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Tuesday
Jun 21st, 2022
By: Matthew Sink
The Gospel of John-Day 12

John 3:10-12 (The Message) - Jesus said, “You’re a respected teacher of Israel and you don’t know these basics? Listen carefully. I’m speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don’t believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can’t see, the things of God?

We are the most educated country in the history of the world. By law, every child attends school from age 5 – AT LEAST age 16. Most people continue until age 22, and some go 2-4 years beyond that. Our schools are well-funded; we have resources at our fingertips; even children who struggle to learn are given individual, professional attention. We are an educated, enlightened society ... so why can’t we see the most important things out there – “the things of God?”

When Nicodemus came to Jesus in the dark of night, he came as one who was accustomed to having answers. Pharisees knew Scripture and explained Scripture. They spent their lives learning, but as is so often the case, they focused so heavily on words and definitions and theories that they lost sight of the One those things were pointing to. Jesus told them plainly in John 5:39 - You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me. In the midst of their great learning, the Pharisees lost sight of what their goal. They forgot that all learning should point us to our Creator. Instead, their learning puffed them up until they almost became gods in their own mind.

We tend to make faith far too complicated. We all have questions and doubts, sometimes, and unfortunately, we will never know every answer to every question in this life. What you can know, right now, is that Jesus is alive. Eyewitnesses saw Him die, and then they saw Him alive! Jesus conquered death, just as He predicted, and those who were near Him responded by following Him, no more questions asked. We all want to know the great mysteries of God, but the starting point is standing right in front of you. His name is Jesus, and He is calling you closer.