Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life." John 14:6
Life: Used most often in connection with eternal life. This Life is the very life of God of which believers are made partakers.Lexical Aids to the New Testament, Compiled and edited by Spiros Zodhiates
"For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." Colossians 3:3-4
Ladies, I can't read that verse without choking back the tears and getting chills all up and down my arms.
Your life is a Who? Wow! Who is your life? Christ IS YOUR LIFE!
He is THE WAY. He is THE TRUTH. He is THE LIFE.
The question is. Is He YOUR Way, YOUR Truth, and YOUR Life?
Oh, He wants to be! He SO wants to be.
If you haven't taken that step yet, would you do it today? Tomorrow isn't any better than today. Let your life begin right now!
If you can find 10 minutes today, would you spend it with YOUR LIFE? Work on memorizing this verse and soak in the concept of Him being YOUR LIFE!
Memorizing:
"For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory" Colossians 3:3-4
"You know the way to the place where I am going."Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way." John 14:4-6
I LOVE this!
Jesus says, "You know the way to the place I'm going to prepare for you."
Thomas says, "We don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
Jesus answers, "I am THE WAY, Silly! (o.k. I added that.) So you know THE WAY.
How often to we over complicate this? How do we get to heaven? By knowing Jesus, the Way.
Know: to recognize, understand, realize, have knowledge of, to know by learning or experience, know through encounter or exposure
As in:
John 10 1 " I assure you: Anyone who doesn't enter the sheep pen by the door but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The doorkeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. 5They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don't recognize the voice of strangers." 6 Jesus gave them this illustration, but they did not understand what He was telling them. 7 So Jesus said again, " I assure you: I am the door of the sheep. 8All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn't listen to them. 9I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance. 11"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and doesn't own the sheep, leaves themand runs away when he sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them. 13[This happens] because he is a hired man and doesn't care about the sheep.14"I am the good shepherd. I know My own sheep, and they know Me, 15as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father. I lay down My life for the sheep. 16But I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will listen
to My voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17This is why the Father loves Me, because I am laying down My life so I may take it up again. 18No
one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have the right to
lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received
this command from My Father."
You will not find a place in the Bible that says that to go to heaven you have to go to church a certain number of times a week or go to a certain church or wear certain clothes or eat certain food. You will not find a place that says you can get there by being good or doing more good than bad or being really nice to people or making friends with your pastor or never stealing or smoking or drinking.
We get to heaven by knowing THE WAY? Who is THE WAY?
Do you know Him? Really know him?
If not, know I'm praying for you. If you have questions, I'd love to hear from you. You can e-mail me at thosewithyoung@roadrunner.com.
With the Kids: Do your kids know the way? Have you told them?
Memorizing:
John 14
1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going."
5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" 6Jesus answered, "I am the way..."
"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." John 14:3
Does that excite you? Do you look forward to it?
In my life, I've seen how my excitement for heaven is in direct proportion to how close I'm walking with Jesus on earth. Our eternity begins at the moment we give our life to Jesus. We spend part of it here, but just a little part. The whole point of heaven is to be with Jesus, and if you aren't really into spending time with Jesus now, heaven won't seem like much to look forward to.
He's coming back! He really is!
"For the Lord himself
will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the
archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will
rise first. After
that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be
with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words." 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
With the kids: Have you ever talked about the Lord's coming with your kids? They usually find it pretty exciting. How 'bout make today the day.
Memorizing:
John 14
1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
"In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you." John 14:2
Here is what gives us hope! This is why we can trust our hearts to God. This is why we can live our life on earth with confidence and security.
He is our eternity. Right now, he is making preparations for you to join Him in heaven.
How often to we forget how small this life is compared to eternity. Just think. Everything will be perfect: No sadness, no dying, no bankruptcy, no foreclosure, no terminal illness, no car trouble, no lay-offs, no bare refrigerators, no divorce, no abandonment, no abuse....Perfect.
...and that perfection will last for ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever. This life is so short in comparison.
What are you working for right now? Our you trying to make heaven happen on earth? Do you expect the benefits of heaven right here and right now?
When we trust our hearts to God, we can be confident that all the goodness possible is waiting for us in heaven. That confidence makes us possible to have hearts that are at rest when it isn't happening on earth.
With the kids: Ask your kids what they think will be in heaven and what won't be. You might start them off with some examples. You might even want to make a picture or a chart and right down their answers. It will be fun, I promise!
Memorizing:
John 14
1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God[a]; trust also in me.
2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
"He who walks and lives uprightly and blamelessly, who works rightness and justice..." Psalm 15:2a
It is important to remember again, that this was written before Christ's death on the cross. We aren't asking the question here of what it takes to get to heaven. We are asking what it takes to have continual fellowship with Jesus...to come aside and soak in this glory and to live confidently in your position in Christ.
Ever have one of your kids run and hide because they knew they were in trouble? Relationships are messed up when we wrong the other person, aren't they? So walking and living uprightly and blamelessly is key to nurturing a good relationship with God. It's not about doing everything right. It is about protecting our relationship with Him, by not sinning against Him.
Does righteousness play a part in our place in heaven? Absolutely...the righteous blood of Jesus covers our sins. We depend on His righteousness to justify us. Aren't you glad we can?
With the kids:The Navigators have a great illustration about how our relationship with God is damaged by sin, and how Jesus made a way to repair it. It is really easy to explain to kids with simple drawings. See if you can take some time to talk through it with your kids next time they have sin that needs repenting of. You can study more about it right here.
Memorizing: "LORD, WHO shall dwell [temporarily] in Your tabernacle? Who shall dwell [permanently] on Your holy hill?
He who walks and lives uprightly and blamelessly, who works rightness and justice and speaks and thinks the truth in his heart," Psalm 15:1-2
Before we go to much further in Psalm 15, I feel it is important to emphasize that this Psalm was written by David in the Old Testament before Jesus' death on the cross. So, what it means to dwell in His tabernacle, has a different meaning in the New Testament, than it did in the old.
I felt this verse needed two days to munch on, before we could move on to the rest of the chapter.
"LORD, WHO shall dwell [temporarily] in Your tabernacle? Who shall dwell [permanently] on Your holy hill?" Psalm 15:1
I love this verse in the Amplified, because it shows the actual difference in the two words "dwell". In the Hebrew, they are different words.
The first one means to turn aside from the road, to lodge for the night - like getting a hotel room.
The second one (translated "live" in the NIV), means to abide, live among, stay, set up a dwelling. It is permanent.
In the Old Testament, God literally lived in the tabernacle. His glory dwelt there. The priests would take turn with their duties in the tent, but no one lived there. Once a year, the high priest went into the holy of holies where the glory of the Lord rested on the Ark of the Covenant. But it was very temporary.
This may not earn any theology awards, but I kind of look at the two different instances as the difference between the "dwelling" with the Lord in our private time with him and our "dwelling" with him for eternity, taking Him throughout our day.
Let me see if I can explain. Most of us, who have a heart for the Lord, strive for some one on one time with him - whether it is time in the Word or concentrated prayer. We long to be in God's concentrated presence....right there where His glory is. We long to soak up whatever He shares with us. Those are good times...like a trip to a nice hotel where we can turn aside and rest and get away from the business of life. But we are moms, and we have to emerge to the real world at some point.
However, the good news is, that moms who belong to the Lord have their eternal dwelling secure. We have a permanent place in the household of the Lord. Therefore, we can, go through our day secure in our dwelling. Knowing what we permanently have, and live in his presence throughout our day.
Does that make sense?
With the kids: How long has it been since you've had that concentrated time with just you and God? The best thing you can do for your kids, is show them how important that time with God is. Don't be afraid to teach them that mommy might need a time out to soak in the glory of the Lord every now and then. Don't be afraid to ask dad to watch the kids for an afternoon while you just meet with God. It is worth it!
Memorizing: "LORD, WHO shall dwell [temporarily] in Your tabernacle? Who shall dwell [permanently] on Your holy hill?" Psalm 15:1
Our inheritance is guarded and protected in a place that cannot be effected by things on earth. That is why it is so safe!
With the kids: Do you kids have a special place to keep their treasures? If not, consider making sure they do. It could be a drawer in their room, a box, a treasure chest, a plastic tub. Our kids call it their "special drawer" or "special box." It is the place they keep the things they don't want to share - like a rock collection or special toy. Their brothers are too keep their hands off those things. This works great when no one has their own room. Talk about how the things inside their box/drawer are protected and no one else should touch them....just like our inheritance is protected in heaven. No one on earth can touch it.
Memorizing:
"Praise be to the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In his great mercy he has given us
new birth
into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, a
never fade: corruption cannot touch or ever wear out its freshness, brightness and beauty
This is the only place this term is used in Scripture to describe our inheritance, rather than nature.
Part of me feels like this is getting redundant. How many ways can we say that our inheritance is protected, locked tight, not going to diminish, get ruined, be destroyed? It is safe, secure, and ready!
But then again, I'm not sure we can say it too much....because we forget SO easily. We live our lives as if this is all their is. Can you imagine if this was all their is? Really?
With the kids: Make shadow pictures with your kids. Either use the sun (if it is available) or a bright lamp. Have your kids pick some little toys and objects to lay on a piece of colored paper under the lamp or out in the son. Let it stay for several hours. Then take off the objects and see the difference in the paper. Talk about how the objects protected that part of the paper from fading and again relate to how Jesus is protecting our inheritance for us now.
Memorizing:
"Praise be to the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In his great mercy he has given us
new birth
into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead,
spoil: has nothing in it which defiles, unpolluted
Not only is our inheritance imperishable, but it can't spoil. It isn't going to decrease in value or be less tomorrow than it was today. It is protected, unpolluted, unable to spoil.
With the kids: Try a little visual example. Take two pieces of fruit. Leave one completely intact. Cut the other one in pieces. Leave one piece on a plate on the counter and ask your kids to watch it throughout the day and see if it changes. Eat the rest for a snack. :) Help them observe that one piece is protected and held together and isn't going to rot (as quickly anyway) as long as it is protected by its skin. Watch what is happening to the other piece. Show them the intact piece of fruit and talk about how our eternity won't spoil. Talk about how the things we have on earth will break or wear out, but what we have for eternity cannot spoil.
Memorizing:
"Praise be to the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In his great mercy he has given us
new birth
into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead,
and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil..."
never perish: imperishable, mortal, lasting forever, not capable of corruption or subject to deterioration
Wow! Can you imagine? The only thing better than being an heiress is knowing that it is forever. It isn't a fairy tail. It isn't something that will go away!
I love this part of the verse, because it has always been a central part of my testimony. You see, I've moved around my whole life. The only consistent thing in my life has been change. Over and over and over again, I've said goodbye to friends and started over in a strange place. I've sold off special things so that we didn't have to move them and set up house in a new, and unfamiliar place. Many of you identify.
The main thing that has gotten me through? Knowing that I had something that would never perish! My inheritance is forever! No one can take that away.
With the kids: Again, just as with "hope", I'm learning to put the value of eternity in front of my kids. What in life is more important? What is the only thing they are guaranteed to have forever?
Memorizing:
"Praise be to the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In his great mercy he has given us new
birth
into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead,
