John 6:66
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more
Funny thought occurred to me when I read this verse.
Jesus spoke a hard truth to those who were along for the ride.
"If you want to follow me, you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood."
That put the brakes on the whole shee-bang.
But no one asked Him to explain what this meant.
No one said, "excuse me, could you help me out here and tell me what this is all about?"
They reasoned among themselves....
I'm sure they postured and pontificated trying to look religious, but you know Jesus wasn't up in the religious thing.
He was all about truth.
In fact, the same goes on today.
People have a tendency to confuse religion with Jesus.
They love the structure and flash bang of church, just don't require them to reorganize the way they live. To do so would be getting up in their business.
People in addiction have the very same mind set. In fact, they do not want to look beyond "Jesus will save me." Get me out of the mess....get me out of the legal stuff and I'll take it from here.
Sorry, Charlie........doesn't work that way.
In the first place, you really need to ask yourself, "Why would Jesus save me?"
It stands to reason that there would be a greater purpose that He would desire for me to fulfill.
To me, the greater purpose would be to love Him.......love myself.......love those around me. No matter what may be going on in my life, I am to carry this out daily. I like the idea of the glass half-full or the glass half-empty scenario. The amount in the glass doesn't change at all, but it is clearly defined by my perception.
I've heard some people get all down on the 'half-empty" people. "Oh you just are negative all the time." I've been mentioned with this group. I've been told that I appear to not have much joy in my life. I'm not sure what that means. Does it mean that I walk around with a scowl or a frown all the time? Does it mean that I do not possess a bubbly, over flowing personality? That I'm not the life of the party. Come to think of it, I don't go to many parties. Well, I don't know if you'll understand what I'm about to write or not, but here goes.
I seek the peace of God. I'm not really sure I would recognize "Joy" from the Lord. Oh, I'm grateful and thankful for life, and I let Him know it. But the peace of God, to me is a much more powerful, life giving part of my relationship with Him.
Peace, not that my situations and circumstances are all taken care of....
But Peace that fills me and enables me to walk through and face whatever comes my way. Peace enables me to sleep at night. Peace enables me to take life one day at a time. Peace also gives me hope and the realization that He is still in control no matter what the world and society make look like. Give me His peace. If the joy comes along and I'm able to readily identify it, that will be a plus.
So really, to me...
It's not whether the glass is half empty..
or half full....
it's the simple fact that the glass has something in it.
Thank you for the portion you have placed in me today.
Some may see me as half-full...
I look at myself and see it as half empty, with room for you to do so much more. "Thank you, Father, for not quitting on me or giving up on me."
Now back to the whole, "Eat my flesh / Drink my blood" thing.
How did sin enter into our whole existence? Through the disobedience of the two who lived in the garden. To put it more bluntly.........they ate some fruit.
Jesus was showing the people that salvation will come in the same manner, so to speak. Jesus dying on the cross and then being raised to life through the power of the Holy Spirit. Part of this new relationship is to remember what He has done for us.....so we participate in His table..His communion. Sin came in through the eating of fruit.........we remember the life given to us through the symbolic eating of His flesh /body and drinking the wine (His blood) through this new covenant He has established.
Now I'll buy that for a dollar...
God on you...
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