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I still read an online Billy Graham devotional most nights before I go to sleep. A recent devotional focused on John 8:32 where Jesus said, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
I picked up R. C. Sproul’s, The Reformation Study Bible to see if I can insert Jesus’ name in my mind for “the truth” in that verse. Their interpretation of that verse said,”Holding to the teaching of Christ who is the truth (14:6) leads one to the truth that sets a person free from slavery to sin. Salvation is not obtained by intellectual knowledge as the Gnostics imagined, but by a vital relationship with Jesus Christ and a commitment to the truth He revealed (18:37).”
Embrace Jesus.
My turn to go to the dentist came with a winter weather advisory. Because of all of the fallen snow, our street wasn’t visible. Since our tires would soon be caked with snow, I chose not to take Interstate 380, and drove carefully on main roads. After I arrived at the office, we talked about the weather, and I was told there had been a wreck on Interstate 380.
On my way to the appointment, rough roads were occasionally evident. At first I was annoyed, but when I focused on what’s good about rough roads, I thought about how they can give you traction in certain places. They can also keep you awake. And the snow on another day turned a speed bump into a “bump.”
I gave a literal example of rough roads, and Jesus can be with us on literal rough roads, but He can also be with us in the “rough roads” of life. In Matthew 28:20, Jesus said, “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
One day, I found, and tossed some expired yeast. Later, as I was flipping around in the New Testament looking for a verse, I instead found Luke 12:1 about “the yeast of the Pharisees…”
To understand more fully what that verse is saying, I went to a couple of sources. The Liberty Bible Commentary says, “One way of teaching is to set the proper example. Jesus did that. Another way is to learn from the misconduct of others. Jesus pointed that out too.” And The Reformation Study Bible by R. C. Sproul says, “People were familiar with the way a little leaven slowly permeates and transforms a large mass of dough. Jesus elsewhere uses the figure of leaven to illustrate the hidden working of God’s kingdom (13:21), but here it describes the negative influence of the Pharisees…”
Finding the expired yeast, and finding the related verse happened close together. I suppose I could say that in our house, “the negative influence of the Pharisees” is so ignored that it has become expired, and even tossed out.
Last week in Children’s Church, we sang the hymn, “Lord, I Want to be a Christian.” Singing hymns was part of my happy childhood. It’s good to sing hymns. The author of Colossians wrote, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
Big Bible Fan 