The Blind Man Sees - Twice!

 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.  John 9

Like with the bread of life, Jesus connects a truth about himself with a sign. He states he is the light of the world and then heals the blind man. 

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”  36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”  John 9       

I love how Jesus says, "You have seen him." And why could he see him? Because Jesus had opened his eyes! We see a connection between physical blindness and spiritual blindness. His eyes are opened physically and spiritually as he declares, "Lord, I believe." And his response is to worship him. May that be our response as well!                                                                       

Light and Darkness

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Jesus in John 8:12

I was reflecting on these words. Darkness...what is it like to walk in darkness? Being legally blind in my right eye, I struggle to see when it gets dark, not even completely dark just mostly dark. I can't sense subtle, or not so subtle, changes in incline. I will not notice holes in the ground. I will run into things on my right side and if a tree branch is too low, I might run into that too because I am missing a lot of my peripheral vision as well.

Think about walking in total darkness. What about a place you are only vaguely familiar with that has  a lot of people, chairs, tables?  Like me, I would think you would be concerned that you would run into something and hurt yourself, or run into someone and hurt them. It would be very difficult to go to the right place and you would have to proceed with extreme caution.

Jesus is the light of the world. If we are following him, we will not be walking in darkness. He has life-giving light that will keep us from hurting ourselves or others. With his light we can be sure to go the right direction and we can proceed with confidence, because the path is clear. Ephesians 2:10 came to mind: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

I'm going to end with John 1:4-5: In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

How Should I View my Sin as a Believer?

Last night at prayer meeting Nathanael read,
"12 as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he remove our transgressions from us." from Psalm 103

I realize I did not feel like my sins were removed from me as far as the east is from the west.

Geoff read, "9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." from I Jn 1

Had I actually confessed my sin to God and asked him to forgive me? Or was I just wallowing in despair because of my sin? Over the last days God had convicted me of my sin in my friendships, in my parenting, in my desire to take credit where credit is NOT due. But what did I do about it?

I came home and got down on my knees again and clearly confessed my sin and asked God to forgive me. Then I turned my attention to God's word...

A verse kept coming to mind, "...our righteous acts are like filthy rags." [Isaiah 64:6 NIV} I felt like the love I had shown to someone didn't count because it was tainted with my sin. And I don't mean not count in the sense that I feel like I am earning my salvation, but I wondered if I was really loving this person if it was tainted with my sin. Did they receive it as love? or feel the same way I did?

I thought this was in Romans 3 so I went there. Romans 3 is talking about people before they believe in Christ and are in Him. So I thought this did not apply to me. But how should I view my sin as a believer?

I know way too many times I confess and go on and do not fear God, recognize His holiness, tremble before Him, and I take for granted the fact that Jesus died for sin...if He hadn't, I would bear the penalty of my sin.

But on the other hand, "9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." He forgives us and cleanses us. And Jesus took the penalty of sin:

John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

 2 Corinthians 5:21" For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." I was thinking that God sees us differently now in Christ. That when He sees us, He sees Christ's righteousness. But I can't find a verse right now that says that exact thing. But I know there is a change. John 1 says."12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."

I also was thinking about this: 

10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers[b] has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 

Even though this is talking about Satan accusing us before the Father, I think I have felt that accusation from him over the last weeks.

So after all this I am still left with a question: what is the proper response to sin as a believer in Christ?

Wow! I'm so glad this blog is called Kimberly's Musings. At least you know what you might be getting into!

I am the bread of life

This is a study I wrote as a follow up to a devotion I did for our homeschool coop this morning. We are looking at the "I am" statements of Jesus. This is the first one: I am the bread of life.

John 6

This is not meant to be done in one day, but could be spread out over several days.

1. Read through John 6. Context is very important.

***Questions 2-6 are observation questions designed to help you look more at what the passage actually says. For an idea for young readers, see below. ***

###If you are a visual learner or like coloring, see suggestions for manuscript study below.

2. Look for “I am the bread...” in verses 35-51. Write out the sentences. How many times does it occur? Are they all the same or different?
3. Read verses 28-29 and then read Ephesians 2:8-10. What do these verses say about work or works?
4. Look in 1-34 for “sign/s”. What does it say about it?
5. About salvation: look at the verses in 37-51, 63-65 that talk about eternal life or coming to Jesus. What does it say the Father does, what does it say people do?
6. Find the separate verses that connect the Father, Jesus, and the Spirit with life. (51-63)

Extra things to think about...

1. Reflect on the connection between God's people eating manna in the wilderness and Jesus being the “bread of life” in verses 28-35, 47-50, and 57-58.
2. Why are verses 16-24 stuck in the middle of these two sections that are obviously connected?
3. What is the significance of mentioning that the Passover was at hand in v. 4?

***Young readers: Print out 35-51 and have them underline or highlight the verses that have “I am the bread...” Discuss similarities/differences. You could also print out 1-34 and have them mark sign/s distinctly and discuss.

###Manuscript study: Print all of chapter 6. Underline “I am the bread”, “work/s”, “sign/s”, the salvation verses, and “life” in distinct ways. Then write separate lists of what it says about each in the margins. If you like this kind of study and would like more ideas, ask me!