37 Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:
“Lord, who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”[a]
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”[a]
39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:
40 “He has blinded their eyes
and deadened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
nor understand with their hearts,
nor turn—and I would heal them.”[b]
and deadened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
nor understand with their hearts,
nor turn—and I would heal them.”[b]
41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.
42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.
There was an excerpt from a John Piper sermon in a previous post, April 7, that says "What we want has a massive effect on what we are able to believe." Isn't that the truth? And while we as Christians are responsible to tell people about Jesus and, even more importantly, do our best to set a good example as a representative of Christ, we can argue until we are blue in the face and we can figuratively beat someone over the head with the Bible all we want, but unless their eyes are opened and they are willing to believe, it will not change their mind and, depending on how we go about it, it could even push them further away. I'm definitely not saying we should just sit back and say "Oh well, nothing I say will do any good anyway so I'm not going to talk about Jesus." That's not the right attitude either. We can introduce, we can answer questions, and we can live it out to the best of our abilities so that (hopefully) others will notice a difference in us and perhaps take an interest in the One we serve, but for those who simply refuse to believe, no evidence we can present will be enough.
This is where the power of prayer comes in! We can plant seeds and water them, but ultimately it is not we who make the plants grow. If there is someone in your life that you would dearly love to see accept Christ but it seems that there is just absolutely no way he or she will come around, PRAY! Pray, make yourself available, offer other resources if they want to find things out for themselves, and pray some more! Ultimately, it is God who changes the heart.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: John 12:44-50.
1 comment:
So true Miriam. I think we filter almost everything we experience through the lens of expectation or desire. If we would only filter things through the lens of God's glory - how different we would be!
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