Apr 9
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 5:27Christ is given the authority to judge not because He is the means by which all Creation was made, sustained, and redeemed (John 1:3, Hebrews 1:3); not because He is the Son of God; but because He is the Son of Man. That is, Christ is made judge of us all as much (or more so) because of His human character as His divine. As it says in Hebrews 4:15, He has suffered all that we have suffered, been tempted in all the ways we have been tempted, and is personally, experientially familiar with what it… Read more »
Apr 7
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 5:26I must be, in some sense, “alive” in order to want to remain alive or become truly or more fully alive. I think this dynamic points again to the reality that God initiates and originates all the good He does for me: He gives me my very self and the context in which to want and need Him. General Grace and Revelation precede the Special and the Specific, just like natural heirs precede the spiritual ones (Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob, etc.), and natural birth precedes spiritual… Read more »
Apr 3
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 5:25I feel like well meaning Christians divide the majority of their time between trying to make this message (and by extension themselves) less offensive to the world and significantly overcomplicating the doctrine surrounding how we move from death to life. I think these efforts are different sides of the same coin, seeing as simplicity in these matters is inherently offensive to living and dead alike. But life really is simple. God really wants to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Read more »
Mar 28
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 5:24I love the present tense in this statement: whoever hears and believes has eternal life. I have eternal life right now—the life I’m living will never end. I often think of eternal life (or my real life as like to call it) as beginning when I die physically and am resurrected, body and soul. But I believe it really began when I died spiritually, viz., when by God’s grace I heard and believed. Indeed, the only future tense here is negative: I will not be judged (which I believe refers to the great… Read more »
Mar 27
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 5:21-23The Father loves the Son and gives Him power, authority, and honor. In thinking of Jesus as fully Divine, I don’t generally reflect on Him having to receive these things (Revelation 5:12), but rather as generating them. Yet Scripture calls Jesus “worthy,” which to me seems superfluous, and even explains why: because the Father loves Him, because He was slain, etc (Revelation 5:9). Perhaps this is just part and parcel of being the origin of all Good and the end to which all Good is directed—the A… Read more »
Mar 25
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 5:20It is difficult for me to understand the father/son relationship that exists within the Godhead. Why does Jesus need to be shown anything? Doesn’t He already know everything, including the Mind of the Father (and isn’t there a sense in which he is the Mind of the Father—the Divine Logos)? But apparently, the Father shows everything to the Son because He loves Him, and showing Jesus something is the equivalent of Jesus doing something, in part for the purpose of amazing us. In this dynamic at lea… Read more »
Mar 24
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 5:19There is no proper place for independence and self will in this relational world—not even in God’s relationship with Himself. And God’s relationship serves as a model for our relationships. The Son abides in the Father just as we are to abide in the Son—for power and direction. Read more »
Mar 21
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 5:18These verses seem to indicate that Jesus really was breaking the Sabbath and claiming equality with God. This conflict with religious leaders wasn’t some elaborate misunderstanding—there was no need for more clarity and no room for any compromise. Most of the time, I think of conflict as reducible to misunderstanding and miscommunication. These verses serve as a good reminder that sometimes lines are drawn up very clearly, and people choose sides with complete understanding of what they are choo… Read more »
Mar 20
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 5:16-17There is no time when God is not working—no time when He is absent. So often I find myself in a mindset where I am the one doing the work and God is somehow far off, watching and waiting, for what I know not. If God is ever far off or if His “efforts” are ever secondary to mine, it is only in my deluded imagination. God, please grant me the grace to wait on you as faithfully as you wait on me. Let me be rightly related to you. Amen. Read more »
Mar 13
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 5:14-15Thus far, both the physical healings Jesus has performed have been precursors to spiritual healing. Jesus rightly points out that being a spiritual cripple is far worse than being physically handicapped. But until these people had their physical needs met, they didn’t even begin (presumably) to ask the spiritual questions or feel their spiritual needs. Sickness exists for healing; pain exists for comforting; and both have great, eternal utility when turned over to the hands of God. Read more »
Mar 12
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 5:8-10In fairness to the Jewish leaders, they were right. It was the Sabbath and the law did forbid what the healed man was doing. I imagine that their failing was one of perspective and attitude. They seem to care more for the Law than the people it was meant to preserve and bring near to God, which is why they don’t even observe that the man had been healed from a devastating and lifelong infirmity. They have the cart before the horse, which, ironically, amounts to idolatry. Read more »
Mar 11
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 5:7The invalid wants to get well, realizes he is powerless to do so on his own, and understands that others must help him, but that it is ultimately God who performs the healing. Add to this the perseverance of waiting by the miraculous pool, day after day, hoping someone will help him and the man becomes quite eligible for a miracle. I won’t call it a formula, but rather a collection of right principles that prepare the way for God to work. Read more »
Mar 10
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 5:1-6“Do you want to get well?” is the most important, most fundamental question Jesus asks. He never heals people against their will. It might seem like the paralytic would say, “Of course I do! How can you even ask me that?” But my experience is that every last one of us is spiritually sick, and most people, if they are really honest, don’t want to get well. Not really. Until someone really wants to get well it is impossible to help him. Read more »
Mar 8
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 4:54At the end of his Gospel, John mentions that Jesus did so many miracles that no one could count them (21:25). Why then is he counting them here I wonder? Healing the official’s son was not the second miracle that Jesus had done. He had performed miraculous signs while He was in Jerusalem (2:23), though John doesn’t name them specifically. Perhaps they are numbered and specific to Galilee because the people there had so little faith that Jesus could not perform many miracles (Matthew 13:57b-58).… Read more »
Mar 7
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 4:51-53After being told, “Your son was miraculously saved from certain death,” the official asks, “What time was that exactly?” I can’t imagine a more ridiculous or inappropriate response unless there was something even greater at stake—Jesus’ true identity. The official began not believing in Jesus, but desperate enough to go to Him—not trusting Him, but willing to take Him at His word and obey Him. Here he sees God’s power at work and His promises fulfilled. Read more »
Mar 6
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 4:48-50This story tells me that I can go to Jesus to have my needs met, obey Him and receive what I need, and still not believe in Him. But the good news is, God rewards every step I take in His direction, regardless of my motives or the incompleteness of my belief. He meets my immediate needs as a way of bringing me to the place where I can have my eternal needs met. God is so good and so much better than my best idea of Him! Praise the Lord! Read more »
Mar 5
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 4:46-47Jesus may not have had any honor in Galilee, but He certainly had fame. Capernaum is a good fifteen miles from Cana, but word still reached the royal official that Jesus was there. Interestingly, Jesus was not there performing more miracles—healing the official’s son was his second (v. 54). Also interesting is the fact that when the official came to Jesus, he did not yet believe in Him (v. 53). Desperation in the face of complete powerlessness brought the official to Jesus—the same thing brought… Read more »
Mar 4
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 4:43-45Even before heading for Galilee, Jesus remarked that He would receive no honor there. In the next verse, we read that He received a warm reception on account of the miracles He performed, but apparently it was a kind of acceptance that Jesus did not highly value. “Familiarity breads contempt” and I imagine the people of Galilee who had known Jesus all His life were more delighted with the curiosity of a performing carpenter, than awed by their Messiah. Read more »
Mar 3
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 4:39-41“He told me everything I ever did,” is an interesting kind of miracle—and the one that hooked Nathanael in John 1:48-49. I read it as, “He knew me,” and beyond that, more closely and completely than was thought possible. That’s not ever the greatest miracle, as Jesus Himself admits in John 1:50-51—it is greater by far that He knows me so well and loves me anyway. The Samaritan woman’s testimony of Jesus knowing her was enough to introduce Him to many of her neighbors, who believed once they real… Read more »
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 4:37-38For some reason, I think its my job to sow, water, fertilize, shop for farm equipment, reap, pay income tax, and open a grocery store to sell the “product.” I think I need to control things, manage things, plan things, and be responsible for the entire process. I call this attitude in myself “praying for a king” after Israel’s model. God really gives me everything I need and does all the hard work for me. I just have to take possession of what He has provided. All of Christianity—that is, true l… Read more »
Feb 29
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 4:36Now, now, now, now, NOW! A harvest for eternal life is reaped today, as are rewards for working. There is no more waiting, at least of the kind I’m inclined to, aptly described as “killing time.” And what a miracle to reap, together with God, something that He Himself has sown! It amazes me to think of rejoicing together with God over work well done. Any time I can use “we” to describe something true of God and myself together, I am dumbfounded and amazed. Read more »
Feb 28
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 4:34-35I used to think that all God had for me lay in the future—future tasks, future joys, future rewards. Today I see that all He has for me, both in the way of works and rewards, is right NOW. It will never be four months from now. All I will ever experience is NOW. Read more »
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 4:31-33How ridiculous disciples of Christ look when they try to take care of Him instead of letting Him take care of us. It’s as though we imagine Him powerless or childish. But on the bright side, the fact that the Apostles were so completely and consistently dense gives me great hope for the progress our Lord might work in me. Read more »
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aspiringhuman added a link contribution John 4:28-30I wonder what kind of crowd the woman would have drawn if she were of a more reputable character—I bet it would have been smaller and more reputable and less willing to hear what Jesus had to say. I think God can do more with my brokenness and depravity than He can (or wants to) do with my normality. Read more »
User Info
Name: Adam Haer
User Since: February 2008
Location: Atlanta, GA
Website: www.booksteps.com
Contributions: 24
Tags: 116