Come to the Light

June 30, 2016

Come to the Light

But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.

John  3:21(NRSV)

In Numbers 21, Moses made a bronze image of a deadly serpent and placed it on a pole. In Moses’ hands, when the serpent, a symbol of evil and death, was lifted up and the people looked upon it, they were healed. John is saying that because Jesus was nailed to a cross and lifted up, the whole world can see the result of sin and evil; but in the hands of God, that cross turns into the pathway to our salvation. When Jesus is lifted high, we have the opportunity to come out of the darkness and live in the light of God’s eternal love.

Jesus was lifted high on the cross so that the world could see that “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus said that his followers can also be lifted up as a sign of God’s love: “But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God” (John 3:21 NRSV). This means that when we are living in God’s light, others will see and will have the opportunity to join us in God’s love.

Does your lifestyle reveal you are living in God’s light?

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.

Spiritual Life

June 29, 2016

Spiritual Life

Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life

John 3:6

Sometimes people are tempted to put too much emphasis on Jesus’ statement, “You must be born again.” By too much, I mean their focus is on identifying a particular time and place where a person confessed faith in Jesus as though the whole point of Jesus’ statement was that we needed a once in a lifetime experience. Notice Jesus said we must be born of water and the Spirit. (John 3:5) Some people take his reference to water as our earthly birth because there is a discharge of water as a natural part of the birthing process. I believe this may also be a reference to our water baptism.

Water baptism marks our initiation into the Kingdom of God and into the church, through our confession of faith. The Apostle Paul expounds on our being born of the Spirit in Romans 6 where he discusses our being baptized by the Holy Spirit into the life of Jesus. When you bring these two together, baptized by water and the Spirit, you can see that the evidence we have been born again will be the life we are living, as opposed to only identifying a particular time and place where we made our confession of faith.

Jesus underscores this point by reminding Nicodemus that God’s ways are not the ways of humankind. When we are born into the Kingdom of God, we then begin the process of learning the ways of God. We learn how to come out of the darkness of sin and live in the light of God’s love. Jesus was also pointing to one of the distinguishing characteristics of living in God’s love: “the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life” (John 3:6).

Every day we are bombarded by so many different voices that try to influence the direction of our lives. Have we learned to listen for and distinguish the witness of the Holy Spirit in our lives? Later in this Gospel, Jesus will affirm that we can follow him because we can learn to distinguish his voice over and above all the voices that call out to us every day. Sometimes when we were coming out of a crowded stadium I would get separated from my children. When that happened, my daughter wouldn’t call out to “Dad”; she would call me by name, “Alex.’ That voice, saying my name, I could easily distinguish above the crowd noise.

Jesus, the one who loves you dearly, is calling your name. Can you hear him?

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. 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.

Many Believed In His Name

June 28, 2016

Many Believed In His Name

When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing.

John 2:23

It is important to remember that John’s Gospel is not a travel log of all the places Jesus went, and the things he did and said. Neither is it an historical record of the life of Jesus. John’s Gospel is a theological interpretation of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. It would be very confusing to compare the timeline in this Gospel with the other three Gospels. As an example, Matthew, Mark and Luke only have Jesus, as an adult, going to Jerusalem one time, at the end of his ministry. John will follow Jesus in and out of Jerusalem several times. The story of Jesus cleansing the Temple was in the first of three Passover visits to Jerusalem in the Gospel of John. (John 2:13-25)

The people of Israel expected the Messiah would purify the Temple to make it ready for the presence of God. However, they made the same mistake we all make; they assumed it was the Roman presence and symbols in the Temple that made it unclean. They didn’t look within themselves for the sin that corrupted the Temple. Jesus made it abundantly clear that it was their religious practices that turned the Temple into a marketplace. The Temple leaders didn’t so much dispute Jesus’ action; rather, they demanded a sign to prove he had the authority of God to clean the Temple. Jesus alluded to a sign yet to come, but it went right over their heads. Sometimes we really can’t see the forest for the trees.

What would Jesus say or do if he visited our church on Sunday? My immediate thoughts go back to the closing assembly of VBS last week. There was such joy and enthusiasm as all of the children sang songs of praise to Jesus. Regrettably, such joy and enthusiasm is not nearly as evident in many of our Sunday morning worship services. Tragically, the despair and cynicism of our culture has infected too many of our sanctuaries. I believe Jesus would say to us, “If many are not believing in me, maybe you need to re-think what you are saying and doing.”

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. 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.

The First Sign

June 27, 2016

The First Sign

Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

John  2:11

Responsive listening is one of the most effective ways to study the Bible. Read the scripture passage aloud and then focus on the word, sentence or phrase that caught your attention. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead you as you ponder what God is showing you and perhaps what God wants you to do in response to what you are seeing in the scriptures. The Gospel of John is a great place to practice this technique because there is so very much to ponder in this Gospel.

In John’s Gospel, the signs or miracles Jesus performs are heaven and earth coming together in the person of Jesus.  How do you see heaven and earth coming together in Jesus transforming the water into wine at the wedding in Cana? As an excellent teacher, John gives his readers much to ponder. As an example, Jesus’ mother is only mentioned twice in this Gospel: at the wedding and at the crucifixion. Why was that detail important in the way John told his story? Also, John begins Chapter 2 and the story of the wedding in Cana by saying, “On the third day . . .” Why does John tell us this? Why was that significant? Are we supposed to see a connection between verse one and nineteen? (“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19)) Something to ponder.

There is much to ponder from the details of Jesus’ visit to Cana. My take-away from the miracle is grasping how important it is to see signs of the Messiah in the ordinary flow of my life. Last week I had the joy of being a storyteller for VBS. The challenge of presenting the stories of Jesus to groups ranging in age from kindergarten to sixth grade was daunting. Even so, we saw signs of heaven and earth coming together as the Good News of Jesus was shared.

What’s on your agenda for today? Will you ask the Holy Spirit to help you be open and receptive to the signs of the Messiah in your life?

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. 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.