Tim’s Daily Bread Devotional 5.20.22

By May 20, 2022Daily Bread

Good morning!

I hope this day finds you and your family well. I invite you to take a few moments with me to read and reflect upon today’s scripture selection — and to carry these thoughts with you into your day.

Today’s Scripture: John 5:19-24 

19 Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. 20 The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. 21 Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. 22 The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.

 

Tim’s Devotional Reflection for Today

In this reading from John’s gospel, we see two themes that John visits repeatedly.  The first is this:  If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.  In Jesus, we see God perfectly revealed.  In Jesus, we can see the nature of God.  John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God.  God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, has made God known.”

The second great theme of John’s gospel is life—abundant life and eternal life.  Jesus, speaking of his followers, said, “I came so that they could have life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest.”  (John 10:10)

For John, eternal life isn’t about quantity but quality.  It is a way of life that begins in the present and extends to eternity.  Notice the present tense in verse 24:  “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

The apostle Paul wrote that all who have been baptized into Christ were baptized into his death.  He continued,

Therefore, we were buried together with him through baptism into his death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too can walk in newness of life. If we were united together in a death like his, we will also be united together in a resurrection like his. This is what we know: the person that we used to be was crucified with him in order to get rid of the corpse that had been controlled by sin. That way we wouldn’t be slaves to sin anymore, because a person who has died has been freed from sin’s power. But if we died with Christ, we have faith that we will also live with him. We know that Christ has been raised from the dead and he will never die again. Death no longer has power over him. 10 He died to sin once and for all with his death, but he lives for God with his life. 11 In the same way, you also should consider yourselves dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:3-11, CEB)

How we understand eternal life matters.  It is so much more than “pie in the sky by and by.”  Eternal life is the new life we have in following Jesus and trusting in his grace—a life that isn’t destroyed by death.

 

Hymn: “Sing with All the Saints in Glory” by William J. Irons (1873)

Sing with all the saints in glory,
sing the resurrection song!
Death and sorrow, earth’s dark story,
to the former days belong.
All around the clouds are breaking;
soon the storms of time shall cease;
in God’s likeness we awaken,
knowing everlasting peace.

Oh, what glory, far exceeding
all that eye has yet perceived!
Holiest hearts for ages pleading
never that full joy conceived.
God has promised, Christ prepares it;
there on high our welcome waits.
Ev’ry humble spirit shares it.
Christ has passed th’eternal gates.

Life eternal! Heav’n rejoices:
Jesus lives who once was dead.
Shout with joy, O deathless voices!
Child of God, lift up your head!
Life eternal! Oh, what wonders
crowd on faith: what joy unknown,
when amid earth’s closing thunders,
saints shall stand before the throne!

Thank you for sharing this moment of your day with me, with God, and with these reflections on a portion of scripture.  I hope you will carry these with you throughout your day and night.

Grace and Peace,


Dr. Tim Bruster
Senior Pastor