Many Believed

Posted on by korgrocker

“Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen. But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs.”
John 11:45-47 NLT

Why did John record that many of the people who were with Mary came to believe in Jesus? Why not those with Martha? Perhaps Mary was the sister who was popular in the community, while Martha was the stay-at-home introvert who enjoyed nothing else than the house keeping. But regardless, both the sisters had faith in their friend Jesus, and enjoyed His presence in their home. However, the important message was that many “believed in Jesus” because of the miracle that had taken place. Jesus had restored to life a man who was graveyard dead, something unheard of in that age or any other, come to that.

John recorded that many believed, but obviously not all did. Faced with such a miraculous event, why did some people not believe in Jesus? What would it take for these people to believe? What was stopping them? Worse, when the religious leaders were told what had happened they didn’t believe in Jesus either. In fact, they were so disturbed by what had happened that they called a meeting of the High Council, the Sanhedrin. This was serious stuff, because this assembly of leaders was the ultimate Jewish court. To many of the people, and collectively by the leading priests and the Pharisees, to change their religious system to instead follow a Man who called Himself the Son of God and who even proved it by performing amazing miracles, was just not going to happen. 

So what was stopping a universal belief in Jesus? In Matthew 22:14 we read that Jesus said, “For many are called, but few are chosen”. The sad thing is that in every age since Jesus died for our sins, the clarion call of salvation has rung out but only those with hearing ears have responded. In Jesus’ day, the devil had blinded the eyes and ears of those who stubbornly refused to accept the evidence before them, instead deciding to maintain the status quo. People were spiritually deaf and such deafness continues today. God said to Isaiah, “ ... Yes, go, and say to this people, ‘Listen carefully, but do not understand. Watch closely, but learn nothing.’ Harden the hearts of these people. Plug their ears and shut their eyes. That way, they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for healing” (Isaiah 6:9-10). Hardened hearts are still the default state of mankind today. Hearts resistant to anything that will lead to spiritual understanding are all around us. But God will warm and soften those whom He has called.

Today, we pilgrims are believers in Jesus. We have heard the call and responded wholeheartedly to the One who has the words of eternal life. 

Dear Father God. There was a time when, like Wesley, our hearts were “strangely warmed”. Thank You for the call through Your Son Jesus. Amen.

Calling His Name

Posted on by korgrocker

“So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a head cloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!””
John 11:41-44 NLT

After the people removed the stone that sealed the entrance to Lazarus’ tomb, there was a pause while Jesus spoke publicly with His Father in Heaven. Jesus looked up to heaven as He did this, removing all doubts about who He was conversing with, and from the content of the prayer enabling the people who were standing around the tomb to have an opportunity to finally understand that Jesus had been sent by God. Then perhaps there was another pause before Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out”. How could a body dead and buried for four days hear the call of Jesus? But there came a shuffling noise and at last a body wrapped in grave clothes appeared at the entrance of the tomb. Even the cloth wrapped around his head was still there. What did the people think? Shock? Fear? Wonder? Elation? They froze, not knowing what was going on and what they should do, so Jesus had to tell them to release Lazarus from the strips of cloth. What about the signs of decomposition? What about the smell that Martha was so afraid would be there? Someone would have had to find a robe to cover Lazarus’ nakedness. Did his sisters explode in floods of emotion, their grief replaced by wonder and elation? All the professional mourners suddenly found themselves out of a job. There would have been absolute chaos there for a time, but John’s account in his Gospel dispassionately just gave the facts of what happened.

We can’t even start to imagine the impact that event would have had on the people. We pilgrims read the account factually, though of course still realising that an amazing miracle had taken place. But how would we have felt about the situation had we stood there in the sandals of one of the people standing at the tomb? Often a Biblical message or account is notable not so much by what it said but what it doesn’t say. In a sense, Lazarus and his sisters, dear friends of Jesus, were caught up in an amazing miracle that has touched countless people, then and ever since. Jesus used the opportunity of Lazarus’ illness and subsequent death as a once and for all time demonstration of the power and glory of God. His sisters had the opportunity to turn their faith and belief in Jesus into something even stronger. 

God doesn’t have favourites amongst His children. We are all treated the same by our loving Heavenly Father. Lazarus had died and was buried, and his spirit was in Heaven. He had left his human life, and his earthly body, behind and he was now in a place of no more sickness, tears and death, in the presence of God. But the next thing he heard was Jesus calling his name, and his spirit was returned to his body, a body released from death, a body miraculously just as it was before his illness, warts and all. Extrapolating this to all believers who have died, is the next thing they hear when they find themselves in Heaven, the voice of Jesus calling their name? In a timeless eternity, will this be followed by the believer’s spirit being reunited with their resurrected body? A body just like the one Jesus had?  

The down side for Lazarus was that he had to die again. But any feelings of resentment that he might have felt would have been replaced by the comfort that through his whole experience, many, perhaps countless, souls had come to know Jesus and believe in Him.

Dear God. You constantly amaze us and we thank You for the faithful men who wrote down what Your Spirit told them to. On our knees today we worship You. Amen.

God Hears Us

Posted on by korgrocker

“So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a head cloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!””
John 11:41-44 NLT

What happened next in the account of Lazarus was amazingly unequivocal. Jesus prayed out loud about His Father in Heaven hearing Him, not because it was necessary for what was about to happen, but so that the people around Him would make the connection between an amazing miracle, Jesus, and God Himself. After this there would be no doubts about where Jesus had come from and why He was there in Israel. With such a demonstration of His God-given power, how could anyone not believe in Jesus?

Jesus of course didn’t have to remind everyone through a verbal prayer. He was always in constant communication with His Father, Spirit to Spirit, mind to mind, thought to thought, Son to Father. Jesus as we know was and is part of the Godhead, the Trinity, and for a brief time, was willing to become human for the sake of mankind. There was never going to be another opportunity for people everywhere to believe in Him. Greater miracles were not ever going to happen. 

Ever since the devil assumed control of the world, introducing wickedness and evil, mankind has been in self-destruct mode. The last thing the devil wanted was to see people come to a faith in Jesus, because by doing so they would be released from his clutches. Through faith in God, people ever since have had the ability to live in a different way, able to communicate with their loving Heavenly Father, because He always hears us. The Holy Spirit now resides within us, those of us who are believing pilgrims on their way to the fruition of their faith, eternal life. 

Psalm 139:1-4, “O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord”. The Psalmist David, who wrote these words many years ago, knew from his relationship with God that He heard everything he thought, not just prayed. He went on to say, “I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!” (Psalm 139:7). And he finished the Psalm with, “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! …  Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psalm 139:7, 23-24).

God hears us, even when we perhaps think otherwise. Apart from the obvious outcome regarding our thought life and behaviour, we have the assurance that the relationship we have with God is alive and real, and it enables us to check in with Him at every opportunity. Because of our humanity we are prone to sinful thoughts but through Jesus we have a remedy that allows us to maintain our relationship with God. So what are we thinking today? God is listening in as well, don’t forget.

Dear Father God. As Your children we are grateful for Your presence in our lives. Please help us to live in a way that is worthy of You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Glory of God

Posted on by korgrocker

“Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ‘Take away the stone,’ he said. ‘But, Lord,’ said Martha, the sister of the dead man, ‘by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days.’ 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.”
John 11:38-41 NIVUK

We human beings are natural beings living in a natural world. We see with our eyes and hear with our ears. We taste, feel and smell. But there are many things in this world that we cannot experience with our senses. Take the air around us, for example. We know it is there, but we cannot appreciate it with any of our senses. We cannot appreciate another person’s thoughts or see their inner turmoil with our natural senses. Concepts and theories are real but beyond our physical abilities to experience. Of course, the scientists and technologists invent devices to enhance our natural abilities but there remain huge gaps in our knowledge. In John 3:8 Jesus said to Nicodemus, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit”. How can a natural body invade the spiritual realm and sense what is there?

God’s glory is not something we can measure because it is the fullness of who He is. In Exodus 33:18, we read about a question from Moses,  “Then Moses said, ‘Now show me your glory.’” God’s reply was, “And the Lord said, ‘I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,’ he said, ‘you cannot see my face, for no-one may see me and live’” (Exodus 33:19-20). 

Jesus reminded Martha that earlier He had told her that she would see the glory of God. We remember that He said to her, “ … I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this? ” (John 11:25-26). God’s glory is His ultimate and perfect goodness and an experience of it will change our lives. There was a time of natural instability and Isaiah did what many do at such times – he went to church. There he experienced God in a way that changed his life. He received a vision that we can read in Isaiah 6. “It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!” Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke” (Isaiah 6:1-4). The glory of the Lord filled that place and Isaiah was never the same again.

Martha’s life was never the same again. She was about to experience the glory of the Lord in a very personal way. We don’t know anything about the rest of her life, but we can be sure that it was never the same again. Perhaps we pilgrims long for such a time when we too will experience at first hand the glory of the Lord. But we look up into Heavenly places and see the Lord there, and He smiles at us. One day we will be with the Lord sharing with others the glory of the Lord. And we will say and sing with them, “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honour and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased” (Revelation 4:11).

Father God. We give You all the glory today for all You have done for us through Jesus. We worship You today. Amen.


Quite a Stench

Posted on by korgrocker

“Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.””
John 11:38-39 NKJV

Imagine the scene. It was a place where caves had been hewn in the rock face to provide burial places for individuals or families. Sometimes these tombs were quite elaborate and consisted of several rooms, but each would have been sealed with a rounded stone that sat in a groove, preventing access by wild animals. The poorest in the society, who couldn’t afford such a burial place, would have been interred in a shaft dug in a designated field. Anyway, Jesus went to Lazarus’ tomb accompanied by an unknown but significant number of people including Martha. What happened next was unheard of because Jesus told those who were there to “Take away the stone”. Martha, ever the practical one, protested that there would be a bad smell coming from the tomb because Lazarus had been dead for four days. There were no doubts in anyone’s mind that Lazarus was really dead and his body had started to decompose, something that happened rapidly in that warm climate.

There comes a point in everyone’s life when they die. No matter how hard people try to stop it, ageing is a natural process and our bodies will one day wear out and be of no more use to us. This was not what God intended when He created us, and the first records in Genesis indicate lives extending into hundreds of years. But there came a point when a life span was expected to be “three score years and ten”, or eighty if the person had the strength (Psalm 90:10). These days, the average life span is in the late seventies for a man and the early eighties for a woman, but some die much younger and others exceed a hundred. After death, a body buried in a grave will decompose and eventually end up with skeletal remains. The Jews were horrified by the thought of cremation, assuming that a person’s physical body, regardless of its condition or what remained, would one day be physically involved in the resurrection of the dead.

So we have the scenario with Jesus and a number of people standing outside a tomb, watching as the stone is removed. The thoughts of those around Jesus could almost be heard. Thoughts such as “What on earth is Jesus up to now”? But did anyone expect what was about to happen?

We pilgrims read the account almost dispassionately. We didn’t know Lazarus or his sisters. But we do know Jesus, and recognise and honour Him, the Son of God. Because God has the interests of His children at heart, we feel a warmth within our spirits as we observe the scene outside the tomb. Jesus was about to demonstrate a miracle so amazing that it changed the lives of those in Jerusalem at that time and it brought into perspective that our God is all-powerful and has the ability to overturn all the preconceptions of the worldly people around us. What are we expecting God to do today? There may be a stench emanating from the sin and death around us, but that will never faze our miracle working God.

Dear Lord Jesus. You are the Saviour of the world. There is no other way to Heaven and we journey on to be with You. Our journey through life will attract the stench of the wickedness around us, but through Your blood we are washed as white as snow. Amen.

Jesus the Non-Conformist

Posted on by korgrocker

““Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” Then Jesus wept. The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?””
John 11:34-37 NLT

There must have been quite a crowd of people in the area where Jesus was because His emotions were seen and commented on. The kinder ones in the crowd observed Jesus’ tears and put them down to His relationship with Lazarus, now ended after his death, or so they thought. So to them tears were a sign of a grieving Jesus. However, there were others in the crowd who were not so impressed and came to the conclusion that Jesus wasn’t all-powerful, because the Healer of the blind man obviously, to them, couldn’t have saved Lazarus. Well, as we know, they were about to receive quite a shock!

A major problem within Israel was false expectations. The people had drawn their own conclusions about the Messiah they were expecting, based on Scripture that portrayed Him as the coming King, who would restore to Israel their autonomy, and political and emotional stability. Scriptures such as Zechariah 9:9-10, “Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt. I will remove the battle chariots from Israel and the warhorses from Jerusalem. I will destroy all the weapons used in battle, and your king will bring peace to the nations. His realm will stretch from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth”. The Jewish people extrapolated the prophetic writings into an imagined situation where the Messiah would destroy the Roman occupiers and fulfil their expectations, even if He was riding a donkey.

Such was Jesus’ impression on the people of Galilee after He fed the crowd of five thousand men and their families, that we read, “When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!” When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself” (John 6:14-15). They wanted Jesus to lead a rebellion to be free of the Romans, just as their ancestors had been freed from slavery to Egypt. But the same attitude to Jesus was present when faced with His miracles. Some people wanted to dictate to Him what He should and shouldn’t do. Their expectation was that the Healer of Mr Blind-no-more was also supposed to be the Healer of His friend Lazarus. So in their eyes Jesus wasn’t as powerful as He seemed to say He was. 

Jesus was never going to conform to an earthly or human agenda. He was counter-cultural and non-conformist within the Israeli society. His work was in accordance with His Father’s instructions, not the expectations of the people. Jesus said to the Pharisees,  “ … When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will understand that I Am he. I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me. And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases him” (John 8:28-29). Jesus was not a man-pleaser and was never going to conform to human expectations.

We pilgrims are also counter-cultural and non-conformist in the sense that we are not going to always behave in a way that unbelievers expect. We are citizens of the Kingdom of God living as ambassadors in our natural world, the kingdom of darkness, and that will expose us to all sorts of criticism and expectations. We are not followers of the crowd walking long the broad way that leads to hell. We are journeying on the narrow way, a path paved with ridicule and abuse from the broad way people. But that matters little to God’s counter-cultural and non-conformist children.

Dear father God. Please help us on our journey to the Promised Land, a place where we will find the glory of the Lord. Amen.

Jesus Wept

Posted on by korgrocker

“When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” Then Jesus wept.”
John 11:33-35 NLT

John records in his account of the Lazarus story that Jesus wept. In the verses today we see the situation where the Son of God Himself shed tears when He saw Mary and the other people there weeping and wailing. Showing grief in such an open way was part of the culture of that time, and still is in some parts of the world today. But when Jesus experienced the distress of others, including His friends, He became very emotional. In His spirit He empathised with them. He didn’t weep because His dear friend Lazarus had died, because soon Jesus knew that He would live again. He wept because of the deep distress within those around Him. His love and compassion welled up and showed in a few tears. But perhaps the distress around Him was also because of their unbelief, their refusal to accept that he was indeed the Resurrection and Life.

There was another time when Jesus shed tears. Luke 19:41-42, “But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes”. He knew that in just a few years, Jerusalem would be attacked and history records that over a million Jews were killed in AD70. Jesus shed tears of compassion and love for His people, deeply saddened because they had rejected the One who had brought them an opportunity to live forever with God Himself.

We human beings are prone to crying. We are emotional people, and we shed tears at times of intense grief or joy, even us Western males with the British “stiff upper lip”. Crying is a natural response because God created us that way. We are created in the image of God, so why would we be surprised if God feels the deep emotions that we do? 

We pilgrims need to weep over the unbelievers around us, as we feel God’s compassion for people, even if they have rejected Him. In our families there are those who know what we believe but have refused to follow the same paths. Sin has a hold over most people, and they prefer to live in the way they do, ignoring what will happen after they die. But we never give up sharing with them and extending God’s compassion in all that we do for them. And we pray, often in tears, for their souls.

Dear God. You wept over Your people and their refusal to believe in You. You must still be reduced to tears today, as sin and evil ride rampant in this sad world. Please help us to feel Your pain for the lost, and reach out to them with Your love and compassion. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

If Only (2)

Posted on by korgrocker

“Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him. When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there. When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.””
John 11:30-32 NLT

Poignantly, Mary said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” “If only” implies a regret, that, with the benefit of hindsight, something could have been different and better. Mary only had the faith to consider Jesus as the healer, but the resurrector? The thought that Jesus could raise the dead had probably never occurred to her. 

Often, we look at the past with rose-tinted glasses, picking out the good bits but conveniently ignoring the not so good. But our lives are full of seasons and a new season awaits us. But do we allow our futures to be dictated to by our past? Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13-14, “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us“. We pilgrims look forward towards the light, and not backwards to a life of sin. We remember what happened to Lot’s wife, who had second thoughts about leaving Sodom and looked back with regrets about what the old life had for her. Genesis 19:26, “But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt.”

There are many congregations that have become stuck in a previous move of God. But instead of following God, as the Israelite slaves did in the wilderness, looking out for the signs that it was time to break camp and move onto the next campsite, they stay where they are, following a liturgy and routine that doesn’t connect with God anymore. In the wilderness, the slaves had no option other than to break camp because to refuse to move would quickly lead to their demise from lack of food and water. The provision of manna followed God, and would have disappeared into the distance behind the pillars of fire and smoke, leaving any stragglers without the means of life. The manna today comes through the blessings of the Holy Spirit and, sadly, many churches find themselves in a place where the Holy Spirit has moved on. As someone once asked, if the Holy Spirit left our church would we know any difference? Hmmm…

The prophet Jeremiah wrote, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me” (Jeremiah 29:11-13). The antidote to “if-only” syndrome is to wholeheartedly look for, and follow, God. It is never too late to turn our backs on our past and resolve to look for the future. The thief on the cross had a life full of regrets. Full of “if-only’s”. But in his dying breaths he looked forward and reached out to Jesus who, in His compassion, saw right into the thief’s heart, finding repentance there, and granting him the gift of eternal life. 

Are we pilgrims looking forward or back? Are we full of regrets or are we believing what Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:20, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think“? ‭‭There are exciting opportunities ahead of us because we follow an infinite God who will never fail to surprise us – if we let Him. As the old song goes, “I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back“. 

Dear Father God. We indeed commit ourselves wholeheartedly to You. As the Apostle Peter said, “ … Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life”. We praise and worship You today. Amen.

If Only (1)

Posted on by korgrocker

“Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him. When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there. When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.””
John 11:30-32 NLT

Life can be full of regrets, and, with hindsight, we look back and often say to ourselves, “if only …”. If only I had worked harder at school. If only I hadn’t bought that car. If only I hadn’t married that man/woman. If only I had a different job. If only … (fill in your own list). Mary went out to meet with Jesus and she immediately and correctly declared two truths – she called Jesus, Lord, because that was who He was, and she fell at His feet in worship, because that was what He deserved. But then she said, “If only You had been here, my brother would not have died”. A statement of faith because she knew the power Jesus had to heal the sick. But she was looking backwards into the past and not forward into the future, into the presence of a limitless God. And that’s the issue for all those who live in “if only” land. We look back at what God has done in the past, with gratitude of course, but we fail to look forward to what God is going to do in the future.

We pilgrims are a people of regrets, and we churn in our minds the thoughts of how life could have been if we had made better decisions, better choices. But then we came to the foot of the cross and met the Man who redeemed the past with all its regrets and transformed our lives into a glorious future. And now, from the place of a future with Jesus and eternal life, we say to others that they mustn’t look back, because history cannot be changed. We say to them that they have the power in Jesus to change the future, a future that otherwise will become a continuum of regrets and “if only’s”. And the ultimate “if only” will be for them to stand before Jesus, trying to justify a life of unredeemed sin, suddenly realising that it is too late to make the right choice.

In Luke 16:19-31, we read about a rich man who, after a life of splendour and luxury, ended up in Hades, the place of the dead. But a poor man called Lazarus, who used to beg at his gate for scraps of food, ended up with Abraham in Heaven after he died. The dialogue between the rich man and Abraham is fascinating in that it provides an example of the ultimate regret. Did the rich man languish in a place of torment thinking to himself, “if only …”? 

Mary and Martha had spent the previous four days before Jesus’ arrival thinking to themselves in their grief, if only Jesus had come earlier. But they were soon to find out that Jesus was indeed the Resurrection and the Life. That is still the position today. Jesus was resurrected on an Easter Sunday many years ago and He is still alive today. And because of that Jesus still has the power to change the “if only’s” into a wonderful future with Him. We pilgrims may beat ourselves up, looking back at the things we did but shouldn’t have done, but God doesn’t have any record of them. Psalm 103:2-3, 12, “Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. … He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west”. Isaiah 43:25, “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.” And because of the Cross and Jesus’ redeeming power we can leave “if only” land behind us and step into a Kingdom where there are no regrets, no “if only’s”.

Dear Father God. We are so glad that we have an exciting future with You, the limitless God. Thank You, amen.

A Statement of Belief

Posted on by korgrocker

“Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.” Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.” So Mary immediately went to him.”
John 11:26-29 NLT

Jesus asked Martha if she believed in His statement that He was the Resurrection and the Life, and that “Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die”. Her reply was a resounding “yes” and she followed it with what was probably a statement impregnated with danger in those days – “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God”. This was a dangerous thing to say because of what the Pharisees might do if they heard someone say it.

We pilgrims also reached a time when we declared our belief in Jesus and affirmed who He was, and still is, of course. What we believe is important because it not only defines us to the world around us but it also determines how we think and behave. But more than that, no one can make a statement of belief as Martha did without it changing their lives. We were not born as a baby who implicitly believed in Jesus, and never had to make a decision for Christ because we were already there. As Paul wrote, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard”. Through Adam’s sin, all of mankind is in a default position of not believing in God, and instead are believers in sin and wickedness. But thanks to God there came a revelation followed by a decision, as Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:8-9, “For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true”.

There are many people around us who have made their own statements of belief. And there are as many of them as there are people, it seems. Most of them are anti-God and many support an ideology that is yet one more devil-inspired bag of nonsense. There is a spectrum from the weird to the wonderful and God must shake His head in sadness when He observes what is going on. We must be grateful for the covenant He made with Noah, “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth” (Genesis 9:9-11).

The early Christians produced their own statements of belief, in the form of Creeds. My earliest recollection of the Apostle’s Creed was in an Anglican Church, and it was recited regularly in services and at other times. But to us pilgrims today it is important that we have a statement of belief that will define both ourselves, and also our Creator God, to those around us. I believe ….

Dear Father God. We again affirm our belief if You the Maker of heaven and earth. We worship You today. Amen.