John 8:47-59
47 Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God." 48 The Jews answered him, "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?" 49 Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and he is the judge. 51 Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death." 52 The Jews said to him, "Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, 'Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.' 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?" 54 Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, 'He is our God,' 55 though you do not know him. But I know him; if I would say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad." 57 Then the Jews said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am." 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
At the heart of this passage is the question how can we tell when we are hearing from God. The Pharisees are certain that Jesus is not really the son of God. This passage shows how they are testing and prodding him to make him admit that he is not who he says he is. So, Jesus tells them again and again in lots of different ways why he truly is the son of Man. For non believers this is important, Jesus proves himself with biblical knowledge, theological knowledge, miracles etc. and, still they do not believe.
So, the question is how do we know when we are hearing from God? I think especially for women this is a lot of other voices in our head, voices of our mothers and grandmothers, voices of society, voices of our husbands, kids, spouses etc. Each telling us what needs to be done. Through all that noise it can be difficult to hear the words of God.
I once heard a sermon about this very topic and it was so great I swear I will remember it forever. There are five ways to tell if you are hearing from God ...he said
1. God won't say anything that goes against what he once said in the bible. So, double check there.
2. We need to spend just much time is prayer listening as in talking. Give God a chance to be heard.
3. We should also check with a christian that we trust to see if we are hearing the same word from God. God usually, not always, fills everyone in on the plan.
4. Ask ourselves if what we are hearing is also right for those you love.
5. Trust. The worst that can happen is we hear wrong and then we come turn around right back into the loving arms of God. And, we try again.
Bye for now!
This passage picks up where the previous posting ends, and again I think it is noteworthy to remember that Jesus is addressing "the Jews who had believed in him" (v.31).
So not only does it beg the question how do we know we are hearing from God, but sometimes I know I need to check - am I even listening to Him at all or am I just sticking my fingers in my ears saying, "La,la,la,la,la..." because I think I already have the answers figured out saying to God just like the Jews in v. 53, "Who do you claim to be?" or in more modern-speak "Hey, who do you think you are?"
At the same time picking up my own stones of anger, impatience, selfishness, etc. to throw at him. Is it any wonder that sometimes I've felt like Jesus has hid himself and gone out from the temple?
Post a Comment