Behold!

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we BEHELD His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

I love to read about Jesus in John chapter 1. To me John is doing his very best to describe God’s Son. He first tells us that the Father and Son are together and that they created all things. Nothing just happened by chance, it was all created. It was a dark world when Jesus first came to this earth. The Jews had mostly turned to a set of man’s laws instead of God’s laws and if you go to Israel today you will find that it is still that same way. The book of the rabbi’s carries more weight than the Torah.

Jesus comes into this world and shines in the darkness and John says, “we BEHELD His glory.” Beheld His glory! I can’t wait till the day comes when I see Jesus face to face and BEHOLD His glory. What a day that will be. If I ever need to be just cheered up all I must do is read John 1.

In Revelation 21:5 we read where Jesus says, “Behold, I make all things new.” I hunt and fish and run all over the place and can see God’s beautiful creation everywhere I go. I can’t even imagine how glorious it will be when the Creator makes all things new. I can’t wait to BEHOLD it.

In Revelation 22:12 He says, “And BEHOLD, I am coming quickly…” Well, this is how I end my prayers every day before I go to bed, “Even so, come Lord Jesus! That I might BEHOLD Your glory, that I might be with You where Your are.” I want to BEHOLD Jesus.

Amen

Jesus calms the Storm

Who is Jesus?

As I was reading Matthew 14 tonight I came across a couple of verses that I just had to slow down and think about for a while. Verse 24 says, “But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.” You see, while I was in Israel the last time Dale and I went to see the “Jesus boat” that was found and dated to the time of Christ.

I learned that during the time of Christ that the sail was used but they hadn’t learned how to use it when the wind wasn’t blowing in the right direction. In other words if you wanted to go west you needed a wind coming out of the east in order to use the sail. If it was out of the south say, you would have to put away the sails and use oars instead.

I have had trouble running a boat with a 25 horse motor when the waves were high and the wind blowing me sideway and such. I am sure that the disciples were struggling that night. And then verse 25 and 26 comes along where Jesus comes walking on the water toward them. Jesus says in verse 27, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”

Peter says, “Lord, IF it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” We all know the rest of the story how Peter comes out of the boat walking on the water but when he begins to look around at the waves and all he gets scared and begins to sink.

Now the next time Peter talks to Jesus he is sinking into the Sea of Galilee which I also learned while in Israel can be over 100 feet deep in some areas. This time there is no “IF”. He cries out to the only One that can help him, “Lord save me!”

When all was said and done the disciples came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.” Instead of the latest praise music they only had the creaking of the boat but they worshipped Him. I am sure in my own mind that they bowed before Him and confessed that Jesus was (not if) the Son of God.

So bare with me for just a moment as I confess myself that Jesus IS the one and only Son of God! It has been almost 33 years now but I can still remember as if it was yesterday crying out to God, “Lord save me!” and He did. Now for all of these years I bow down before Him and I worship Him. Jesus, my Lord, my Savior and my God.

alight

Today while I was reading Romans chapter 1 I came across something I thought was very interesting. In verse 29 I found right in the middle of all kinds of horrible sins was “whisperers”. I mean on one side of whisperers was sexual immorality and murder and on the other side was haters of God and inventors of evil things.

I am taking it that whisperers means gossips. There are many scriptures about gossip like Proverbs 26:20 which says, “Where there is no wood, the fire goes out: and where there is no talebearer, strife ceases.” Proverbs 11:13 says, “A talebearer reveals secrets, but he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter.”

Yeah, gossip is a bad thing but does it deserve to be in the middle of all those horrific sins? I guess so, it is there. Ephesians 4:29 says for us to, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

Gossip spreads and what was meant to be just casual conversation ends up being very destructive. It was once described to me like taking a feather pillow and tearing the end out and slinging all the feathers to the wind, they go everywhere. Fixing the harm that gossip causes is like finding all the feathers and putting them back in. Will Rogers once said, “Never miss a good chance to shut up.” I believe I will take this good advice.

alight