He Works to Not Lose You

He Works to Not Lose You

John 6:39  “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.”

When Jesus was here physically, He had the same limitations that we have.  He could not work with everyone as He did the with the 12.  To the 12 He said, ‘Come and follow Me’.  For 3 years He worked to not lose them.  With the woman caught in adultery He said, ‘Go and sin no more’.  For her she had one shot.  This was her chance at being drawn to and finding God.  

But today He is not bound by physical limitations.  When any are drawn, He works to not lose them.  If in our chance we are drawn, no longer does He have to say to some, ‘Go and sin no more’; instead, now to all He is able to say, ‘Come and follow Me’. 

Now He is able to focus on each of us as He did with each of His disciples—as He did with Mary, Martha and Lazarus.  His only limitation now is us.  To each of us He says, ‘Come and follow Me’.  He grants us the opportunity to be with Him as Mary was—with Him as John was—and yet how many live like they just met Him once and heard Him say, ‘Go and sin no more’? 

He works to not lose you.

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Be Still and Know

 

In Brennan Manning’s new book, The Furious Longing of God, he quotes part of Psalm 46:10; “Be still, and know that I am God”. 

 

Does that not speak volumes?  I’ll not mess it up by adding to it.

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In the Absence of Life

John 5

 

It was the only hope they had—waiting by the pool for the water to stir—waiting for the healing these stirrings could bring.  If the leaders of the day had been properly focused, there wouldn’t have been any waiting by the pool.  In fact, by the time John writes this, they had already quit waiting by it.  John says, “Here a great number of disabled people used to lie”. A new leader had come to town; the waiting was over.

 

It seems today, in many cases, we have gone back to waiting.  We wait in our churches for the water to stir—waiting for the healing these stirrings can bring.  The man in this story had waited for 38 years.  How many today have done the same thing? 

 

How many of today’s leaders are guilty of the same thing the leaders in this story were guilty of.  John writes in 5:39-40, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”

 

Is it possible, even today, to study and know the Scriptures and yet miss the life of which they speak?  Are we somehow coming to the Scriptures, yet not coming to Christ?  Do those who wait continue to do so because there is none to help them? 

 

In the absence of life, a great number of disabled people are waiting.

 

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Imitate What is Good

3 John

 

There are a lot of things working on us to keep us from being faithful, or if nothing else, to steal our joy when we are.  At night in my leisure, I might have a thought of reading a certain book.  As soon as I have the thought, I think of other books I have that I could read.  Then I think instead of reading I could be writing.  Sometimes I get bogged down trying to decide and end up doing nothing.

 

In light of all the competing voices we hear, I like the voice of John here.  He cuts through it all and simply says, “do not imitate what is evil, but what is good”.  Gaius had found a way to be helpful and was faithful at it.  Diotrephes had found a way to hinder and was faithful at it.  The bottom line here is that we imitate what is good.  If we’re doing that, we should leave ourselves alone – pat ourselves on the back a little.

 

In case that last line caused you to stiffen up a little, consider that this entire letter was not too much more than John’s attempt to pat Gaius on the back.  We all need encouragement.  It helps us fight through all the competing and discouraging thoughts that are working against us.  I think we could learn from John here the importance of encouraging others when we have the opportunity.  And until we receive such encouragement, as long as we are imitating what is good, a little pat on our own backs is better than beating ourselves up.

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