LIVE for an audience of One.
At some point during my sophomore year of high school I went AWOL, turning away from my family and their faith. It seemed apparent to me that I would not be popular with the people I admired (gifted athletes and pretty girls) unless I got rid of the Christian ball and chain I’d been dragging around since childhood.
Over a three year period I walked away from God, heart-first. My head followed my heart and I soon came to the conclusion that Christianity was a made-up religion. Late in my senior year, confused and depressed, I tried to believe in God again. I tried reading the Bible, but the words that seemed to shine with revelation when I was a young boy now appeared to be nothing but ink on paper.
What made me blind? What keeps people from seeing and moving toward God-light? What blinded so many of the people who heard and saw Jesus? What kept them from seeing His “cascading brightness?” (John 12:41, msg).
Revelation requires information. That is a head issue. Revelation also requires courage. It requires a willingness to please God even when it displeases those around you. And that is a heart issue. Trusting Christ and following Him courageously takes grey matter and backbone. The concrete of faith needs the rebar of courage. Fear of man caused many in the Lord’s audience to wimp out with a head-only faith.
Because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God (John 12:42-43).
Who is in your grandstand? Whom are you trying most to please? Your fellow workers? Your kids? Your spouse? Your parents? The “gifted athletes and pretty girls”?
Even when I couldn’t see any proof of God’s existence as a seeker in high school, the light of revelation was all around me. Light is light, even if you don’t see it. The moment I took off the blindfold of people-pleasing, I began to see His reality. Because my heart was right, I saw the light.
Life-action: Finish this sentence: “Because I love God’s approval more than the approval of other people, I will….”
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Saved
John 12:44-47
THE SAVIOR CAME to save your life.
I remember stealing several cases of beer out of the back of a truck when I was in high school. The truck had been parked on a dark back street. If it had been parked on Main Street under a streetlight, we would have stayed away. Jesus said that some people love darkness (John 3:19). I did that night.
“I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark. I will not judge those who hear me but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it” (John 12:46-47, nlt).
Jesus came to save people. That is the word He used (vs. 47) when He described His reason for showing up on earth. The word save (Greek eksodzo) is translated in the Bible as “saved, made whole and healed.” To save means to lead out of darkness, death and destruction into light, life and salvation.
One time the Jewish religious leaders blasted Jesus for healing a crippled man during a Sabbath-day church service. Here is His reply to His critics: “I have a question for you. Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” (Luke 6:9, nlt).
Jesus equated saving life with doing good. Read verse nine again. The Lord equated destroying life with doing evil. Legalistic, man-made, ungracious religion actually does the evil one a favor, because it destroys lives. Religion often gets off track when religious people see themselves as the prosecution instead of joining in on God’s defense team, actively defending and saving lives. Jesus came to help and heal and make broken people whole.
Aren’t you glad? This boy is!
Life-action: Think back over your life and remember a time when you did something wrong in the dark. Thank God you didn’t go to jail, or thank Him that you did.
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