Today's Quick Word
Today’s Quick Word
John 10:19-21 The Jews who heard these words were again divided. Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?” But others said, “These are not the sayings of […]
John 10:19-21 The Jews who heard these words were again divided. Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?” But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
The prophet Isaiah said that one of the names of the coming Messiah was “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6-7). When we come to know him as our Saviour and Lord we experience that peace – we have peace with God because our sins are forgiven (Romans 5:1), peace with one another because the Holy Spirit fills us with a love that forgives and blesses (Romans 15:13; Ephesians 2:14-18; 4:1-3), and a sense of peace within ourselves that “passes all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). These things can be real in our everyday experience as we ‘walk with the Lord in the light of his Word’.
But Jesus himself also said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34), and this is because everything that Jesus was on about – what he said, what he did, and why he came – cuts across our sinful, self-centred, self-fulfilment-seeking natures. This was true of the generation to which he came, and it is especially true of our own ‘decide your own morality and worldview’, ‘be your own self’, ‘you do you’ generation.
There is enough objective evidence of the authenticity of all Jesus’ claims as Saviour and Lord to leave all of us without excuse. And when we do come to submit fully to his claims, through the work of the Holy Spirit in us causing us to be ‘born again’, it is not long before we we find our culture attacking us, writing us off as ‘demon-possessed’ and ‘raving mad’, denying us a voice in the public square, just like they did to Jesus!
The correct, and therefore most effective, response to such unwarranted opposition is to patiently and humbly persevere in loving one another, loving our self-appointed ‘enemies’, and doing good to those in need, just as Jesus did. At least we will thus be creating the same enigma that Jesus created: “Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
By God’s grace, and in response to our quiet but earnest prayers, the Holy Spirit might just use this very enigma to bring them to faith in Christ! (I’m hoping that, in the light of today’s TQW, Stephen McAlpine, author of ‘Futureproof’, doesn’t accuse me of plagiarism!).
– Bruce Christian
