THE LORD SPOKE (March 12)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Old Testament: Deuteronomy 3-4

“Don’t let them slip from your heart.” It’s easy to do, isn’t it? How quickly the fire can grow cold. Unless we tend the flame, it can so easily go out.

Moses warned the people about this in Deuteronomy 4 and gave them several very practical instructions on how to avoid it. They apply very well to us today.

1. Observe God’s instructions (i.e. live them out) before a watching world for they will make you accountable. (Deut. 4:5-6)
2. Recall frequently what God has done for you for that memory will call you back to your senses for a long time. (Deut. 4:9)
3. Tell your children and grandchildren the stories of God’s great deliverance, for they will ask you lots of good questions to help you live up to it. (Deut. 4:10)
4. Congregate with others who have had the same experience for they will provide opportunity for mutual encouragement. (Deut. 4:10)
5. Think of God. Read His words to you. Think about His greatness. Commit to Him. (Deut. 4:12-14)
6. Watch yourself very carefully. Don’t let the world grab you back. Don’t bow at the altar of materialism ever again. (Deut. 4:15-16,19)
7. Remember who’s you are. You were bought with a price and you belong to Him now. It’s a covenant relationship. (Deut. 4:20,23)
8. Don’t flit around. Put down some roots and stop hopping from place to place or from church to church. (Deut. 4:25-30)

Is that stretching the text? Perhaps so, but consider carefully the repeated instructions to Israel to stay “in the Land”. Their blessing from the Lord was conditioned, in part, upon their staying “in the Land”. If your are constantly moving, never staying put long enough to take root, continually taking off just about the time the fruit should be ripening, how can you hope to enjoy His blessing?


New Testament: John 3

Too often we get stuck on verse 16 and it’s definitely a good one. Likewise, the story of Nicodemus at the beginning of the chapter gets more attention than does the second half. But John 3 actually contains the longest discourse by John the Baptist that we have anywhere in Scripture and it’s worth looking at more closely.

It begins with John’s disciples coming to him with a complaint. The complaint is about Jesus, of all things! After spending some quiet time with His disciples, Jesus had begun a baptizing ministry of His own (3:22,26) though the author is quick to point out that “it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples” (4:2). Do we detect a little jealousy on the part of John’s disciples when they say, “he is baptizing and everyone is going to him” (3:36)?

Not so with John. He understands his role as forerunner to the Messiah perfectly and quickly instructs his disciples that, “He must become greater; I must become less”(3:30). Have you ever heard such words before? Who talks that way?

He talks that way who recognizes that Jesus, the Son, was sent by God, the Father (3:34-35). What a contrast to the description John’s disciples had used: “that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan” (3:26). Though they recognized that John had testified about Him (3:26) they must not have been listening very carefully. John had said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (1:29). Could there be a greater declaration than that?

It’s understandable that loyal disciples would be jealous for their teacher and envious of another’s success. It would also be understandable if John felt just a twinge of the same but he didn’t. That’s because he understood perfectly and accepted the role God had given him. His joy was made complete (3:29) with the appearance of the Messiah - the object of his dreams and proclamation.

And so he patiently instructed his disciples:

1. “I am not the Messiah” (3:28).
2. I am “the friend who attends the bridegroom” (3:29).
3. I am “from the earth, and speak as one from the earth” 3:31a).
4. He “comes from heaven and is above all” (3:31b).
5. He is “the bridegroom...hear his voice” (3:29).
6. He is “the one whom God has sent”, He is “the Son” (3:34,35).

It was pretty simple and straight-forward. Whoever believes in Him has eternal life and whoever does not is damned (3:36). They could never again refer to Him as “that man”.