Truth — Week 2 – Tuesday
TODAY’S VERSE
John 8:30-31, 37
As he was saying these things, many believed in him. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples... I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.” (ESV)
If you were a curious kid left alone in your parents' car growing up, you probably remember that weird little plug with the coils on the inside. You push it in, wait, and it pops out glowing orange. As a kid, you can look at that orange glow from a distance and "know" it's probably hot. You understand the theory of it. But there is a world of difference between looking at the glow and actually encountering the heat… that’s something you never really forget!
There’s a specific kind of danger in being close to something without actually touching it. You can become so familiar with the look of the fire that you stop noticing you’re actually freezing.
On Sunday, we talked about how the religious leaders in John 8 were "inoculated" to the truth of Jesus because of their empty religion and false sense of worthiness. They were with the Light of the World, but they were only interested in the "glow" of their heritage: their family tree, their traditions, and their "Abrahamic" pedigree. They had just enough exposure to God and their religion to make them comfortable, but not enough to actually cause them to change.
In our culture, we face a similar risk. We’re surrounded by a "Counterfeit Jesus," a version of faith that is, as Scott said, all about "moralistic niceties" and Southern tradition. It looks like the real thing, but it lacks the life-changing "heat" of the Gospel. If His word "finds no place" in us, it’s usually because we’ve already filled that space with a comfortable, theoretical version of Him. We’ve become so familiar with the appearance of faith that we’ve lost our hunger for an actual encounter with the Person of Jesus.
APPLICATION
Are you settling for a hollow, comfortable faith? Something with the “glow” of religion, maybe tradition, reputation, or a “good person” identity, while staying cold to the actual Person of Jesus? Ask God to move you past the theoretical and into a real, life-changing encounter with Him.
PRAYER
Lord, protect me from empty faith. I don’t want to settle for a safe version of the Truth. Help me break through complacency and pursue a life where Your Word has a place in me.
