May 2, 2024 PROOF
John 5:31-32 “Jesus was therefore saying to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’”
We sometime forget that during the time that Jesus was on earth, there was no bible. Jesus went about teaching and demonstrating the kingdom of God and what He taught was counter-culture; it cut to the core of what the religious leaders of the day were teaching. Jesus did not contradict the Old Testament, but fulfilled it. Especially for the Jews, to believe and to follow Jesus meant sure rejection and persecution by the religious leaders. In the verse above, Jesus was talking with Jewish believers who received Him as Savior; but what He said to them applies to all believers. We hear a lot about abiding in the word; but we must make sure we do not misunderstand what that means. We may tend to think that if we read His word daily, spend time in bible study, we are then abiding in His word-and that is where we can miss the point of abiding. The definition of abide is “accept or act in accordance with.” Remember, the believers that Jesus was talking too had no bible-they only had what He said at the time. Jesus is not with us physically with us today, but He has left us His word and He has given us the Holy Spirit to enable us to understand and apply His word. Jesus clearly identifies who it is that are His disciples-those who abide in Him. As said above, to abide in His word is more than reading His word. To abide in His word is to receive His every word as true; it is embracing Jesus as the Son of God; and it is taking His every word to heart and acting on and applying His word to the life we live. In other words, it is His word that directs our life. It is not about us; it is about being His disciples. One blessing of being His disciple is that we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free. The world defines freedom in the wrong way; true freedom is found only in being disciples of Jesus. We cannot be His disciples without reading and studying His word because it is in His word that we learn of Him, and in order to be a disciple of Jesus, we must know Him. So, may we truly abide in Him-that’s what disciples do.
1 John 2:6 “Whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same manner in which He walked.”
Blessings, Buddy
John 5:31-32 “Jesus was therefore saying to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’”
We sometime forget that during the time that Jesus was on earth, there was no bible. Jesus went about teaching and demonstrating the kingdom of God and what He taught was counter-culture; it cut to the core of what the religious leaders of the day were teaching. Jesus did not contradict the Old Testament, but fulfilled it. Especially for the Jews, to believe and to follow Jesus meant sure rejection and persecution by the religious leaders. In the verse above, Jesus was talking with Jewish believers who received Him as Savior; but what He said to them applies to all believers. We hear a lot about abiding in the word; but we must make sure we do not misunderstand what that means. We may tend to think that if we read His word daily, spend time in bible study, we are then abiding in His word-and that is where we can miss the point of abiding. The definition of abide is “accept or act in accordance with.” Remember, the believers that Jesus was talking too had no bible-they only had what He said at the time. Jesus is not with us physically with us today, but He has left us His word and He has given us the Holy Spirit to enable us to understand and apply His word. Jesus clearly identifies who it is that are His disciples-those who abide in Him. As said above, to abide in His word is more than reading His word. To abide in His word is to receive His every word as true; it is embracing Jesus as the Son of God; and it is taking His every word to heart and acting on and applying His word to the life we live. In other words, it is His word that directs our life. It is not about us; it is about being His disciples. One blessing of being His disciple is that we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free. The world defines freedom in the wrong way; true freedom is found only in being disciples of Jesus. We cannot be His disciples without reading and studying His word because it is in His word that we learn of Him, and in order to be a disciple of Jesus, we must know Him. So, may we truly abide in Him-that’s what disciples do.
1 John 2:6 “Whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same manner in which He walked.”
Blessings, Buddy
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