Verse of the Day 11/30

Through the Bible - Ezekiel 45-46, 1 John 2

 

Good morning,

I hope that you all had a blessed Thanksgiving Holiday.

 

I don't know how many of you watched the Florida vs.Florida State game.  It featured Heisman Trophy candidate Tim Tebow in his last home game.  Tebow is a professing Christian and in the black under his eyes he had the scripture reference to Heb. 12:1-2.  As I saw that and the tears in his eyes as he headed out onto the field I was struck by what those verses say.

 

Heb 12:1-2   Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.  NLT

Tebow has never (that I know of) shyed away from sharing his faith.  He is arguably one of the best college players that has come along in years.  He had the opportunity to "jump" to the NFL for the last couple of years but decided to stay the course in college, ignoring the lure of million dollar contracts.  He has had other things in minds.

 

He knew the gravity of the situation.  He knew he was playing before a huge crowd at the stadium, on television across the country, before alumni and those who had gone before them.  He played with the inspiration of someone that knew the significance of the moment.

 

For today's verse we'll go to 1 John 1, where John shared his heart in written words.  He was the last remaining apostle, he knew that his earthly life would be coming to an end and wanted to share his heart about the one who had initiated, sustained, and built his faith and the faith of his fellow apostles.  He knew the significance of the moment.

 

1 John 1:1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us.   NLT
There was a lot of false teaching that was already going on in the early church.  John wanted to let his readers know who it was that he followed and now worshipped.

 

John MacArthur writes, "John affirms the physical reality of Jesus Christ's having come "in the flesh".  In this way John accentuated the gravity of the false teaching by immediately focusing on a strongly possitive affirmation of the historic reality of Jesus humanity and the certainty of the gospel..... The affirmation of a proper view of Christ constitutes the first test of genuine fellowship."

 

Think of the statement from Hebrews those words from Hebrews 12:1-2:  "And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith."

 

Over the weekend Tim Tebow played the game that was set before him, affirmed in the power of his faith In Christ.

How may we, how will we run the race today?  Do you grasp the significance of the moment?

 In Christ,
Mike
mikevw@bellsouth.net
http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com
Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV

1 John 1:1-5

 

Introduction

 

1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.   NLT