Chris Davis

Consider: Luke 5

We find Jesus teaching with some Pharisees sitting nearby. Apparently Jesus’ reputation had begun to spread so some guys brought a man on a mat so that Jesus would heal him.

As the story goes, the crowd was so thick that the men went up on the roof, tore it open and lowered the sick guy throw the new sky light.

First off, what an extreme amount of care for this sick man. We awesome they were friends of his… but any way you look at it they were intent on getting this man to Jesus.

What a challenge for us!

Secondly, it’s important to look at what Jesus did with this man: He both healed him AND forgave His sins. Jesus cares for both the heart AND the body. Interestingly enough, Jesus actually forgave the man’s sins before He healed his body. Jesus first and foremost wants our hearts!

It was then that Jesus turned and dealt with the hearts of the Pharisees.

They were not too happy that this man Jesus was forgiving people’s sins. “Who does He think He is…?” they questioned in verse 21.

And to show that Jesus had the authority to forgive sins, He turns to the lame man and heals him.

Jesus’ response is real and relevant and literally strikes to the heart. “Why do you question this…?”

This story can be applied to our lives in many different ways. But know this, Jesus’ desire is for everyone to come into relationship with Him. He wants our hearts. He also wants us to know that He not only cares for our hearts, but He also cares for our bodies.

Consider: Revelation 1

The Book of Revelation is an interesting book! It’s quite often misunderstood because many think the book is about the “end times”. Though the events that will occur surrounding the end times, the book itself is all about Jesus (see Revelation 1:1).

The whole first chapter, John lays out how he received this revelation and who/what it’s all about.

As I was reading it this morning, verse 8 popped out to me. It reads:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega–the beginning and the end,” says the LORD God. “I am the One who is, who always was, and who is still to come–the Almighty One.”

The footnote connected with verse 8 says this:

Greek: I am the Alpha and the Omega, referring to the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.

Which got me to thinking. If we were to think of it in context of our English language, He is our A to Z. There are no other letters in our language than those that exist between A and Z. When it comes to God, there is no one else other than Him. There’s no one else that even comes close to comparing to Him.

He is the Alpha and Omega and He is the A to Z.

Consider: 1 John 2

John makes some incredible statements in chapter 2.

He says things like:

• “I am writing this to you so that you will not sin.” (vs. 1)
• “If someone claims, ‘I know God,’ but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liat” (vs. 4)
• “Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.” (vs. 6)

People can SAY a lot of things… doesn’t mean it’s true. People can wear Christian t-shirts, but it doesn’t mean the wearer is a Christian. People can even go to a church service, but that action in and of itself is not proof of their salvation.

John clearly let’s us know it doesn’t matter what people say, if they aren’t living like Jesus, then they’re not really followers of Christ.

It’s gut-level, toe-stepping-on truth.

So who are you living like?

Consider: John 1

This first chapter of John holds nothing back. If ever there is the question concerning who Jesus was, read this chapter.

Check out the first 5 verses (from the NLT):

“In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and He was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that He did not make. Life itself was in Him, and this life gives light to everyone. The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”

The line I want to focus on is verse 3 which says “He created everything there is. Nothing exists that He did not make.”

How much more plain can that be?

He created everything.

Nothing exists without Him.

Nothing.

Simply approaching this passage with child-like faith (and plain English) clearly shows that Jesus is it. He is the One who created everything. He is the reason why we exist. We weren’t made by chance. He didn’t just start the creation process and sit back and watch everything happen. He actually did it. He created everything.

We should not only understand this in regards to the creation event itself but apply this to our lives in the fact that He has created us individually for a reason. You weren’t a mistake. You weren’t put on this earth by chance. Mother nature and karma had nothing to do with your birth. You were created by God to be on this earth for such a time as this.

Regardless of the circumstances that have surrounded your life in the past, you are precious to Him and He has made you for a reason… maybe not the reason you’ve thought of… maybe not the reason others thought of… but He definitely made you uniquely you.

Because nothing that exists came to be without Him.

Consider: Hebrews 11

What a chapter to blog about! Obviously there is no way I could adequately communicate the fullness of what this chapter means. The stories of these men and women who have lived their abundant life of faith before us is amazing. Simply amazing.

One thing I do want to point out though is hidden in verse 2, which reads:

“God gave His approval to people in days of old because of their faith.”

The Gospel is simple, right? Yes, absolutely. We are saved by Grace through faith. It’s simple.

It is SIMPLE, but it is not without action.

Let me explain what I mean.

It seems as though we live in a day and age where a large portion of the human race “believes” in a deity of some sort. For many, Jesus is that deity… for many others it is Allah, Buddha, etc. There are many options out there when it comes to belief, and what some would consider faith.

So belief, in and of itself, is not enough. Dare I say faith in this regard, in a deity is not enough?

What God considers as faith is completely different than how we see it.

It is faith in God and Jesus, His Son that is the requirement (see John 17:3).

But it shouldn’t stop there…

Some say they have faith in God and in Jesus. But that’s where it stops, thus making their faith quite inactive and really ineffective. I’m not talking about works in order to be saved… but what I am saying is that those who say they are saved should take their faith beyond simply SAYING they believe.

Hebrews 11 is full of men and women of faith. They had faith. But if you’ll notice their faith is nothing like many people’s faith today. They did something WITH their faith. They didn’t just SAY they had faith, they LIVED their faith. They did things that forever changed the Kingdom of God. And without many of them, we wouldn’t have the lineage that brought us Jesus.

The faith that pleases God (Hebrews 11:6) is faith that is active and alive, not just a moment in our lives or a statement we like to throw around.

As James says, faith without works is dead (see James 2:17).