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Monday
John 14:1-7
Jesus tells His disciples that He will be leaving them to prepare a place for them. Thomas responds, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, and how can we know the way?” (v. 5). Jesus answers, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (v. 6).
“I am the way.” The “way” literally means road or highway. Jesus does not show the way; He is the Way. Jesus is the highway to heaven. He makes the exclusive claim that no other religious leader can make. Jesus is the only Way to have one’s sins forgiven and be reconciled to God.
Everyone needs to know the Way because all are lost in their sins. People tend to think of sins only as sins of commission. However, the Bible speaks of sins in thought; sins of omission; sins when we judge others, lack thanksgiving, lack worship, lack prayer; and sins embedded in the culture where we are not even aware when we sin, and even the best that we do is tainted with sin—“All our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).
Here’s an example of the best that we do being tainted with sin. When I stand in front of a group to teach the Bible, I want to do my very best for the Lord. I want my motives to be 100% pure. I want to give Him my fullest and best efforts. However, no matter how hard I try to give my all for the Lord, deep in the corner of my heart there is a small voice saying, “I want you to like me. I want you to think I am a good teacher.” Even my best efforts are tainted with sin.
All are clearly lost and definitely in need of knowing the Way.
Questions
When you see the full magnitude of your sin, how do you respond?
Prayers for Perch.Church (ECO Church Plant)
As Perch gets ready to meet in a new venue in Glendale in February, may more spiritual wanderers find a home in this community. Pray that Perch.Church would be a blessing to the local community around them.
Tuesday
John 8:31-32
“Moral truth cannot be conveyed solely in words; it must be conveyed in example. And that is precisely where the greatest human teacher must fall down. No teacher has ever embodied the truth he taught—except Jesus. Many a man could say: ‘I have taught you the truth.’ Only Jesus could say: ‘I am the Truth.’ The tremendous thing about Jesus is not simply that the statement of moral perfection finds its peak in Him; it is the fact that moral perfection finds its realization in Him.” (Barclay) Jesus is the Truth “and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
Ron Bishop, age 14, and two other junior high students were coerced and coached by police detectives and the prosecutor to identify three sixteen-year-old high school students with the murder of another student. The junior high children had been threatened that they would be charged with accessory to murder if they did not cooperate with the police. In court they identified the three high school students as the assailants. The three sixteen-year-old boys were convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Bishop had nightmares for thirty-six years because of his false testimony. Then he was contacted by the Conviction Integrity Unit of the state attorney’s office regarding his testimony in this case. To relieve his heavy burden of guilt that he carried for thirty-six years, he readily admitted that he had lied in court and that the three were wrongfully convicted. With the truth out, the three convicts,
now in their fifties in age, were set free. The truth had set them free. (New Yorker)
Jesus is the Truth that sets us free, free from the guilt of sin and free to become the kind of person that God wants us to be.
Questions
Christ has set you free. How is this affecting your life?
Prayers for Perch.Church (ECO Church Plant)
The staff and members at Perch.Church feel like they’re starting over since they began to meet in-person again a few months ago. Pray that God would give them excitement as they gather, energy for outreach, and momentum to do good works. Help them to approach this new season of “starting over” with peace and determination to continue in what God has called them to do.
Wednesday
John 17:1-5; Ephesians 3:17-19
When we think of Jesus as the Life, we usually think of the eternal life we will receive after we die. However, eternal life is not just after death; it is now. It began when we took our first step to trust in Jesus. “Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent” (John 17:3). The word “know” is in the present tense. Knowing God is an ongoing process.
Eternal life is to experience God in the present, knowing Him increasingly on an intimate basis. As we experience God’s love in our lives, we feel more of the depths of His love and, subsequently, grow in our love for Him. Paul affirms this: “I pray that you … may have power … to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:17-19). There is so much more to God’s love than simply Jesus dying for us.
Trying to understand the depths of God’s love is like trying to know everything about the ocean. Scientists have been studying the ocean for hundreds of years, yet they know so little about it. For instance, when the Malaysian Airlines plane, MH 370, disappeared over the Indian Ocean in March 2014, it was never found. The search for it using newly developed deep-sea technology revealed new discoveries of undersea mountains, rift valleys, and subsea volcanoes. “It is estimated that only 10-15% of the world’s oceans has been surveyed with the kind of technology used in the search for MH 370.” (The Guardian)
So much more remains to be learned about the ocean. In the same way, so much more to experience of God’s love.
Questions
Since the life and love of Jesus empowers our daily living, how are you being affected?
Prayers for Perch.Church (ECO Church Plant)
Pray for wisdom and discernment for Al as he continues to serve bi-vocationally as church planter/pastor and hospital chaplain at Adventist Health Glendale. Pray for his energy and strength as well
as that of his family.
Thursday
Acts 4:8-12; John 14:6; 1 Timothy 2:5-6
I once met someone who regularly attends Glenkirk who believed good people will be saved. His thinking was: “If people are law-abiding citizens, treat others well, and are generally good people, they will be saved. The way to God is by good works. If one does enough good deeds, he will be saved.” This is a common opinion held by many, even among church-goers.
However, if one were almost perfect, committed only one sin a day or had only one bad thought a day, that would be 365 sins a year. A fifty-year-old person would have committed 18,250 sins in his lifetime. What chance would he have on Judgment Day?
There are also those who think that by going to church, one would be saved—that regular church attendance is the answer. Then, there are those who try other religions, thinking that all roads lead to heaven. People have many ideas by which one could go to heaven. However, none of these views deal with the “sin problem” that all are sinners who fall short of God’s perfect standard.
The Bible very clearly makes very exclusive claims that Jesus is the only way by which one can have their sins forgiven. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). Therefore, all are lost without Christ.
Questions
There are likely some people attending Glenkirk who think they are saved, but really are not. They do not know that Jesus is the only Way. What should we do about it?
Prayers for Perch.Church (ECO Church Plant)
Please lift up Pastor Al Han as he attended the ECO conference this last week. Pray that he would return with renewed vision and feel equipped to take on the new year.
Friday
Philippians 1:3-6; 2 Timothy 4:7-8; John 15:5
Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. This is a living relationship that we have with Him from the day we came to know Him until we join Him in heaven. Throughout our present life in this world, His presence, strength, and guidance will enable us to finish the race well. We have this assurance, “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).
Paul was able to confidently say, “The time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:6b-7). With the help of the Lord, Paul was able to finish his race well.
Jesus is the way to know God and the way by which God enables us to live a fruitful life for Him. The Lord empowers us as we stay closely connected with Him. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
One way to remain connected to Jesus is to cherish a spirit of prayer—pray without ceasing. Go through each day talking with the Lord throughout your day as He brings various thoughts to mind. Thank Him as you see the many blessings He has brought into your life. Intercede for others as He brings certain people to mind. Ask the Lord for wisdom as you face the day’s challenges. Ask the Lord for love for the people you meet. As the waves on the seashore never cease, so let your prayers wash up on heaven’s shore throughout your day.
Questions
What might help you more effectively feel the presence of God?
Prayers for Perch.Church (ECO Church Plant)
Pray for the ministry of Perch.Church that it may be empowered to reach the unchurched in the Glendale area. The staff does not simply want to reach those who are already going to church but those who are not. Pray that the people of Perch would reach out to the lost.
Sources
- William Barclay, The Gospel of John, Vol. 2, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975).
- Jennifer Gonnerman, “When a Witness Recants” (New Yorker, 10/25/21), https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/11/01/when-a-witness-recants.
- Reuters, “MH370 Search Maps Shed Light on Remote Depths of Indian Ocean” (The Guardian, 7/19/17), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/19/mh370-search-maps-remote-depths-indian-ocean.
