Seeking To See Jesus in The Bible

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John

July 16, 2024

Seeking To See Jesus in The Bible

“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.”

John  5:39-40

It seems every group, or association of people has pecking orders. There is within our broken human nature a competitive desire to excel, to set ourselves apart from the others in the group. This is as true within families as it is in community associations, athletic teams, or churches. Within these groups, there are those who take this competitive nature to an extreme. The knowledge and experience they have gained are used to distinguish themselves from others, rather than for the greater good or purpose of the group. They are quick to point out the deficiencies in others, rather than equipping others to help the group achieve its purpose.

The Apostle Paul admits to this sin in his own life when he writes about when he distinguished himself as the most zealous of Pharisees; but eventually he got the point that Jesus is talking about in today’s passage. Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians that he came to realize that all this human striving was worthless compared to knowing Jesus. The people listening to Jesus in John 5 were like Saul the Pharisee before Saul encountered the risen Christ. They knew the scriptures inside and out, but they did not, or would not, see that those scriptures were pointing to Jesus. Even with the testimony of John the Baptist and the many signs or miracles Jesus performed, they would not receive Jesus as the Messiah.

My Takeaway: Let’s be like Paul. Like Saint Paul, let’s live, move and have our being in Christ. (Acts 17:28) As followers of Jesus, we want to develop the spiritual discipline of seeking to see Jesus whenever we read the Bible.

Sē’lah

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2024 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.