IT'S JUST NOT ABOUT THAT!!!!!

(John 9) Reading about Jesus’ healing the blind man by putting muddy spit on his eyes and telling him to go wash in a particular pool, and especially doing it on the Sabbath day, shocked the people then, and still causes people to wonder why He did that.  I believe Jesus was using every means available to show the people He was God and the needs of their lives were not to be met by outward religious political correctness, but by looking to Him alone in simplicity and sincerity.

Our personal and corporate challenge today is still to avoid religiosity with its empty pride, judgmentalism, guilt and hypocrisy, and instead look to Jesus as our teacher, helper and Lord.  He got plain and simple when He called Himself the bread of life and the living water that satisfies all thirst.  To put it in our modern context we might say, “Away with junk food, artificial ingredients, preservatives, and costly nutritional supplements!  Let’s just eat the living bread and drink the water of life!”

What did you eat today?

The prophet Isaiah (55:1-3) forecast it well when he wrote:

Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have no money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without cost.
“Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And delight yourself in abundance.
“Incline your ear and come to Me.
Listen, that you may live;

CAN YOU TRUST HIM AS KING?

As Jesus came proclaiming the present availability of eternal life in the Kingdom of God to all who would believe Him, His words were not well understood and the level of trust in Him that such Kingdom living would call for was not easy for most folks to come to.

In reading the 5^th and 6^th chapters of John I see people believing in Jesus on two levels.  One level is that He heals bodies, calms storms, walks on water, and feeds people when there seems to be no food available.  Pretty cool!  A great guy to have around and to follow after.  Believing in His miracles and enjoying them isn’t hard because they are right now and the benefits are immediate. 

But Jesus’ goal is that they see by these miracles Who He really is, and be willing to trust Him completely as Lord.  While the miracles should be adequate to prove He is like no other human and has credentials to be God, their giving Him full control of their lives could mean that He has some other plans for them that aren’t necessarily picnics on the hillside or wonderful healings.  He was known to talk about loving enemies and being faithful to wedding vows.

Then, when He really got into talking about things they couldn’t yet understand and sounded weird to them, like eating His body and drinking His blood, many of them quit following Him.  If they couldn’t make sense of everything they weren’t going to keep following Him, even though there had been obvious benefits and amazing events.  When He asked the 12 whether they were going to leave too, they wisely, but perhaps weakly, said, “Where else can we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”  That was good thinking, and they made the right choice.

Similarly, in reading the Old Testament we see a lot of turmoil at times that involves the judgments of God on despicable idolatry, child sacrifice, and degrading practices He had forbidden people to engage in.  It gets pretty ugly at times.  And yet by contrast, there are also glorious promises of restoration, faithful love, and ultimate salvation.  It’s about as overwhelming and confusing to us sometimes as Jesus’ talk of eating His body and drinking His blood must have been to those who heard Him, until after He had died on the cross and risen from the dead.  Then what had seemed crazy and improbable became an obvious spiritual reality.

What starkly stands out in the midst of Old Testament prophecies of coming judgments are clear professions of unconditional trust in God and confident allegiance to Him no matter what.  As I read and consider such passages, many of them have become my favorite scriptures and ones which I have determined will be models for my faith regardless how the circumstances of my personal life or of the world around me turn out to be at times.  One of my favorites is in today’s Life Journal reading.  I pray this passage encourages your heart to trust God as it does mine—whatever we may be going through or may face in days to come.

Habakkuk 2:17-19

Though the fig tree should not blossom

And there be no fruit on the vines,

Though the yield of the olive should fail

And the fields produce no food,

Though the flock should be cut off from the fold

And there be no cattle in the stalls,

Yet I will exult in the Lord,

I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

The Lord God is my strength,

And He has made my feet like hinds' feet,

And makes me walk on my high places.