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Abide in our True Vine

Today’s Reading John 15 

Do you love grapes?  I do. I remember as a child as soon as the sun started to come up over the field and glistened through the tree line I would take off outside.  We had an apple tree, rhubarb, and carrots.  My favorite, when in season, was our grapevine. Many meals could be skipped when we hung out by these grapes.  As a kid, this earthly vine satisfied my earthly hunger.  Still my heart and soul hungered for our True Vine.

John 15:1 says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener”. Jesus, fulfills all needs.

Our True Vine, Jesus, provides nourishment to create any and all fruit in our lives. Independent of this vine, our branches can’t produce fruit.  Independent of Jesus, our lives are fruitless. He is the source of nourishment we need.  Are you receiving nourishment? 

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

The book of John has a series of  “I am” statements for us to remember. He says, “I am the Bread of Life. I am the Light of the World. I am the Door, I am the Good Shepherd. I am the Resurrection and the Life. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” He says in John 8:58 I am Eternally Existing, and in John 15, I am the True Vine. Our God is the great I am, and in in John 8:24 it says that we need to believe this.

Since we know that Jesus is the true vine, he says His Father is the gardener. The gardener who planted the vine, and cares for it. There are then branches that bear fruit meaning true disciples; or there are branches that produce no fruit, that are cut off. What is my branch looking like?

The key to knowing what my branch looks like is in the word abide.  Do we abide in Him? This word is repeated eight times in five verses. Starting in verse 4 where abide is used three times.  4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

So what does it look like to abide in Jesus? John 15:10 says,  “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”

We need to do all we can to faithfully keep his commandments.  To keep his commandments means to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind.  We love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37–39).  Our love for God is in our trust, prayer, and devotion to Him. We abide in relationships, prayers, and in love.

When our lives are intertwined with His, true joy fills our days.  Even in the face of adversity our consistent relationship keeps us able find joy in all circumstances.  So today and everyday, abide.  Stay connected to the True Vine that is connected to Jesus.

John 15:11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 

Dear God,

Thank you for another amazing day where we can praise you in everything we do. God we pray that you give us the strength to stay connected to you from the inside out.  That in the midst of any circumstances that may impact our day we remember who we are connected to, and who are gardener is!  Amen

 

 

Jesus, Our Father, and the Holy Spirit In-between

 

Today’s Reading: John 14

Today we begin our time with Jesus the comforter in John Chapter 14. Jesus is reassuring his disciples that he will go before them and prepare a place for them in heaven.  I love that he describes his Father’s house as having “many rooms.” It’s a wonderful reminder that there is a special place for each one of us that fits us perfectly.  Just as a child might decorate their bedroom with a favorite color or drawings, Jesus is preparing a place for each of his followers that reflects our unique relationship with Him. I can really identify with Jesus’ apostles in this chapter.  They are realizing that he is leaving, and they are afraid.  They don’t know how to go on without Him. Have you felt that way in your life? Have you lost someone you love and depended upon? Even though Jesus hasn’t died yet, his apostles are grieving. Thomas says,

“Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” John 14:5

 Such a short sentence but so powerful. Lord, we want to follow you but we do not know where you are going.  We can’t possibly find our way when we don’t know the destination. As a new Christian, this statement represents my life before Christ.  I really didn’t know the way.  I was just experiencing life as it happened, not understanding that there is a plan for me. Part of drawing close to Jesus Christ for me, is making connections between His life and mine. Here are his disciples so dependent upon him desperate to understand the future but not able to hold on to what they believe is their only connection to God the Father. Jesus responds to their fear and apprehension in verse six:

 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

 This verse is foundational for us. How can we know the way to God? Only through Jesus. Jesus is that way because he is both God and man. By uniting our lives with His we are united with God. This seems so simple but really, it’s life changing. Jesus is our direct connection with God.  We don’t need to mourn the loss of Him on the cross. I find this so encouraging. Of course the apostles are still doubtful.  They still feel lost, maybe even a bit abandoned.  Philip pleads with Jesus:

“Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us.” John 14:8

 Oh, don’t you just feel for Philip here? How many of us have gotten down on our knees and begged our Heavenly father to just show Himself so that we may believe that everything is going to be ok! Jesus responds but reminding Philip that knowing Him means knowing our Father. Then, he makes a promise:

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever,even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:15-17

 Enter: THE HOLY SPIRIT!! If you are like me, you might struggle to really conceptualize The Holy Spirit.  I often think to myself, what is it exactly?  Is it a person, a spiritual being, is it just a representation of Jesus’ love for us? My NIV study Bible says this about The Holy Spirit: “The Holy Spirit is the very presence of God within us and all believers, helping us live as God wants and building Christ’s church on earth. By faith we can appropriate the Spirit’s power each day.” I did lots of reading and research about The Holy Spirit this week. I think he or she or it is underestimated.  For me, it’s easy to forget about the strong power of The Holy Spirit in my day to day life. Jesus told us in John 14 that The Holy Spirit is another advocate to help us and be with us forever. Isn’t that what we all want in this life? An advocate to comfort, counsel and encourage us? I’m going to challenge myself and our readers to focus our attention this week on The Holy Spirit in our lives.  It is truly one of the greatest gifts given to us by Jesus. Are we watching for and listening to the voice of the Spirit in our lives?  Are we quiet enough to hear?

“You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.  And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming.” John 14:28-30

 Have a great week with Jesus and the gift of The Holy Spirit

                                

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gradually, and then suddenly

Potter's Field, Israel.  The place where Judas hanged himself.

Most Christians are familiar with Judas’ story.  We know him as a traitor, a cheat and a thief.  The Bible has plenty of evidence for those conclusions.  But, was it his fault?  Today, as we read John 13, I get stuck on three words from verse 27, “Satan entered him.”  As I read it, the thought of Satan entering chills my bones.  I begin to worry that Satan, at any moment, can take over my heart and mind. That he can control my actions as he did with Judas.  Does it work that way?  Are we susceptible to catastrophic failure at any given moment of the day?  To answer those questions, we need to look closer at Judas’ life.

Surely, like you and me, Judas’ choice to follow Jesus was pure.  He saw in Jesus what we all see.  Love, joy, hope and peace.  Also like us, as Judas followed Jesus, he was confronted with his old self.  Judas’ old makeup was filled with greed and love of money.  That life is marked with continuously cultivating thoughts of wealth and prosperity.  As an apostle, he must have found himself continuously at odds with those desires.  At some point, the frustration is too great.  He must choose one or the other.  How does he choose?  The same way we do.  Whichever desire gets more attention wins.

The Bible is clear that the desires we feed will produce results.  In fact, James 1:14-15 says that, “temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.  These desires give birth to sinful actions.  And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.”  Sounds like Judas, doesn’t it?

Imagine Judas sitting at home, alone one evening, relaxing by the fire, contemplating his life.  His thoughts drift to the wealthy people.  He ponders what their lives are like.  He adores their clothing, their homes, maybe even their chariots.  But, he doesn’t have any of that.  How can he get it?  As he lies down in bed he’s still thinking of the possibilities of having money.  Oh, how it could change his life and how much better he could be.

The next day, Judas hasn’t shaken the thought.  He begins to think more and more about what he could have. He must have it!  Judas begins to craft a solution in his head.  ‘How can I get the money?’  As he evaluates his skills and resources, he has an idea.  He could sell out Jesus.  I imagine him immediately dismissing the thought as he remembers why he follows Jesus.  But, every time he is alone, he ponders how to live a bigger life.  The thought of selling out Jesus returns.  This time, it’s not so easily dismissed.  He begins to ask it questions like “how would it happen,” and “what is the next step.”   Over time, the thought is large enough to be carried with him.  Everyday, he’s returning to it, considering it, even strategizing it.  Just like us, once we have considered it long enough, an opportunity will present itself.  For Judas, he finds a special opportunity while talking to the chief priest. “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” (Matthew 26:15).  And that was it.  The response given by the chief priest encouraged and empowered him.  He could see victory.  Now, he just needed the right time.

Even though Judas’ mind was resolved and his heart now hardened against Jesus, he must have questioned the decision.  I see him sitting with Jesus and the disciple’s at the Passover table.  He’s floundering and filled with anxiety. Is this the time? Little did Judas know that the decision was no longer his. He had been surrendering the choice to Satan little by little for the last several weeks.  The thing that was once just a thought had been cultivated in his heart and it had control. His floundering was not an obstacle for Satan. He is crafty. He knows exactly how to finish him.  It happens in verse 27. I imagine that Satan, watching Judas take the bread, uses Jesus’ words to provoke the malice and hatred he had been cultivating. Now, rushing in all at once, Judas was fully won.  He went “into the night.”  Death was near.

What do you ponder when you are alone?  What is the thing that has your attention? Is it Holy?  Imagine yourself in possession of the thing that you most want, is it drawing you nearer to Jesus?

 

An Audience of One

John 12

The church I grew up in celebrates Holy Week with a Palm Sunday celebration and then a Maundy Thursday and Good Friday combined evening service and of course, Easter service on Sunday morning. I can remember walking into the church in the choir as a child carrying palm branches and singing about Jesus being king as we read about today in John 12 when he enters Jerusalem. This section in my Bible is appropriately called “The Triumphant Entry,” as the people shouted “Hosanna” and called Jesus” the King of Israel.”  Later in the week, in our combined Maundy Thursday/Good Friday service, we would turn off the lights at the end. There was a spotlight on a large, wooden cross in the front and sitting in dead silence, someone came the microphone yelling “Crucify him..Crucify him!”  Then, there was a wooden block being hit with a hammer 3 times loudly to represent the nails being driven into Jesus’ feet and both hands. I cringed with each strike of the block. We then sat in the dark with no one saying a word or moving for a few minutes which felt like an hour! Whoa! The lights came on and that was everyone’s cue to file out in silence. People would talk in the lobby, but the buzz, cheerfulness, and mood was a little different than the normal Sunday service.

On Easter Sunday, it was a time for celebration and the buzz and cheerfulness was back again. The palms were back, lilies were all around the church, a white sash hung on the cross to represent us being washed clean of our sins, and the sun seemed to always be shining on Easter morning. He is risen!

It was perplexing to me growing up, and still is  today, that Jesus was adorned as a king by a crowd and then just a few days later another crowd, with maybe some of the same people, shouted for him to be crucified.

Often in our life, we can feel like we are on top of the world. Maybe we get a big promotion, secure a big client, have someone praise us for a job well done, family relationships are great, and everything seems to be going our way. And then out of nowhere a job is lost, a client leaves you, a falling out with a family member occurs, you are criticized by a boss, you have an unexpected financial hardship, or even a divorce. Where does your identity come from in these low moments? I don’t know about you, but I feel it is hard not to lose confidence in myself during these challenging times because I can mistakenly get puffed up when others are telling me good job, and I put my self-worth and happiness based on what others are saying when things are going well. It is then equally as bad as it was good and my self-worth and confidence can decrease when others are critical of me or when nothing seems to be going right.

We don’t know Jesus’ thoughts on Palm Sunday as he was being praised like a king, but something tells me based off his humbleness and servant leadership throughout his lifetime that he was not puffed up and proud. During his toughest times on the cross, his focus was not on himself, but on others as he said in Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Jesus did not put his identity and worth in what others thought about him. He knew who he truly was, and most importantly, whose he was.

When things are going well, let’s remember to give glory and praise to him and not be prideful and think it’s by our own doing. James 1:17 says “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above..” When things aren’t going so well, let’s not be discouraged by what others think, and let’s remind ourselves that we are living for an audience of one. Let’s remember who we are and whose we are. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” If we look in the mirror and we’ve made mistakes we are not proud of (and we all have), let’s be thankful instead of sad. This is why Jesus came and died on the cross. Our identity is in him and in his unconditional love for us. Let’s hold fast, for we know what is coming, the sunshine and celebration of Easter morning! He is risen…he is risen indeed!

 

Raising Lazarus

John 11

The book of John has certainly been one provoking deep thought. Jennifer’s post last Saturday on “Why are we doing this?” challenged us to really think through what we are reading. What are we doing with the messages we read? This week proved no different with the themes of teaching:  The Healing at the Pool, the Feeding of the Five Thousand, Jesus Walking on Water, Jesus at the Festivals, The Healing of the Blind Man, The Good Shepherd, all giving us a chance to continue to build our faith.

Today, we come to the wonderful story of Lazarus. Another example of Jesus’ power as he performs one of his 37 miracles. This miracle though seems a bit different because Lazarus is his friend. In the Bible, we see Jesus leave his parents at an early age. He then surrounds himself with the 12 disciples. Beyond this inner circle, there are only a few friends mentioned. We hear Mary and Martha mentioned a number of times including during Jesus crucifixion and resurrection and Mary washing Jesus’ feet.

In this story today, Mary and Martha sent for Jesus because Lazarus was ill. We aren’t told what he had but obviously, they knew it was severe and possibly life threatening if they sent for Jesus. They knew Jesus could potentially help or heal their brother.

What strikes me is that Jesus heard he was sick and still waited two days. If one of our best friend’s was very ill, wouldn’t we drop everything and come home or go to the hospital or be with that person, whatever was needed, right away? In this case, Jesus knew that this situation would be another one of his signs (there are 7 revealed in the book of John). He would show the believers and non-believers that his miracles come from the power given to him by God. He knew he would raise Lazarus from the dead just as he had others such as Jarius’ daughter.

When Jesus is finally approaching Bethany, Mary goes to meet Jesus. She still has hope that Jesus can help or just had the need to see him right away. Martha on the other hand stays back at their home. Is she mad that he didn’t come sooner and doesn’t believe Jesus can do anything at this point as Lazarus has been dead four days? Or is she so overcome with grief that she cannot bear to leave their home? Eventually she goes to meet him.

32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

35 Jesus wept.

Jesus sees the grief of the sisters and the other mourners. He is overcome with grief himself, weeping, and showing his compassion.

33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.

Do you ever feel like crying when you see a close friend or family member that upset over something? What a powerful moment to see these friends together, weeping and consoling each other. It also gives us an indication of what a wonderful person Lazarus must have been. We don’t know much about him in the rest of the Bible. We do not even know how old he is or what his profession is, but he must be a kind and generous man to share his home with his sisters.

The scene moves from this emotional state to the climax of Jesus’ sign. As they are at the tomb, Martha worries that the stench will be too great. She is showing a slight weakness of faith. As the stone is rolled away, we know Lazarus is alive. Calls for him Jesus brings his friend back to life.

41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

We can only imagine what joy the friends experience. Believers and non-believers see yet another sign.

As you read this story, I hope you experienced the same powerful imagery in your head as I did. It is a miraculous story of friendship, compassion, miracles and belief. We can rejoice in this miracle and believe. Our faith is strengthened.

Yet this story can’t help me think of Jesus’ death, Mary and Martha at the tomb, and then Jesus’ resurrection.  Stay tuned for John 20.

Simple, Pure Faith

Todays reading is John 9

So we all read John 9 today and got the chance first hand to see Jesus working in our world. A man born blind gets his eyes covered with a mixture of Jesus’ spit and dirt and then is told to go wash in the pool of Siloam. After following Jesus instructions he can see. For the first time in his life, he is not in total darkness. He is not forced to feel his way around the world or be lead by another person. His life is changed drastically by the opportunity to earn a living instead of sit at the city gate and beg for coins or food to keep himself alive each day. This turn of events moves him in society from an outcast to a functioning part of a community. It is also possible that he could now be found worthy by some family, worthy enough for them to consider giving their daughter to him in marriage. Everything has changed.

As people around him realize what has happened to him, they start questioning him to find out how this has happened. People do not lose their blindness. Everyone knows that being born blind is a lifelong ailment. So what happened? He tells his story. It doesn’t really add up to people so they take him to their leaders. Surely the people’s leaders are smart enough to be able to make sense of this craziness. When the leaders hear the story they start to argue amongst themselves because they can’t really make heads or tails of what has happened either. As they are trying to come up with a feasible answer, they ask the man to tell his story to them again and then ask him, “What’s your opinion about this man who healed you?” He answers that Jesus must be a prophet.” This doesn’t clear up any of the question that the leaders have so they bring in the blind man’s parents for questioning and go through the entire story again with them. A person born blind, being wiped with spit and mud, and washed in a pool of water does not equal a seeing person. What are they missing here?

The leaders decide to question the man himself a bit more thoroughly. By now, the man is fed up with the questions. Why do you want to hear the story AGAIN? Are you guys wanting to become his disciples, too? This question honked the leaders off royally! They cursed the formerly blind man and basically made fun of him for placing his trust in Jesus. The man replies, “Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.” Simple, pure faith! He didn’t require logic or explanation. (There isn’t any to be had here.) He was changed, healed and he knew that Jesus was responsible for his miracle. He didn’t have to understand how or why, it was enough for him to know that it was from God or it wouldn’t have happened.

In vs 35-39 Jesus meets back up with the man and asks him a few questions to see where the mans heart is after all he has experienced. The man simply and purely professes his belief in Jesus and worships Him.(I can’t stop wondering what that looked like.) So Jesus continues to visit with him and tells him. “I entered this world to render judgment-to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind”. The leaders are standing close enough to hear Jesus comments and are offended…Are you saying we are blind? Jesus responds, “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty. But you remain guilty because you claim you can see”.

I want Jesus to see simple, pure belief in my heart. I don’t want to be lying to myself about the things in my life I am trying to cover and hide from God. I don’t want my motives to be elevating me and my agenda. I want to worship and honor the One who deserves the credit. I want my first thought to be, it was from God or it wouldn’t have happened. Can we be brave enough today to simply believe that faith in our “making the blind see”-God is exactly what we need to meet what we will face today?

Would you go?

Today’s Reading : John 7
In the 7th Chapter of John, John setups an interesting scene: there is a festival in Judea and Jesus’s brothers and relatives are urging him to go to the festival, but he refuses to go and participate. The Feast of the Tabernacles, is the seventh and final feast of the Jewish tradition, it’s a big deal. This is the feast of the harvest and ends the High Holidays of the Jewish celebration. It is symbolic to the tabernacles or huts that the Israelites used in the desert during their forty-year reflection. Upon researching further into the feast, this is linked to one of Jesus’s earlier miracles in John 5: 1-17. It was at this very feast probably a couple of years earlier, were Jesus finds a man at the pool called Bethesda and have the man pick-up his mat and walk. The Jews are upset at the man for carrying his mat on the Sabbath. So the Jews are looking of him and want to persecute him for performing miracles on the Sabbath and for preaching the Scripture.  The question is “Would you go somewhere knowing that there are people waiting to persecute you?”

Lord thank you for always being able to perform miracles everyday and thank you for ministering to us daily with the Holy Spirit. I praise you for everything and having all authority. Amen

Alone Time

 

John chapter 6 is 71 verses filled with many truths that are vital to our daily Christian walk. In this chapter, Jesus miraculously feeds 5000 (possibly up to 20,000, since only the men are counted), He walks on water, and He discusses being the “Bread of Life”.

I would like to focus on verse 15:
“Jesus saw that they were ready to take him by force and make him king, so he went higher into the hills alone.”

After the people had seen Jesus heal the lame man in Chapter 5 and then here in Chapter 6, see Him feed the 5000+ from 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, they wanted to follow Him. The people were enamored by the miraculous things they saw Him do. They were amazed because they thought He could be useful to them also. He could heal their diseases, feed them, and provide for what they might need.
Is this what we see Jesus for in our life?
Do we follow Him and pray prayers for what we think we need and what He can provide?
The people were focused on what Jesus could provide, not that He was the creator of these miracles. The people were so impressed with Jesus and what He could do for them that they wanted to make Him King.

With all this excitement and people following Him, Jesus needed some time away from the crowds, so He went up into the mountains alone. He has been separated from His Father whom He longs to fellowship with. Can you imagine being the Son of God, yet physically separated from God, your Father?
I have been separated from my husband for the past two weeks as He is in China on a work trip. I have longed for the sound of His voice and his help and encouragement while he is gone. Jesus must have felt this longing x100 when He went to be alone with God. Sometimes we forget that Jesus suffered weariness just as we do. He was able to slip away from this huge crowd that wanted His miracles and be with His Father.

Do we take the time to escape all the business of our day to spend time with the Father? Do we get alone with Him and thank Him for our blessings and ask Him to direct our paths according to His wisdom? Or, are we like the followers in this passage and follow Him to get what we think we need and want?

Let us Love Jesus for Who He Is…The Christ that came to die on the cross for our sins. He came so that we might have life. All He asks is that we BELIEVE. Verse 29 says, Jesus told them, “This is what God wants you to do: Believe in the one he has sent.”

Do we use Him for what He can provide us or do we LOVE Him?

Why are you reading this blog?

Today’s reading:  John 5

John chapter 5 has been an interesting, and convicting study for me this week.  In this chapter, Jesus makes a very direct claim of who he is and the authority he has been given by his father.

Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.  For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.  Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.  For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.   Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him” (John 5:19-23 New International Version).

Jesus’ words in verses 19-23 (above) are in response to the Jewish leaders who were challenging his authority.  But they are also life changing to us today.  I don’t think we can passively read these verses.  Jesus isn’t saying he a rabbi, a teacher, or just a good man.  His claims are way more significant than that.  He calls God his own Father AND he asserts equality with him.   How do you react to this?  What are you personally doing with these verses?  Do you believe Jesus is who he says he is?  Do you believe he is the way?  Read the second half of verse 23 again –

“Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him” (John 5:19-23 New International Version).

How long have you been reading our Bible Journal blog?  May I probe a little more and ask why?  Why are you are reading the Bible Journal?  What are doing with messages that our team faithfully posts every day?  It is my prayer that you are following the Bible Journal in order to better know Jesus Christ and faithfully him; that you are using it as a tool to help change your heart to look like his.

Learning more about the Bible and what it says is important.  Ephesians 4:14 tells us knowing God’s word helps us guard against false teaching.  Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming (Ephesians 4:14).  But, if we simply use our knowledge of the Bible to puff ourselves up, we are just like the Jewish leaders in John 5.  You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life.  These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life (John 5:39-40).  

Knowing the Bible doesn’t glorify God.  Knowing the scriptures isn’t the same as loving Jesus.  The more we study God’s word, the more acutely aware of our sins we should become.  Thus, our gratitude and love for Jesus should be growing everyday.  It is only through him that we have a way to God.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Today, would you evaluate your motives?  If you need to, would you ask God to change your heart?

In spirit and in truth

What does it mean to worship in spirit and in truth?

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24)

Today’s reading: John 4

Jesus explained that God is spirit, and the Bible teaches us that Jesus is “the Truth”. The Old Testament has the law, then Jesus Christ gives us grace and truth.

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)

I think of worshiping in spirit as an emotional state; coming from the heart. Without having emotional investment in the worship, I’m just going through the motions.

Worshiping emotionally with passion but with no truth, I have missed the point. I’m pretty emotional when it comes to viewing a beautiful sunset or eating tacos, but if I worship the sunset or the tacos, my worship is in vain; it is worship without truth.

Two weeks from today we’ll cover John 18 but I wanted to share this verse ahead of time as it ties into today’s theme:

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37)

I also take this “truth” another way in that when we seek truth, seeking God’s will, seeking to be shown our sins with a repentant heart, we are worshiping in truth, we seek to listen to his voice.

The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” (John 4:25-26)

Had the woman been drinking some of that well water at the moment Jesus proclaimed himself as the messiah, don’t you think she would have spit the water out in a dramatic fashion? In my mind that’s exactly what happened, although I have no proof. Adding this to my list of questions for Jesus.

Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” (John 4:39)

He knows all I’ve ever done, and if I am willing to listen to Him, he’ll tell me all I’ve ever done. At the end of my life he’ll also show me everything I’ve ever done; sins upon sins piled high like a garbage dump outside a big city reeking stench and attracting the lowest of creation. Fortunately along with this embarrassment, my death sentence will be pardoned by the man, the Son who will say “he’s with me”.

Unlike me, Jesus listens unconditionally, and if I confess what he already knows to be true, and I repent in spirit and in truth, he will forgive me of all of my sinful past and present. Focusing on me at the center I see no sin, but with a humbled heart, seeking his truth for earnest repentance, he shows me my many sins. An entangled mess that no man can sort on his own.

Perhaps the reader will believe based upon my testimony, but then come to know him more richly when hearing for himself or herself.

And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” (John 4:41-42)

Call out to him in spirit and in truth; believe because of his word, he will listen and respond, and you will know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.