As we journey together through Lent, Christians throughout Columbia will be sharing their own beautifully written personal meditations. Each will be accompanied by a corresponding scripture reading, and be linked to that passage in the Holy Bible. If you would like to join us on Columbia’s Lenten journey, please submit your personal meditation by email. Especially meaningful submissions will be printed. Let us continue our Lenten journey, day by day, to its glorious culmination on Easter Sunday.
Scripture reading: John 7:14-36
In today’s reading, Jesus goes up to the temple midway through a Jewish Festival and begins to teach those assembled. Can you imagine hearing Jesus teach? Actually, we can hear Him – all we have to do is open the Bible and our hearts and read His words We all need to read with fresh eyes Jesus’ words because He is the Son of God, sent to us by God the Father, the One who has been with God come to tell us of Him. In my view, it is the human will desiring to know God’s truth coupled with God’s grace that brings us out of darkness and into the light of wisdom, seeing as God sees, and salvation.
In the temple, the Jewish leaders, no doubt jealously, marveled at Jesus awareness and scriptural knowledge, although He had not been trained as a rabbi. Jesus told those who questioned His teaching and education that He was not teaching His own ideas, but God’s. This claim infuriated and shocked Jewish leaders. To put it plainly, Jesus claimed that His own words were the words of God. Jesus’ words give us a clear window into God.
Jesus then explains how the people will know His teachings are from God. Simply, is you are willing to trust in God and look to Him, you will know intuitively that the teachings and actions of Jesus came from God the Father.
Trust and honest obedience In God’s will is one way to obtain clear spiritual light. I like to think that God loved to encourage us to self-exertion and diligent use of such means and talents as we have in our hands. As we use the light that we now have, we soon find more light glowing in our minds and lives. Ultimately, this light becomes intentions and actions that honor God, and we begin to partner with Him in bringing heaven to earth. In the process, we become liberated to love in a newly generous and expansive way. This love sees what is needed in our world, what is missing, and seeks to respond. This is why love is the supreme spiritual characteristic of the soul, given to us by God, if we choose to follow and believe in Him.
Emery Clark
Columbia, South Carolina
You might also like to read:
- Bible Verse of the Day
- Daily Bible Guide
- Growing in Christ
- Bible Study Tools Online
- The Jesus Walk Bible Study Series
A discussion of today’s Lenten meditation is encouraged. If you would like to participate, please feel free to write a comment in the space below. There are many different outlooks and interpretations of scripture passages and, the more we share, the more we learn.
Sharon is a member of the Community Church of the Midlands that meets at Seven Oaks Community Center at 200 Leisure Lane in Columbia and is a frequent participant, with her husband Douglas, at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral located at 1100 Sumter Street in Columbia.
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If you enjoyed this article, you can find more at Sharon's Columbia Biblical Studies Examiner homepage.
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