Saturday, April 4, 2009

John 5

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Stop sinning som that something worse does not happen to you. v14

Kind of grabs your attention that one. Straight from the mouth of Christ. I was confused by it so I went and looked around a bit at some commentaries and came up with;

this admonition may be "a glimpse of the reckless life he had probably led before his thirty-eight years' infirmity had come upon him, and which not improbably had brought on, in the just judgment of God, his chronic complaint.

Also, "Those eased of the punishment of sin, are in danger of returning to sin, when the terror and restraint are over, unless Divine grace dries up the fountain. The misery believers are made whole from, warns us to sin no more, having felt the smart of sin. This is the voice of every providence, Go, and sin no more. Christ saw it necessary to give this caution; for it is common for people, when sick, to promise much; when newly recovered, to perform only something; but after awhile to forget all."

How true! I definitely don't think this passage is a "God is watching you and waiting to punish you with physical imfirmities when you err" but rather an admonition of the physical, emotional and psychological consequences of our sins. For instance, a drug addict who contracts Hepatitis, or aids, does not contract it from a lightining bolt judgement from God, but rather as a consequence of their own actions.

"Whoever hears what I say and believes in the One who sent me has eternal life. That person will not be judged guilty but has already left death and entered life." v24

*sigh*. So amazing and beautiful.

"I can do nothing alone... I don't try to please myself, but I try to please the One who sent me. v30

"You study the scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. They do in fact tell about me, but you refuse to come to me to have that life." v40

It never ceases to amaze me how some people can know the bible backwards and forwards and yet not exercise the simplest of it's principles. What the heck??? All those verses about "hearing" but not really hearing and "seeing" but not really seeing are really so true. Me need to be willing to swallow this, digest it, and convert it into energy to fuel the way we live.

"you try to get praise from each other, but you do not try to get the praise that comes from the only God." v44

let it not be.

Mac an Rothaich said...

Those eased of the punishment of sin, are in danger of returning to sin, when the terror and restraint are over, unless Divine grace dries up the fountain.

How quickly we often return to the sinful lifestyle that lead us to such pain... habit?

Thank the Lord that he can make us break habits and turn face from our sin... They keep coming back too but you gotta continue to give them to God.

Unknown said...

thanks for bringing that sentence back to mind, it bears remembering often.