Samuel D. High
sdhigh@aristotle.net
-----Original Message-----
From: "Apostle Tom" <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Sent: Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:22:52 -0500
To: pressingon@hotmail.com
Subject: Morning Manna (Sept. 30); BP: Jn. 6:67-71; RBTTY: Eph. 3; Is. 9-10
September 30 “Dependent”
“Then said Jesus unto the Twelve, ‘Will you also go away?’ Then Simon Peter
answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. And, we believe and are sure that You are that Christ, the Son of the
living God’.”
John 6:67-69
Until we reach this point, there’ll always be an internal battle over
who’s Lord of our lives.
If someone asked you, “Who is Jesus Christ?” and “What does He mean to
you?” how would you reply? Most likely, if you’ve been a church member for
a long time you’d probably be able to give all the “right” answers regarding
Who He is (e.g., the Son of God, the Lamb of God, the Savior of the world,
etc.) and what He came to do (e.g., die on the Cross, pay the penalty of our
sins, give us eternal life and a Home in Heaven, etc.).
While this is well-and-good, sadly, the demons of hell can also do the
same (James 2:19). That’s why Jesus’ question to the Twelve in today’s
Manna is such a piercing and important one. We know that from the context
many of His initial followers were falling away (v.66). They’d watched Him
perform some mighty miracles; however, they also saw Him constantly getting
in hot water with their religious leaders. And, quite often His teachings
were hard-hitting and difficult to understand, causing many of them to
murmur among themselves (vv.60-61).
Thus, we should not be surprised that one day He turned and looked at
His closest followers and said, “Will you also go away?” How those words
must have stung! How they must have winced in pain over His feeling He had
to ask such a question. Likewise, we should not be surprised that Simon
Peter, the self-appointed spokesman for the group, immediately said “Lord,
to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And, we believe
are sure that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
What a wonderful response! What a clear understanding of Who Jesus
was/is and His role in their lives! Later on, those confident words would
be replaced with cowardice ones of “I never knew Him” (Lk. 22:54-62). Oh
how fickle our flesh and our potently present our fears!
Even so, Peter’s words of “To Whom shall we go?” are worthy of our
quiet and careful contemplation. Oh, dear Pilgrim, if we are to ever know
the Lord Jesus we, too, must reach this place where we’re convinced He is
our all-in-all. We must realize others’ help is good, but no one can supply
our deepest felt-needs and “guide us into all truth.” Only Jesus, Who is
Truth, can do that (Jn. 14:6; 16:13).
Perhaps we should spend some time today and the coming days asking
ourselves “How dependent am I upon Jesus? Am I totally surrendered to His
tender embrace and Lordship or do I only call on Him when I’m in need? When
a problem arises do I immediately pause to pray and cry, ‘Lord, what should
I do?’ or do we fret and fume over it to the point of exasperation or
despair and only then say, ‘Lord help me’?” May the Holy Spirit let us not
rest until we are wholly His in every way.
_________________________________________________________________
Kick back and relax with hot games and cool activities at the Messenger
Café. http://www.cafemessenger.com?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_SeptHMtagline1
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