It’s All About Control

July 29, 2016

It’s All About Control

They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too?

Search the Scriptures and see for yourself—

no prophet ever comes from Galilee!”

John  7:52

It’s all about control. Whenever there is a great argument, the issue is not the subject of the argument; it’s always about control. This is true in politics in the public arena, as well as politics within the church. The leading Pharisees who argued with Jesus (John 7:40-52) model this truth for us. They rant about God’s Law, about what is proper and good for ordering Temple life, but their rants reveal they know neither the law nor the history of Israel. They reveal a contemptuous attitude and bigotry against anyone who disagrees with them because what really matters to them is that they are the ones who control life in Israel.

The Pharisees railed that no prophet ever comes from Galilee. King David and Bethlehem are mentioned in this passage, and John could have easily countered the assertion that Jesus’ hometown was in Galilee by affirming, in accordance with Scripture, Jesus was born in King David’s town of Bethlehem, not Nazareth. Instead, John points out the foolishness of the Pharisees charges against Jesus by using an interesting word play.

The word translated ‘comes’ can also be translated ‘rises up’, and the same word refers to resurrection in other parts of John’s Gospel. Two of Israel’s most well-known prophets came from Galilee: Jonah and Hosea. Jonah spent three days in the belly of a great fish, and in Hosea 6:2 it is written, “on the third day (God) will raise us up.” Not only did these great Prophets come from Galilee; they, in their own way, were pointing to the fulfillment of Jesus’ words in John 2:19, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Within the broken humanity of us all is the desperate need to control our lives and our environment. Our zeal to be in control produces the sour fruit of self-justification and blindness to the truth of Scripture. When I think of our desperate straits, I recall with joy the words of the Apostle Paul: “Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:24-25a).

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.

Water for Our Wilderness

July 28, 2016

Water for Our Wilderness

“Anyone who is thirsty may come to me!

Anyone who believes in me may come and drink!”

John  7:37-38

Jesus spoke chilling words to the Pharisees: “you cannot go where I am going” (John 7:34b). Jesus’ words to the Pharisees stand in sharp contrast to the encouragement he provided his disciples a few months later: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going” (John 14:1-4).

Many among the crowds at the Temple when Jesus was speaking believed in him. (John 7:31a) Many believed, but not all believed, and so it is today. Pray that your faith in Jesus will become an inviting witness in your environment, especially to those who may be in danger of hearing Jesus’ chilling words, “you cannot go where I am going.”

Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Festival of Shelters, which was a memorial to honor the time the Israelites spent following Moses through the wilderness. The wilderness was arid, and there was always a desperate need for water. The liturgy of the Festival included many prayers for water. Those in attendance certainly would have been intrigued by Jesus’ offer: “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink!” (John 7:37-38). The more we own the truth of our own wilderness experience apart from being reconciled to God, the more we are desperate to drink from Jesus’ well of living water. As we own our own wilderness experiences, let us recall with gladness Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman at the well: “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life” (John 4:13-14).

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.

Looking Beneath the Surface

July 27, 2016

Looking Beneath the Surface

Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.

John  7:24

When Jesus spoke during the Festival of Shelters (John 7), he exposed two character flaws in our fallen human nature. The first is our tendency to establish rules and boundaries as a means of self-justification. The Jews had established hundreds of rules to govern how to take a Sabbath rest, all of which missed God’s purpose for them. God gave us a Sabbath rest so that we could take time to reflect on how we were living our lives. In the previous six days, did we love the things God loves, did we do the things God does, and did we humbly walk in harmony with God. By the time of Jesus, the people of God had reduced this simple period of self-examination and rest to more than six hundred rules, some as silly as whether one could tie their shoe laces on the Sabbath.

The religious leaders didn’t take well to Jesus pointing out the flaws in their elaborate means of justifying their position. That’s the second flaw Jesus exposed, and as with self-justification, we still struggle with it today. Politicians and bureaucrats spend more time justifying themselves, and using their power to silence their opponents, than they do fulfilling their actual responsibilities.

I wonder what we would have heard, and how we would have responded, if we had been in Jesus’ audience in Jerusalem during the Festival of Shelters. As for me, I am hearing how I desperately need to “stay in the grace of today” (Wm. Paul Young, author of The Shack). I need to live by grace, and by grace alone. Any reliance on rules and regulations will quickly draw me into the devil’s snare of self-justification. I must remember that God saved me by his grace when I believed, and I can’t take credit for this. My salvation is a gift from God; it is not a reward for the good things I have done, so I cannot boast about it. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

When I am not compulsively seeking self-justification, I don’t fear and react with hostility to those who have different opinions, ideas and thoughts from me. I am able to then deal gracefully with them, which I believe is exactly what God has in mind for us: “this is what (God) requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).

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.

Who is Telling the Truth?

July 26, 2016

Who is Telling the Truth?

Those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves, but a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies.

John  7:18

Much of the controversy that surrounded Jesus was based on misunderstandings about the nature of God: such as, God’s relationship to the world, His purpose for humankind, and His vision of community. Many people, especially the religious leaders, would not accept Jesus as the Messiah because Jesus did not fit into their expectations of the Messiah, and because Jesus’ vision of God, the world, the nature of humanity, and their neighbors was so different from their preconceived notions.

A Christian is a person who has become aware that the world’s culture has told them a pack of lies about God, the world, themselves and their neighbors. A Christian learns that God, in Christ Jesus, is telling them the truth. (The word truth appears more than forty times in this Gospel.)

What is your understanding of the nature of God?

What is your understanding of the world?

What is your understanding of your place in the world?

Who are your neighbors?

And you know this how?

(Hint: later in this Gospel Jesus will say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).)

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.