Knowledge is important to us. Knowledge of Jesus should be more so than anything else. This daily devotional looks at what we are to know and when what we know is enough.
Nuggets
- Disciples know the way when we listen to Jesus’ teachings.
Devotions in the Living Life Connected to Christ series
Jesus’ teaching in the Upper Room Discourse hit a big snag. He said the apostles should know something. Thomas said they didn’t know what He was talking about.
What the apostles were supposed to know is that on which our faith is built. Let’s see what Jesus was talking about.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
To Know or not to Know
“‘And you know the way to where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’” (Jn. 14: 4-5 ESV)
Disciples know the way when we listen to Jesus’ teachings.
I bet Jesus’ next statement floored the apostles. “You do know the way.”
They had just been going through four verses of “I’m leaving. You can’t come.” Then it changed to “I’ll pick you up later.”
Now, Jesus was saying they knew they way.
And really, they did.
Thomas, though, hadn’t figured it out yet. He took a page out of Peter’s book.
When in doubt, question.
The problem, actually, was Thomas was still stuck on the where and not the how. Jesus had already described the where, which was — really — beyond their scope of comprehension.
But Jesus had spent three years about telling them the how.
- “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (Jn. 10: 9 ESV).
- “I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins” (Jn. 8: 24 ESV).
- “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live’” (Jn. 11: 25 ESV)
- “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 10: 32-33 ESV).
Maybe Jesus was trying to get them to start thinking for themselves. They had listened for three years, but I bet they left a lot of the interpretation to Jesus.
How could Jesus be a door? He wasn’t made of wood or thatch or whatever material they used.
What is this resurrection talk? Once people die, they stay dead.
God was the Person Who forgave us our sins. But now we add this Person into the mix? How do we acknowledge Him.
Roberts argued that the apostles were walking in the way for the past three years but didn’t recognize it. He wrote, “Thomas and the rest were practically walking in the right way in believing in Christ. But not understanding that Christ was the Way, they did not understand that they were in the right way.”
Resource
But let’s look at it this way. We are called to walk in faith. Faith is a gift from God that enhances the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives and distinguishes us from others.
Remember Hebrews 11: 1? We can look at it in several different translations.
- “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Heb. 11: 1 NIV).
- “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see” (Heb. 11: 1 NLT).
- “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11: 1 ESV).
- “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11: 1 KJV).
- “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen” (Heb. 11: 1 CSB).
Confidence — assurance.
Reality — evidence.
Assurance — conviction.
Substance — evidence.
Reality — proof.
It doesn’t matter if we see the way we are going or not. It doesn’t even matter is we know where we are going or not.
Faith is the conviction of following Christ anyway, whether we see anything or nothing.
I like the words conviction and evidence. We have the belief or the opinion that we should follow Christ.
But the evidence isn’t necessarily what we might think it should be. When we hear evidence, we equate it to mean proof beyond a shadow of a doubt.
We take that to mean that it answers all our questions and convinces us that we can believe something as being true.
I think the evidence is more in the line of Christ has shown that He has carried us in the past — He will this time, too.
If we circle this on back, we see that Jesus will carry us to the Father’s house. When we put our faith and trust in Jesus, our salvation is secured.
Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
- Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
- Spiritual death is the spiritual separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
We have to know in our knower that Jesus is God’s Son, that He is our Savior, and that He will come back for us when we live our lives to honor Him.
Making the Connections
Heaven sounds like a wonderful place, but it is not the pearly gates and the streets of gold that make it special. What makes it special is that God is there.
Heaven would be nothing if God was not there.
How Do We Apply This?
Aren’t we a funny lot? We think we don’t know, but we really do.
But sometimes, we think we know everything but don’t know a thing.
We need to ask God to enlighten us as to which way we are at this specific moment.
Maclaren wrote, “All our knowledge is ignorance. And ignorance that confesses itself to Him is in the way of becoming knowledge. And we are meant to carry all our inadequate and superficial realizations of His truths into His presence, that, from Him, we may gain deeper knowledge, and a more joyous certitude in His inexhaustible truths.”
Resource
There comes a point where we have to decide whether or not we are going to ask Jesus as our Savior. We are going to have to decide that we know enough to follow Him and take the rest on faith.
We need to come before God wanting to gain in His grace and knowledge.
Father God. We praise You that Your Plan of Salvation was designed to restore our relationships with You. Thank You that Jesus was willing to be the Sacrifice for us. We know that He is the only way for us to have access to You. Help us to live the way He did. Amen.
What do you think?
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