alive. I’ve seen Him.

Done!

John 18: 17-42

Isn’t it nice to know that the work of Christ is finished? You look around the world today and you see a lot of people working to earn favor with God, for salvation. But Jesus said it was over. No more working. He had done everything needed when he died there on the cross.

Peter’s treachery – our treachery

John 18

It’s easy to look at Peter and his three denials in John 18 and sneer. He had just promised that he would never forsake the Lord. And before the next morning, he would do it three times. You see, even followers of Jesus need to remember this — trechery is in our blood. We still battle the sin nature, as did Peter. We too can make boasts of what we will do for Jesus, but given the right circumstances we’ll deny Him just as Peter did.

Remembering this helps us remember just what Jesus did for us. He died for us even though we are flawed creatures. And, through the Spirit of God, He’ll continue to fight for us. Paul says in Philippians that God will continue to complete what He started in us. We won’t be finished this side of eternity, but we have a Savior who died for us and a Holy Spirit who continues to fight for us. That should encourage us.

We must never get prideful about our Christian growth. Humility requires a correct understanding of who we are. We are fallible creatures, whom Jesus died for and God wants to use in a mighty way.

Eternal life

John 17

I’m back! Sorry for the delay.

Today’s passage struck me with the words, “This is eternal life, that they may know you.” I was reminded that eternal life doesn’t begin when you die. It begins when you accept Christ as your Savior, when you know God. Eternal life isn’t just about quantity of years but about quality of years as well. But we must take a hold of that promise of eternal life. We must live with the abundant realization that we have life that’s worth living because we have a relationship with God, because we know God.  

Internet problems

We haven’t been able to get Internet at our new place yet. I won’t be able to post until we do. Keep following along in the Bible and I’ll start blogging again when I can get online. Probably later this week!

Truth and sin

John 8: 12-59

Truth — the truth of Jesus– has the power to set men and women free. We all have areas of our lives that need to be set free. Jesus says when we sin, we become slaves. Sin can have a great power over us. Let’s take a look at our lives. Is there any area that we know is operating against God’s will? Do you have problems with dishonesty? Do we have problems with lust? Do we struggle with gossip? Confess those areas to God. Confession is telling God the truth about what we’ve done, calling it sin. That confession has the power to break Satan’s hold on us in that area. Satan and sin thrive in the dark and hidden areas of our lives.

What do you need to confess? 

Throwing stones

John 8: 1-11

Our Christian culture loves to throw stones. It’s amazing to me that a Church birthed by the Cross could be so condemning. But how often do we choose to throw stones without taking into consideration our own sin? I know I’m no better. I can often throw stones as well. It’s probably the most natural thing we can do when we’re confronted with sin. We know Jesus disapproves of sin. We know He died to free us from sin. So we’ve got to be the first one to yell foul when we see sin. Sometimes we (or at least I) think that to do anything less would be to dishonor the cross. But what if it was our own forgiving attitude that gave the most honor to Jesus’ sacrificial death? What better way is there to honor the sanctifying work of Christ than to forgive others and show mercy to them when things are tough?

Next time you’re tempted to yell foul when confronted with another person’s sin, think of what Jesus did when confronted with your sin.