Prayer
Briefly prepare your heart in silence, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken your sense of anticipation that God is about to speak to you through His Word. Then, before you read, I invite you to pray this simple prayer based on Psalm 19:14,
As I come to Your Word,
may my thoughts and meditations be pleasing to You,
O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer!
Amen.
Reading
According to John’s Gospel, these are the last words Jesus spoke to the public at large, and they amount to a final invitation to people to believe in Him and live.
He pleaded with this crowd to open their eyes and see that God Himself was standing in front of them. He urged them to recognise that when they saw Him they were seeing God (v.45) and when they heard Him they were hearing God (v.49).
He was, in effect, warning them that to ignore or reject Him was to ignore or reject God Himself. How tragic it is that anyone could even think of ignoring or rejecting the Great God of Eternity who has come to us in Jesus, speaking words of Life and Light into our world of death and darkness. How tragic and how foolish.
On the other hand, if they would only receive His words with faith, believe in Him, and respond to Him with obedience, they would receive eternal life (v.50). By believing, trusting and walking in step with the words and person of Jesus, they would discover the fullness of life as it was always meant to be – human life that pulsates with the Life of God and cannot be destroyed even by death. This is what Jesus invites us to receive, every single day of our lives on earth.
Jesus did not come to judge or condemn humanity. He came to save us. But, saving us involves us following Him, and that we have to choose to do. Imagine someone coming to save you from a jungle in which you are utterly lost without food and water. They find you there in the jungle and tell you to follow them to water and then to safety. If you refuse to follow them, who has condemned you to a slow, agonising death in the jungle? Not them. You have done it yourself.
So, in love for us, Jesus warns us that our response to His call will ultimately determine whether we walk into His Life and Light, or continue on the human path towards darkness and death. If we hear His call and refuse to follow, we will have condemned ourselves.
Which will it be for us today?
Contemplation
Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn this declaration over and over in your mind. Keep it in mind throughout the day and live in step with Your King, Jesus.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ:
- I will listen to the voice of Jesus and trust Him enough to follow Him on the path of Life.
Lord Jesus, show me Your glory, help me to hear Your voice coming to me today, and when I hear, help me to follow. Amen.
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