Monday, December 21, 2009

room for growth

John 16:31 Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe? 32 Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone.
 
The night before Jesus was captured He was deeply involved in final instructions to the faithful 11 disciples.  These men had stayed with Jesus through three years of volatile experience.  They had seen miracles and heard the voice of God and they had also felt the emotion of hate and anger from those who sought to destroy their Leader.  They had come to know and trust Jesus to be the Messiah...the Christ...the promised One who would deliver from sin and plant God's love in their hearts. And yet Jesus makes it clear that a test is coming very soon and these who were most loyal of all men would abandon Him.  I think that we can relate to the Disciples in many ways, despite the fact that we have not physically walked with Jesus.  We have come to know Him and trust Him because He has revealed how intimately He knows us and shown us how we cannot trust ourselves.  Somewhere deep inside there has been a void...an incompleteness, that He has filled and that He continues to fill.  Yet there are many times that we abandon Him.  Amazing as it seems, we also leave the God who came from Heaven to be our friend...we leave Him alone.  I think it is amazing that we would allow any desire, temptation, self-reliance or distraction of this temporary life to cause us to drop our eyes from His...and yet we do.  As I read the story of the Disciples I am reminded that, like them, we also have much room for growth.
 
blessings,
Rob Smith

No comments:

Post a Comment