Daily Meditations on the Bible
What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise.
Summary: Paul restates his argument using a different tack. How are belief in God and faith in the law related?
Continue reading “Galatians 3:17 – Faith and Action”(Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law) … or by believing what you heard?
Summary: This mediation takes us on an wonderful journey. Putting the pieces of this verse/puzzle together, we see how God uses the law to bring us into his fold.
Continue reading “Galatians 3:2d – Fence and Gate”
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him …
This is truly one of the great mysteries of our Modern Age. How is it possible that two thousand years after a man named Jesus walked this earth, people still to this day believe that he is alive?
In Acts chapter 5, there is a story about the Jewish Council (called the Sanhedrin) who condemned Jesus to death for claiming to be the Messiah. Two months after they had rid themselves of Jesus they expected things to go back to normal. But they didn’t. Instead, the disciples of Jesus, now called Apostles, kept talking about Jesus like he was alive. To complicate things, they did miracles of healing in the name of Jesus. Thousands of people were coming to believe that Jesus was, in fact, the Messiah.
Continue reading “1 Peter 1:8 (a) — Testimony”
Then Jesus cried out, ”Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.”
In the early days of personal computing (This would have been late 80’s or early 90’s in my world) computers were sort of a glorified typewriter. Getting a paper printout that looked like a professionally typeset page was next to impossible. Even if the software you had was good enough, there was another level of frustration waiting in getting a printer to print what you wanted.
Then some genius came up with WYSIWYG. This stands for “What You See Is What You Get.” It was the beginning of being able to print what you saw on your computer screen and have it look exactly the same way on the printed page.
People in Jesus’ day were used to hearing what righteousness was supposed to be about. They just never seemed to see it in real life. Until Jesus. When Jesus started His ministry, people caught a glimpse of the Real Deal. God incarnate talked the talk and walked the walk. He forgave sins, he healed infirmities, he cast out demons and he confronted the phony-baloney establishment.
Continue reading “WYSIWYG – John 12: 44-45”
Then Jesus said, ”Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, ”Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
During WWII there was an Army recruitment poster that had a picture of Uncle Sam with his finger pointed at you, the reader. The caption read, “Uncle Sam Wants You!” The idea was that you, too, had a place waiting for you in the service of the country.
Jesus wants you, too. But not because he needs you or that there is anything you can do for him. Jesus wants you because he is your Maker, and he loves you. He wants you to know him and believe in him, and he is willing to go to the ends of the earth to earn your trust.
Continue reading “Jesus wants you! – John 11: 40-42”
After he had said this, he went on to tell them, ”Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
His disciples replied, ”Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
So then he told them plainly, ”Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
Belief is an odd thing. Certain beliefs are accepted without question. In many cases, we believe what our parents believed, for no other reason than wanting to be part of the family. Sometimes, less often, we arrive at a belief as the result of a personal journey; a research project or extended study of some sort.
Continue reading “So You May Believe – John 11: 11-15”
Each one of us has a sense of what “Truth” is or isn’t. Yet how many of us are right? If one hundred people each have a different idea of “Truth” then there are one hundred different definitions of truth. What are the odds that even one of those is right, let alone one? Certainly there can be no more than one true Truth.
Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!