May 10, 2014
Jesus rebuked the crowd that followed him for free food. The feeding of the 5,000 was a sign meant to point to Jesus, not the bread. But the people were more concerned for their stomachs than their souls. Do you come to Jesus for bread? Or because he is the Bread of Life? Most of us have come to Jesus for some physical or relational need or hurt. We came seeking the temporal. Yet, having our needs met, some now follow just for Jesus. We come wanting only Jesus. We come saying, “Give me Jesus.” We now know that all we need is Him.
May 9, 2014
Do you ask for a box for your leftovers? Jesus did. I wonder why. Was it to show that when He holds a banquet everyone eats their fill with food to spare? Was it to draw attention that even the leftovers were much greater than the original 5 loaves and 2 fish? And why record the basket count of 12 baskets full? Did this show that each disciple got a packed lunch to eat while Jesus slipped away into the hills? I can only speculate as to why Jesus commanded the leftovers to be saved. But certain things can be known for sure from this story: 1)When we trust Jesus with our small offering, He can multiply it to feed a multitude. 2)When Jesus feeds the hungry, they eat their fill with food leftover. 3) With Jesus nothing is wasted.
May 8, 2014
While young Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle he was awakened a fourth time by the voice of the Lord calling him. The first three times he ran to Eli, thinking his old master was calling him. He didn’t yet recognize God’s voice. After the third time old Eli realized that God must be calling to Samuel, so he instructed him on how to answer. When Samuel replied as Eli instructed, God spoke to him. From that day forward Samuel was confirmed as a prophet. Throughout Israel he was respected as a prophet of God whose word was reliable. Samuel had to learn to hear God’s voice and respond. Have you learned to hear from God? Are you willing to get up in the middle of the night to hear from Him?
May 7, 2014
In contrast to Eli’s grown sons, young Samuel served the Lord. Samuel was given to Eli to raise as his own by his mother Hannah. She had been barren and promised to give the Lord her firstborn son if He allowed her to conceive. Eli was a permissive and passive father. His sons were evidence of his parenting failure. Yet, like many today, he was a better grandfather to Samuel than he was a father to his own sons. Hannah gave her son to the Lord. He grew up in God’s presence. From his youth until his death, Samuel was faithful to God. He was the last of Israel’s judges. He was a transitional figure who acted with all three titles of prophet, priest and judge, before anointing the first two kings of Israel.
May 6, 2014
The little book of Ruth illustrates the use of the Levitical law (found in Lev. 25) which provided for a woman who had no male heir to retain her family’s property. This provision in the law called for a close family member to become a “ga’al,” which is the Hebrew word for “kinsman-redeemer.” In Ruth, Boaz takes the role of the ga’al, a selfless act that enabled Naomi and Ruth not only to have an inheritance but gave them a son to carry on the name of their dead son and husband. It seems ironic that it was a foreign woman who activated this law. Yet, God often brings people that are far away, near to Him in faith. So, the story of Boaz and Ruth inform us of the kinsman-redeemer practice and also show us the preparation for the ultimate Kinsman-Redeemer, Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Jesse… Obed… Boaz and Ruth, and the Son of God.
May 5, 2014
Ruth’s determination to stay with Naomi was surely based on a combination of love and faith. Even though Naomi could promise her no husband and no future, Ruth was willing to leave Moab and follow Naomi to Bethlehem. Her faithful love was rewarded. The Lord provided a Kinsmen-Redeemer for her named Boaz. And Ruth the Moabitess was grafted into the line of Judah, eventually becoming the grandmother of King David and being included in the gospel lineage of Jesus.
May 4, 2014
This was John the Baptist’s confession concerning Jesus, “Anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life.” John said this in response to his own disciples who were concerned that more people were being baptized by Jesus than John. In fact, Jesus wasn’t baptizing. His disciples were. No matter. John rightly understood the point. His disciples were jealous of another’s ministry growth. John rebuked them. He recognized that his ministry wasn’t to build a following to himself, but to prepare the way for the Lord Jesus. He said, “I must decrease and He must increase.” If only more ministry leaders today understood this. Our ministries don’t exist to exalt ourselves. They exist to make Jesus famous! For Christ is the only One who can give us eternal life.
May 3, 2014
Some who know about the gospel, question how God can judge those who haven’t heard it. They offer this question as their own excuse for not believing. Yet, Jesus told Nicodemus that this attitude is based not on reason, but on their passion for darkness and sin. Those who hear the gospel about Jesus and reject it are already under God’s judgment. They have loved darkness and rejected the Light, so God has rejected them. What we do with Jesus has everything to do with what God does with us.
May 2, 2014
This is the first of seven “signs” that the apostle John recorded in his gospel. John calls them signs and not miracles because signs point to something other than themselves. On a recent trip to see the Grand Canyon I noticed “Grand Canyon” road signs all along the way as we drove up from Phoenix. Yet, we didn’t fly from NC to AZ to see these signs. We didn’t stop driving until we stood before the Canyon itself! Many during Jesus’ day were attracted to his miracles, but his true disciples saw them as signs that pointed to Him. Jesus turned the water into wine at a wedding in Cana. The master of the feast and the wedding guests were enthralled with the taste of the new wine that Jesus had made, but the disciples were focused on the wine’s Maker. The whole creation is a miraculous sign pointing to the Creator, yet many worship the former without recognizing the latter (Rom. 1:19-25).
May 1, 2014
The disciple Nathaniel went from expressing doubt to proclaiming belief simply because Jesus told him he had seen him earlier under a fig tree. Jesus appears to find this humorous. He responded that it didn’t take much to move Nathaniel to believing, but there would come a day when his faith would be rewarded with full evidence of Christ’s identity. Jesus then described a coming day when all would see him as the “stairway between heaven and earth.” This is a clear allusion to Jacob’s vision in Genesis 28 when Jacob saw this same stairway and named the place Bethel, which means “House of God.” Jesus is the fulfillment of Jacob’s vision. He is the Ladder of Love come down mediating the only way to the Father (John 14:6, 1 Tim. 2:5).