pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: come


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Come as You Are

Reading: Jeremiah 8: 18-22

Jeremiah cries out to God on behalf of the people.  He is acutely aware of their sins, yet he prays for them and their relationship with God.  Since being called to be the prophet to Israel, Jeremiah has spoken to the people about their sins and the coming danger that their sins are drawing in.  He has made the consequences of living life outside of the covenant relationship with God crystal clear.  Yet the people do not repent.  They do not turn from false idols and foreign gods.  They instead rely on tradition and appearances.

The people think their status as God’s ‘chosen people’ will save them.  But even the most special child in all the world can be disobedient and experience the consequences.  The people of Israel also think their ritualistic trips to the temple will be enough for God to relent.  But the trips are hollow and there is no relationship with God.  It is all appearance.  It is all on the surface.  It is simply going through the motions.  If their relationship was real it would lead to a personal relationship with God.  The relationship would affect how they were living outside their one hour in the temple.

Does God expect any less of us?  Isn’t a personal and intimate relationship with us what God desires most?  God wants to be fully known by us and for us to experience being fully known by God.  When we are limited in our commitment and when we keep the relationship at a shallow, surface level, we are not being honest with God and we are only fooling ourselves.  God knows all and sees all.  There is nothing we can hide from God.  When we hold back and try to live a second life, we are being disrespectful to the omnipotent and omnipresent God.  Instead, may we willingly strip away all the gloss and glitter and come honestly and humbly before our God.  God does not expect perfection but takes us as we are.  God simply says to us, “Come as you are”.


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Come

“Son of David, have mercy on me!”  That was blind Bartimaeus’ call that day as Jesus was passing by.  We do not know if he was in his usual spot to beg or if Bartimaeus was there on purpose.  If so, we can assume he needed help getting there.  We can also assume that Bartimaeus knew that Jesus could heal him.  But first he must gain an audience with Jesus so he calls out as he senses Jesus drawing near.  When he is rebuked and told to be quiet, Bartimaeus shouts all the more.

At times we are in Bartimaeus’ position.  Maybe we are not physically blind but we maybe have a physical need or maybe we need a relationship healed or maybe we need a situation fixed.  Although Jesus is not physically present to us today, we often will cry out to Him.  And we can do so at any time because Jesus is always present to us!

Bartimaeus was bold in his request.  He made enough of a commotion to be heard and for Jesus to stop and call for him.  Then he told Jesus his desire: to see again.  Bartimaeus had enough faith in Jesus already to believe that He could restore his sight.  He was persistent enough to get Jesus’ attention.  Jesus probably knew all of this before He called for Bartimaeus.  After being healed, Bartimaeus joined in and followed Jesus down the road.  Jesus probably knew that this would happen too.

When we call out to Jesus, do we too expect that He will give us an audience?  Do we truly believe that He can do what we are asking?  Jesus will respond according to the will of the Father.  He is faithful and true.  He hears all of our prayers and callings.  We simple need to continue to do what He calls us to do: come.

Scripture reference: Mark 10: 46-52


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One Word

“Ephphata!” – be opened.  With a touch and this one word, Jesus restored a man.  The man brought by his friends was both deaf and mute.  One word from Jesus later and he was healed.  With one word his life was forever altered.

I cannot imagine what it would be like to be blind.  It would be very different as I rely so much on what I see.  From reading to observing people to writing to playing music – I am dependant upon my sight.  To not have the ability to talk and sing and shout would be very difficult as well.

Up to this point the man has been dependent on friends and family.  A job would be impossible so he would beg or impose.  To the Jews, he was ceremonially unclean so he could not enter the temple to worship.  Other than those closest to him, many in society would have shunned him or ignored him at best.

Some people in my world need restored and healed.  They need to be connected to a community to care for and guide them.  They need healing and restoring from a wide variety of things.  For some it is addiction, for others a significant loss.  For some it is broken relationships, for others it is a string of poor decisions.  The list goes on.  We all know people who need much.  All need healed and restored.

Friends brought the man to Jesus.  With a word Jesus restored and healed the man.  Faith grew that day – for the man, for his friends and family, and for all who heard the story.  We all know people who need healing and restoration.  May we all be a part of bringing people closer to Jesus so they can hear Him speak the one word they need to hear: “Come.”  Share Jesus so that the restoration and healing can begin.

Mark 7: 31-37


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Come and See

Our world is full of good people, good places, good institutions and organizations.  We all know many of each of these.  But if someone says there is a good new restaurant in town, we only partially believe it.  If they describe their wonderful experience and the food, then our belief increases some.  Yet it is only after we have gone there ourselves that we really believe what we were told in the first place.

All people, places, … want to have a good reputation.  This includes churches.  When a church says they love God and neighbor, preaches from the Bible, and so on it must be found to be true when one visits the church.  If a church says they love their neighbor, then there must be evidence of that.  In many ways, we need proof to believe something.

When Jesus called Philip, he simply said, “Follow me.”  Something inside Philip knew to go and follow this man.  He sensed it.  sometimes we have the same prod of the Holy Spirit – we just know to act.  But when Philip tried to get his brother Nathanael to folow Jesus, he was skeptical.  Philip’s repsonse was simply, “Come and see.”  The long version is: come and spend time with Jesus and you will see that He is the Messiah.  As Jesus says to each of us today “Come and see”, how will you do just that?  Blessings on you rjourney!

Scripture reference: John 1: 43-46