Love words?

Some of us have this zany love of words to the point that using it’s when it should be its and your when it should be you’re can make us want to crack heads. In our minds, good communication depends on the right word in the right place.

I wonder if God is like that? Of course He isn’t speaking English, or French, or Greek for that matter, but He does use whatever language we understand to speak to us. I’m glad He uses full words too. As fun and helpful as they might be, I cannot imagine a Bible with LOL or IMO.

John wrote this:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30–31)

This is a precise statement, yet John knew that ‘believe’ could cause problems with some of his readers. He probably didn’t have a thesaurus (one of my favorite books), but he knew the language and used a few synonyms that would convey truth. Here are a few examples from the rest of this book (fourth in the New Testament).

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)

RECEIVE from the idea of accepting another person and giving them access to yourself. It is also the word for receiving a gift that someone offers to you. That is, believing in Jesus is about letting Him into my life, receiving Him as a gift. This is illustrated by a dignitary who opens the door of his office to a visitor, welcoming him or receiving him into his presence, also by taking a gift from someone who holds it out to me.

“Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)

DRINK connotates thirst and refreshing water. It means to participate or partake in something, in this case the water of life. Ponce de Leon never did find it, but John knew where it was!

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (John 6:35)

COME uses the same idea of being thirsty or hungry but adds the idea of moving toward as well as consuming something. However, the word EAT is a bit more challenging. Jesus uses this word metaphorically. He was talking about a deep participation in His life, something that genuine faith includes. The context confused those who heard Him because they interpreted it literally . . .

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:51)

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” (John 6:53–58)

ENTER is another figure of speech, this time related to the care of sheep. They grazed in a pasture, but if fearful or at night, they had a special enclosure or sheepfold where they went through a door to find safety. Jesus said to them:

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:9)

When these words are viewed together, the idea of believing becomes more than just agreeing something is true. Faith in Jesus is about a relationship with Him, personal, voluntary, dependence, drawing sustenance from Him, trusting and depending on Him for everything. Believing might begin with, “Yes, I know He exists and He died for me” but if having the kind of faith that God gives and wants from us, believing will go beyond that. It will include letting Him into my life, finding all that I need in Him no matter what that need might be.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus, when I sing “You are my all in all” I am expressing what You have shown me. Believing is far more than knowing You are and that You are who You claim to be. It is also opening my life to You, and allowing You in — to take charge, to care for, and to the source of all my thoughts, words, and actions.

Grace = never alone

Total aloneness happens, also the feeling of it in a crowd. Abandonment is a different thing, the sense that no one hears, cares, or notices. Sometimes others deliberately turn their back even on friends because of fear, hatred, or other personal concerns that seem more important than loyalty. It happened to Jesus. He warned His disciple that they would do it.

Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ (Matthew 26:31)

Christ stood His ground and went through the suffering even when abandoned. For the joy set before Him, He endured the Cross.

Paul was abandoned too. He preached the Gospel of grace to the Gentiles and many Jews strongly resisted his actions. He said…

At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. (2 Timothy 4:16–17)

Notice that Jesus stood by Paul, never leaving or forsaking this man who was alone and without support from anyone else. He knew abandonment and knew Paul needed His support.

Today’s devotional reading says, “To be faithful to God when abandoned by people, to be a Lot in Sodom, a Noah in a corrupted generation—how excellent it is! It is sweet to travel over this earth to heaven in the company of the saints who are going there with us, but if we meet no company, we must not be discouraged to go on.”

The good news for this writer and for all who know Jesus is that even if we are the ones who do the abandoning, He picks us up. The disciples forsook Christ, but He picked them up and made them secure from a final apostasy and ruin. Whatever side of the fence I might be on, Jesus’ promise to me is…

…whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (John 4:14)

God’s unchangeable determination to save through grace in a New Covenant, and the intercession of Jesus Christ gives me abundant security against the danger of a total and final defection. I may stumble, and certainly do, but my salvation is settled in unchangeable things, not in my performance. This does not mean that I sit secure without obedience, but that I am secure even when I drop the ball. Again, the devotional writer says it well:

…the fear of God in our hearts pleads in us against sin, so our potent intercessor in the heavens pleads for us with the Father, and for that reason we cannot finally miscarry.

If my salvation depended on me, I would not have made it past day one. That initial confidence of being invincible fades quickly, and Jesus teaches me never to rely on me. I cannot save myself; if I could, I would not need Him.

The amazing reality is that the less confidence I have in me and the more helpless I feel, the more confidence I have in God and the more I see His grace and power, whether alone or in a crowd, abandoned or supported.