Dear heavenly Father,
We receive your Son Jesus as our Shepherd. We put our faith and total trust in him.
We believe that you sent him to lay down his life for us. We receive that eternal life offered by your grace. Let us never waver from that commitment. Let no one ever remove us from your hand.
In Christ, Amen.
66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
If you have walked with Jesus long enough, you are familiar with this problem. People hear things, experience things, do things, or maybe someone does something to them. The end result is just as in John 6:66.
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
Whatever the reason, this is a sad outcome. At its root it is an expression of unbelief, of a lack of trust. There is a way in which it belittles Jesus, his identity as God and his work on the cross for us. It is saying that you, Jesus, are not big enough, nor is your cross effective enough to resolve this issue. It is saying that my inability to understand why you work the way you do gets the final say. There is nothing you, Jesus, can say or do to persuade me otherwise.
If we could see the big, eternal picture, we would know that this response would border on insanity. However big our problem is, however difficult to understand, however wicked the forces that have raged against us, however cruel the attack, Jesus is bigger still and his cross provides the ultimate victory.
Through faith in him we will eventually rise above the battle just as he rose from the grave and conquered death. In eternity we will hear remarkable stories of incredible evil experienced by weak but trusting saints. And the end of each and every one of them will be along the lines of, “But that is over now, and we have found everlasting joy in the presence of our Savior. The cruelty of the battle that almost ended in utter defeat only makes the victory sweeter. He rose, and he reigns forever and I am one of his.”
May our response to Christ when we don’t understand what he is saying or doing ever be,
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
Heavenly Father,
Like like the man sitting near the pool of Bethesda, we need healing. He was an invalid for thirty-eight years. There are areas of our lives that have been injured, disfigured and hurting for a very long time as well.
Yet we know that at the word of Jesus healing can take place. The most chronic condition is no special obstacle to you. Please heal us,Lord.
If there is something we need to do to walk in our new condition, help us to know what that is. This man had to get up, take up his bed and walk. What do we have to do to prove to ourselves or to others that we are in fact healed?
We also see that immediately after his healing, the man in the story did not know it was Jesus who had healed him. Help us to give credit where credit is due. We are not healed by our own determination or initiative. We are not even directly healed by the help of others, though you may use others in the process. We are healed by you.
Help us, dear Father, to walk in the newness of life that is ours.
In Christ,
Amen
This week Jesus teaches us to be bold and persistent in prayer. He talks about grace and about the attitude we should have as we approach God. Finally, he will remind us that his earthly ministry was always meant to end at the cross.
Here is a link to the livestream video:
Central Reflections 