Witnesses to Jesus

Friday, January 03, 2014            Witnesses to Jesus          

John  5:30-38

Where are you in the pecking order? 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 is 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 the times 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 God renamed him Paul. They knew the scriptures inside and out, but they did not, or would not, see that those scriptures were pointing to Jesus. Accordingly, even with the testimony of John the Baptist and the many signs or miracles Jesus performed, they would not receive Jesus as the Messiah.

So where are you in the pecking order? When you arrive at your family gathering, civic group or church, do your words, deeds and actions produce fruit in God’s Kingdom?

Sē’lah

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(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. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.