For as long as I live, I will testify to love…
Every hand that reaches out…to offer peace
Every simple act of mercy
Every step to kingdom come
All the hope in every heart will
Speak what love has done
These lyrics celebrate every hand reaching out in peace as a “testimony to love.” In reality, God didn’t offer just His “hand” as a gesture of peace but His very own Son (“For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son.” Jn. 3:16). God held nothing back! Because of His sacrificial gift of love every heart on earth can have hope in eternal redemption even as we await the unfolding of God’s kingdom on earth.
In this week’s sermon, we saw how Jesus responded to an audience of cynical religious critics. Jesus testified not only that he’d been sent by the Father but also “the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me” (Jn. 5:36-37). His life-giving works clearly displayed the power to heal, to redeem and to restore a broken world; clear testimony to all who witnessed them that Jesus truly was and is who he claimed to be!
Sadly, Jesus’ critics suffered from severe spiritual blindness. They had “head knowledge” of God’s Word but didn’t truly hold it in their hearts. Jesus informed them that the real problem was their faithless hearts. Their rejection of his words and his works was proof that even though they studied God’s Word, they did not abide in the Word, and neither did the truth of God’s Word abide within their stoney hearts. To paraphrase his assessment of these critics, Jesus was saying “If you really believed in the One who sent me, you could discern the Father’s voice in my words, see God’s spirit present in my works, and sense His presence in bodily form here before you.”
I pray that no reader of the Daily Fill will ever be counted among those with “head knowledge” of God’s Word but a vacuum of truth in their heart and soul. May your whole spirit, mind, and soul rejoice in the testimony of God’s love displayed in the life and works of His only begotten Son!
Pastor Dave Korinek