Saturday, October 30, 2010

Saturday, October 30

Today's reading from the One Year Bible Chronological Reading Plan is John 13:31-38; Mark 14:27-31; Matthew 26:31-35; Luke 22:31-38; John 14:1-15:17.

Scripture: John 14:6
6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

Observation: There is only 1 way to get to Heaven and that is through redemption through Jesus, the Son of God.

Application: I can't even remember many times have I heard this verse before. I know I have memorized it for Sunday School or Pioneer Clubs but how often do we recite verses without really stopping to consider what the verse is saying or what it really means. Jesus was the sacrifice for our sin-something that permanently separated us from God-and through that incredible sacrifice, we will be able to live in Heaven with God. It is because of Jesus that we can have a direct connection with God. Sometimes the Trinity can be difficult to explain and this week in my classroom (my unbelievable stocked classroom!) I found this amazing book called 3 in 1: A Picture of God and it compares the Trinity to an apple in a simple way that even my Grade 1s could relate to. The apple has three parts: the peel, the flesh, and the core but it is still one apple even though it has 3 parts. Each of the 3 parts have a role but they are still one apple. The trinity is also 3 parts but it still 1 God. This is why the verse says "if you really knew me, you would know my Father as well."

So, if I believe that Jesus is the way the truth and the life, and that no one can get to Heaven what am I doing to share this news with others? It's a good question and a tough one and one I am embarrassed to say I struggle with. I am not afraid to share my faith with other Christians, with my students in a Christian school where it is expected, and within my immediate family but to reach out to unbelievers is hard. It shouldn't be! Yet, it is a struggle. I can't help but think that it is exactly like Peter denying Jesus. I can say that I love God and yet to not share Him with others is to deny Him. This is definitely an area I need to work on in my life.

Prayer: Dear Lord, Thank you for you timeless Word. Each time we read a passage we are challenged, encouraged, and reminded of Your love for us. The story of Peter reminds us that no matter how close we are to You we can still stumble and fall. Lord, keep us close and help us to stand when that happens. Thank you for the gift of salvation through Your Son Jesus and for the assurance of eternal life. Help us to realize that that gift was meant to be shared. Give us the means, opportunity, and the courage to share it with others so that they too can know that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and that no matter how good of a person they are that they cannot get to Heaven any other way. Amen.

Tomorrow's passage: John 15:18-17:26

3 comments:

tammi said...

I struggle with that too, and I often use the, "but I'm never with unbelievers because I'm a SAHM and the only time I even SEE other people is my weekly trip to town for groceries and errands" excuse.

Except that's not an excuse. If I was walking along beside the Grand Canyon and someone I didn't know was about to make a fatal step off the edge, I wouldn't care that I didn't know them, I'D GRAB THEM! I wouldn't text them, or tell them to look out, I'd grab whatever scrap of material or handful of hair I could reach, and yank them back from the edge!!

Why am I not so brazen with trying to keep people out of hell?

Tammy said...

Same struggle here too ladies. I do not want to get to heaven and try to explain to Jesus why I didn't share the Good News with even one non-Christian. One of our adult Sunday School classes is doing Evanglism Explosion, and I'm sorry I can't take it (I'm Superintendant of the kids SS, so I'm busy during that hour). I think one of the "homework" assignments is witnessing!

Miriam said...

I struggle with the same thing. I think in some ways I feel like I'll be automatically painted with the "hypocrite" brush if I tell a non-believer that I am a Christian, so I often just refrain from mentioning it. I've noticed lately, however, that I'm much more freely telling random people that I go to church, which I also normally just don't mention, and sometimes it leads to further conversation without me feeling like the other person has made assumptions about me. Probably a watered-down version of witnessing, but still an improvement over what I have done until now. More improvement is still needed!