John Chapter Five

As I read today I immediately thought of a song by Avril Lavigne, "Complicated". In my head repeating over and over again, "Why do you have to go and make things so complicated?" Weird I know, how could God be speaking to me through a song by Avril Lavigne as I'm reading John 5. I'm not quite sure how that works but it made a huge impression.

In the beginning of the chapter there is this man lying by the "magical" pool in Bethesda. He's been trying for years to be healed, but you have to be the first one in and he never makes it. Then this stranger, Jesus, comes up to him and simply asks, "Wilt thou be made whole?" This man immediately gives this huge long reason as to why he can't be made whole.

Sounds exactly like something I would do. Something can be so simple, and yet I make it so complicated. I have to have a plan. I need to know what's going to happen and what is the cause that leads to the effect I want. I lay it all out and follow the little map I have for myself and accomplish my goal. But does life really have to be this complicated? More than that, is my spiritual life, my relationship with God supposed to be that complicated?

If I were that man I would have expected Jesus to give me a plan about how I was going to walk. I would have needed some explanation about what was wrong with me and how it was going to be fixed. But, Jesus, simply tells the man, "Take up thy bed, and walk." There's no plan, no explanation, just get up and do it. Simple. And he does.

Connecting with Christ is supposed to be that simple. And yet it isn't because we've made it so complicated. You have to do this and that in order to walk with Christ. What I see is something totally different. When Jesus asks us, will we be made whole, why not just say "YES" instead of coming up with all the reasons why we can't. Second, when we do say yes, there is no process. There isn't this long list of things to be done, you just jump in and you're whole. Look at the man, he didn't have to learn to walk all over again. He just got up and walked. 

From this I get: I've got to stop questioning, wondering, and creating plans. I have to know that I am with Christ. He said if you search you will find and so I must hold on to that and know that he's not going to forsake me. Even when it feels like he's not there and not around, he made a promise I know he will keep it.

John Chapter Four

Jesus is so radical! Sometimes I wonder, would I have followed Jesus back then, would he have been too radical for me? I mean he broke the status quo! He didn't follow the rules and traditions of society. He was different and that didn't matter. What I see here in John is that Jesus never wished to cause a scene, evidenced by the fact that in verses 1-3 Jesus leaves Judea not to stir up trouble regarding baptisms between him and John the Baptist. However, when it came to a person, it did not matter what others thought or what society deemed appropriate.

As I was reading I stopped for a while at verses 23 and 24:

"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."


What does that mean? What does it mean to worship in spirit? I feel like this is key to following and connecting with God. Yet, I don't know what it means, so I wonder what it is that I'm missing out on? I search for other verses, basically do a cross-reference from verse 23 and this is what I find:

"But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." Romans 7:6

"Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." 2 Corinthians 3:6

I see a distinction being made, the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. Jesus said to worship in spirit and in truth. I cannot do one with out the other, but what is the spirit of the law?

"...The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." - Mark 12:29-31

This is it; loving God with everything we've got and caring and loving others. This is the spirit of the law. Everything that God has ever shown us, or asked of us stems from love to him and others. If we follow the letter of the law out of duty and not out of love to God and to others what good is it? It kills and doesn't create life. The law teaches us how to love, it is a start to creating something in our hearts that becomes natural, that doesn't need laws to tell it how to love.

Jesus exemplified it right here in John 4. He showed his disciples and everyone else that any law that does not reach out to fellow humans is void. Here, Jesus talks to a Samaritan; unheard of! Society said Jews don't talk to Samaritans but Jesus doesn't care, love says reach out and talk to her, the Samaritan woman. Second, Jesus talks to a woman alone! Scandalous! Women were not to talk to men without another man present being their husband or father. In this culture Jesus could have faced dire consequences for this action. I mean look how the disciples reacted; they "marvelled that he talked with the woman." But they didn't want to say anything about, basically looked the other way. Jesus, didn't care, he cared about her heart. So what if he got a "bad name" for it.

So, what I come away with is it's about living and how I live. Am I living through the spirit of the law or the letter of the law? Am I inspiring life through my life or am I killing (2 Cor. 3:6)? I love the way The Message interprets verses 23-24:

"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."

John Chapter Three

I absolutely love John 3. It is one of my favorite chapters because I feel as though Nicodemus is someone that relate well to. All this talk is going around about Jesus and people are choosing sides. The people are flocking to Jesus and soaking up what he has to offer. The religious leaders, of which Nicodemus is a part, are weary and are not very accepting of Jesus. Nicodemus, therefore, is scared to approach Jesus when everyone can seem him, but he is curious and must know. He decides to go at night, when no one is around. I can relate. I am often scared of what others think of me and am sometimes afraid to step out and do what I am convicted to do. This chapter gives me hope though because Jesus doesn't send Nicodemus away. He doesn't tell him, "Why don't you make a stand and approach me before people and not be scared?" Rather Jesus meets Nicodemus and converses with him. Jesus is still straight forward with him but he lets Nicodemus approach in the way he needs to.

I hear some testimonies and wonder why I haven't had some dramatic experience or change. Is my experience not as real, deep, or meaningful? No, I just think I'm more like Nicodemus instead of Paul. Like Nicodemus I've taken a slow approach, coming cautiously instead of jumping all in at once. It's nice to know that Jesus accepts both, he just wants me to come.

There is really so much that I could say about this chapter. So much of it was completely relevant to my week and helped me to make it through the week. In verse 2, Nicodemus tells Jesus that these miracles couldn't be happening unless it was from God. This week there were some really heavy times for me and I had to keep remembering that God was leading and that he was there. There were times that I would question is this really God, or is it just me and my own musings? Then I would read this verse and it seemed as though God was pointing out to me that it is only of him. He let all these wonderful things happen previously so that I could think about that and remember those things to help me get through the heavier times and know that he was still leading.

Then verse 16; the most renown verse of the Bible, touched me in a whole new way. Usually I read this verse and I think; oh yes, God loves me and I go on about life. This week reading it was different. As I was praying about things for others and myself, he said to me with this verse, "Tash, I love you and I love them so much that I already made the ultimate sacrifice for you and for them. There is nothing I will not do to help and I will take care of you and the people you are praying for." Crazy, but it was so true. If he was already willing to give his son for me, I know that he is still working in my behalf and taking care of me. He stops at nothing for our well being to keep us near to him, if we just let him.

Alright one more, I want to finish on verse 30. John the Baptist is speaking here:

"He must increase, but I must decrease."

As I'm seeking to connect to Christ and grow ever closer to him, I realize that it is he that must take over my heart and that my selfish wants and desires must decrease so that I may be completely consumed by Christ.