“As in water face reflects face, So the heart of man reflects man.” (Proverbs 27:19 NAS95)

            What is in you heart will come out in words and in actions. Jesus uses parables to teach his disciples that he has called in the character that is needed to follow him in Luke 6.

“For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit.

44           “For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush.

45           “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. ^[1]

Therefore what is in your heart will be evident in your life. The fruit of your labors and the words of your mouth reflect this. This is why the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 19:4, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.” This is after one has confessed known sins and asks God to seek his heart and to reveal his hidden faults before him. This is needed for as Jeremiah 17:9-10 shows us, “That the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.”

This leads to ask then what can I do to strengthen my hearts condition? The answer is the obedience to God’s word. We need to be doers and not hearers only.  This will lead to seeing the good fruit in ones life and the words reflecting what is in ones heart. This should leads us to liking what we see. God’s word will help us to see what we may not like about ourselves and help us to see where we can grow and be better followers of Jesus Christ.

Reflection Questions:

1.    Where is my treasure? What is my treasure?

2.    How do others see me? Do I see myself this way?

3.    What sins and faults to do I need to bring before the Lord to repent?

“While I was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple” (Jonah 2:7 NAS95).

            In times of strength it is good to know the Lord. When things are well it is good practice to know how to go to the Lord in prayer and seek his will. The saying you play how you practice is good to apply here. Everyday practice of a Christian’s life should involve crying out to the Lord and praying. 

            Jonah rejected the Lord and went after his own way. Isaiah says, “All of us like sheep have gone astray” (Isa. 53:6). The grace and the mercy of God move on his children’s behalf. God sees the darkness of our sin and the lost state we are in and he still desires to hear our cry. These desperate cries make into his holy temple into his presence. Jesus as out mediator presents our plea before the Lord and the Lord hears our cry.

The Lord is mighty to save. While we are weak and faint and all one has is a desperate cry. This cry does not fall on deaf ears or someone unable to respond to the call. God is able to respond and save all who call on the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13). 

Therefore remember how the Lord delivered you from your sin sickness and repent. Do not go back to that position of weakness you once were. Now walk in the newness and the strength that God gives you through Jesus Christ. All because of the Great love of Jesus Christ the Lord.

Need Directions?

John 14:6 ¶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

         Where are you in your life journey? Sometimes I wish life were mapped out like an amusement park with a kiosk. On the map I can look see that big red star that says, “You are here!” When I see this I know where I am and where I need to go to get to my destination. But life is not this way. Or is it?

Yes, it is. This is because God loves us and has given us a GPS, God’s Precious Son, to show us the way. God is always giving directions through the Son, Jesus.  As Jesus pointed out to His disciples, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” In other words, Jesus was telling them: “Follow me.” You can stop and look at Jesus for direction. Jesus will guide you in your career, relationships, parenting and finances. Jesus knows the ultimate end. The author of Hebrews says, “Jesus is the author and the finisher of our Faith.” Let God’s Precious Son be your source of direction.  He will lead you through this temporary life to eternal life.

PRAYER:

         Jesus I surrender my life to you and trust you to lead me where I need to go. You will turn me away from temptation and lead me where I will have peace and joy that all comes from you. This is my prayer. Amen.

Text: John 8:12

The background:

    The text in focus comes up after John 7:40–52 (where the Pharisees and Sadducees are doubting Jesus words and him as the Messiah) and John 7:53-8:12 the account of the woman caught in adultery. Because most texts do not have this account originally in the text, does not discredit this account but helps build the context of the Jesus speaking after the Feast of Tabernacles in the synagogue. Therefore the possible understanding is this teaching of Jesus is further done to explain even more of who He is the one from God to deliver the Israelites that would come after Moses as the true Light.

    The Feast of Tabernacles, or Booths, or Ingathering (Lev 23:33-43) began five days after the Day of Atonement (Lev 23:34; Deut 16:13) and lasted seven days. It marked the completion of the harvest and historically commemorated the wanderings in the wilderness. During this festival people lived in booths and tents (tabernacles) in Jerusalem to remind them of how their forefathers wandered in the wilderness and lived in booths.

    When in the wilderness the Israelites were in total darkness in the light they did not know the way to go. They had to follow the Lord to the promise land. The Lord was their light so that they would no walk in darkness. When night did come God lead them in a pillar of fire then during the day God lead them being a cloud by day. “The LORD was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night” (Exodus 13:21 NAS95).

(Jesus says who he is and what our response should be to the reality of who he is.)

1.   First Jesus says :I am the Light (His Revelation)

          Jesus Second metaphorical I am Statement. Each of the “I Am” statements followed by nominative implies that Jesus provides eternal life and a life fulfilled only through him.

         Jesus says, “I am the Light.” This is a very profound saying in the symbolic use of the light and the relations the light has with the Lord of Israel!

    When God is revealing how he created the heavens and the earth he speaks of how he created light and called light good. Take note that nowhere is it recorded that he called the darkness good, but he called the separation of light from darkness good. “God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.” (Gen 1:4 NAS95) This shows that from the beginning light dwelling with darkness is not good. Or as we see in 1 John “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 1 John 1:7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:6–7 NAS95). Or How Paul points out that this kind of fellowship is not of God when he says “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness” (2 Cor 6:14 NAS95)?

    This shows that God from the beginning dwells in light and does not fellowship with darkness because he is light. Psalm 104:2 talks how God is covered with light like a cloak. The Psalmist says of the word of God in Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

    In this dark world there is a great promise of walking in this great light. Isaiah 9:2 says, “The people who walk in darkness, will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.” Therefore as children who “...were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light” (Eph. 5:8). This is because “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” (1 Pet 2:9 NAS95). Therefore one has to make a decision on the message that is given. “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John1:5). The light gives direction to those who follow and therefore are not lost. As it says in 1 Thess. 5:4-6 those in darkness do not know what is to come because they are lost and not enlightened to the will of the Lord.

(Respond to the call of Jesus will provide change.)

1.   Jesus call us to follow him (Our Response is to follow)

1.    Our Response to who he is will lead us to follows Him  -

    Following Christ implies surrender of your will and desires to do exactly what the leader does. Jesus says follow me I will make you fishers of men (Matthew 4:19, Mark 1:17), follow me he says in calling other disciples (John 1:43; Luke 9:23, 59) be my disciples he states if you serve him you will follow him (John 12:26), to list a few examples of Jesus calling us to follow him. Jesus as a leader goes before his followers as their light to fight off all that will come against them and protects them as the Lord of light.

1.   Our Reaction to the Response - We Will not walk in darkness

    To walk in darkness is to reject the light and embrace sin and wickedness. Jesus says “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. John 12:26 “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him” (John 12:25–26 NAS95).

         The Father honors us when we reject the darkness of the world and choose living in the light. The revelation of Jesus is the Light shows the direction we shall go. Walking in the light following after Jesus brings shows the change that is happening in our life.

         Jesus calls us to be transformed and live in him to accept the light and reject the darkness. The darkness does not comprehend the light (John1:5). The loving of darkness because the deeds are evil (John 3:19). The shift from darkness can only happen with the shedding of light.

(Which leads to our new reality and understanding of our life in Christ)

1.   Our New Reality - We will have the Light of life

    Following the Light leads to having the Light of life. In other words Jesus will show us how to have life by following the Light. The giver of life does what he can do best and give us life.

    The light of the world is not a universal statement for being the Light to all but to those who follow him is walking in the Light. Jesus is the True Light to those who follow him and who receive the light of life by believing in him. If you are not following him then you are in the dark left open for the devourer to attack and destroy with no protection and no life.

         Walking in pitch darkness is embracing the darkness (sin and death) and rejecting the Light of Life who is Jesus the Christ. Ephesians 5:8 instructs us to walk in the Light who is Jesus our light as children of the light.

         Following Christ leads us to not walking in darkness but having life and light. When we have this we are able to say

The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread (Ps 27:1 NAS95)?

         Then you are able to understand when the Lord spoke the prophet Isaiah saying:

““No longer will you have the sun for light by day, Nor for brightness will the moon give you light; But you will have the LORD for an everlasting light, And your God for your glory. Isa 60:20 “Your sun will no longer set, Nor will your moon wane; For you will have the LORD for an everlasting light, And the days of your mourning will be over. Isa 60:21 “Then all your people will be righteous; They will possess the land forever, The branch of My planting, The work of My hands, That I may be glorified. Isa 60:22 “The smallest one will become a clan, And the least one a mighty nation. I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time”” (Isa 60:19–22 NAS95).

         You will face life knowing you are following the Light whom shall you fear. You will be at peace with yourself knowing you live in the light not in darkness. Not concern with sin guilt weighing you down to be open for the enemy’s attacks. You will instead be walking in the promise that God has given you in Jesus who is leading us to the promise land. This is because you are Walking in the Light of God!

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,” (Jude 1:24 NAS95)

Jude 24 opens with “the one who is able” modifying God as the one and only able God. God is the subject and 1) God is able to keep us from falling or stumbling. This shows how the enemy will try to make God’s saints fall. But God is able to keep us from temptation and falling (Psalm 140:4–5; 141:9; 142:3) Then 2) God will present us or place us before his glory. His glory points to his holy and majestic being. 3) When he presents us before him faultless. We can only stand before God in his glory without blame or spotless. This word is used 8 time in the NT showing how the called of God are to be holy by being blameless and spotless. 4) Our responses of God keeping us from falling and blameless will be with great joy rejoicing being in his presence.

What a joy are the ones who stand before the throne of God and behold his glory! The joys of knowing all troubles are over and no more pain. Death is no more and time no longer matters. The ones kept by God will stand before his majesty celebrating how God through Jesus has delivered them from all their sins and now enjoy eternal life. We rejoice because God leads us not into temptation but delivers us from the Evil One. Be delivered by calling on the name of the Lord.