Sunday, May 10, 2015

tough words

today's readings: 1 Samuel 8:1-9:27, John 6:22-42, Psalm 106:32-48, Proverbs 14:34-35

Jesus says some things in John 6 that make many people scratch their heads. He says He's the bread of life, come down from heaven. an interesting thing is that the people who heard Him say that had a harder time with the idea of Him "coming down from heaven" than they did with Him being "the bread of life".

but they did. they said to themselves "isn't this Joseph's son? how can he say he 'came down from heaven'?" you can see they were confused as to His identity. they thought Joseph was His dad. and so they didn't understand that He had, in fact, come from heaven.

so the confusion goes all the way back to when Jesus was actually walking the earth 2000 years ago. people today still get confused. they still think He was just a man, born of another man, and that He said and did some nice things, but that was about it. the idea that He was born of a virgin, led a sinless life, and then died, defeated death, and rose again to eternal life is, needless to say, difficult for them to accept.

but let's have patience with those people. for one thing, they're us. we all have trouble accepting things that Jesus tells us. we all struggle with our faith from time to time. we all need patience. for another thing, being patient with them will do a whole lot more to help them come to believe than pointing out their doubt and thinking that we're better than they are.

thanks for the things i struggle with, God. those things keep me humble.

1 comment:

Julie said...

Every knee shall bow and every tongue confuse that Jesus is Lord. Can't wait. The people in Christ time had heard about manna coming down from heaven to feed the people in the wilderness, no big deal, but someone says "they came down from heaven" who does He think He is? Duh Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God. To save us from our horrible sins.
Lord continue to search our hearts and be patient with us as we all attempt to understand all You said and did.