Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - The Global Church of the Nazarene's Foundry Publishing House in Kansas City, Missouri, United States "Is Seeing Believing?" by Sean Carr - John 11:1-16

Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - The Global Church of the Nazarene's Foundry Publishing House in Kansas City, Missouri, United States "Is Seeing Believing?" by Sean Carr - John 11:1-16

"Is Seeing Believing?" by Sean Carr - John 11:1 There was a man who had fallen sick. His name was El‘azar, and he came from Beit-Anyah, the village where Miryam and her sister Marta lived. 2 (This Miryam, whose brother El‘azar had become sick, is the one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent a message to Yeshua, “Lord, the man you love is sick.” 4 On hearing it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may receive glory through it.”
5 Yeshua loved Marta and her sister and El‘azar; 6 so when he heard he was sick, first he stayed where he was two more days; 7 then, after this, he said to the talmidim, “Let’s go back to Y’hudah.” 8 The talmidim replied, “Rabbi! Just a short while ago the Judeans were out to stone you — and you want to go back there?” 9 Yeshua answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a person walks during daylight, he doesn’t stumble; because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if a person walks at night, he does stumble; because he has no light with him.”
11 Yeshua said these things, and afterwards he said to the talmidim, “Our friend El‘azar has gone to sleep; but I am going in order to wake him up.” 12 The talmidim said to him, “Lord, if he has gone to sleep, he will get better.” 13 Now Yeshua had used the phrase to speak about El‘azar’s death, but they thought he had been talking literally about sleep. 14 So Yeshua told them in plain language, “El‘azar has died. 15 And for your sakes, I am glad that I wasn’t there, so that you may come to trust. But let’s go to him.” 16 Then T’oma (the name means “twin”) said to his fellow talmidim, “Yes, we should go, so that we can die with him!” (Complete Jewish Bible)
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In John 10 Jesus asserts that “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand” (v. 28). Then Jesus proves His power and equality with God as a witness to the Disciples and to all believers throughout time. “Seeing is believing” we are told, yet Jesus wanted all those who followed Him to believe beyond what they might see. When Lazarus had died, Jesus said, “I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe” (11:15).
We are human and limited, so it is shocking to learn that death can be anything other than an enemy. Jesus explained to Thomas and the other disciples that the death of one of His closest friends, one of the few the Bible says that ‘Jesus loved,’ was a method of learning belief and trust in Jesus as Messiah and Lord.
My own faith is often set and solid, which is a good thing. Yet I need to be willing to let God use whatever method He would to grow me into His image.
Hymn for Today: "This Is My Father's World" by Maltbie D. Babcock.
1. This is my Father's world,
And to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world:
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas--
His hand the wonders wrought.
2. This is my Father's world:
The birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their Maker's praise.
This is my Father's world:
He shines in all that's fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,
He speaks to me everywhere.
3. This is my Father's world:
O let me ne'er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father's world:
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King: let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let earth be glad!

Thought for Today: I thank my God always for you because of God’s love and kindness given to you through the Messiah Yeshua,  (Complete Jewish Bible) (1 Corinthians 1:4).
Please pray: That many people in Papua New Guinea will come to know Yeshua as their Messiah and receive the fullness of the Ruach HaKodesh.
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