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Man in The Book A
while ago I was talking to a friend. He played basketball in a northern state
that will remain nameless but is across the How
often do we wish the same thing? Perhaps we wish the supervisor actually lived
up to his speech. The company actually lived up to its mission statement; or
every car lived up to its hype. The fact is we are often disappointed in the
difference between what should be and what is. This
can also apply to the church and its members. For
instance we might wish that fellow Christians lived up to their commitment. When
a person confesses Christ they are confessing more than the fact that Jesus is
the Son of God; they are confessing that Jesus is their Lord, and Master, Romans
10.9. We are saying we are going to follow Jesus and obey His commands. After
all that is what a servant does, he follows his Master. Yet many Christians do
not live up to that responsibility. We
might wish our fellow Christians placed Jesus first in their lives. In such
cases we would not have questions such as: Do I have to come to services? Or,
why do we have to have a Gospel Meeting? We would have just as many Christians
at services on Sunday night as Sunday morning and about that same number on
Wednesday night. (Realizing the number present may vary a little due to travel,
sickness, work schedules, or other reasons, but not due to saints forsaking the
assembling of the saints). What
would it be like if every Christian met up to their job description provided in
the Bible? I dare say every local congregation would be striving to grow and
have unity as described in Ephesians 4. We would not see congregations dying on
the vine or splitting over “personality problems.” We would love our enemies
and do good to all men, Galatians 6.10. Zeal would be the order of the day as we
would want to do more in service to God as described in Titus 3 verse 1. The
fact is I wish we all lived up to the example provided by us in the life of
Jesus. I will admit to not obtaining that level of service and dedication. Yet
that is what we are to be striving for. “For to this you were called, because
Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His
steps: Who committed no sin, nor was
deceit found in His mouth; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in
return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who
judges righteously” (1 Peter 2.21-23). The
fact is I wish we could all meet the man in the Bible. I am of course speaking
of Jesus. What if we could all sit at His feet and hear His words. Can you
imagine hearing the parable of the Sower? Or,
the parable of the talents? How about seeing thousands fed with a few loaves of
bread and a handful of fish? Or to just hear the word of God being proclaimed by
the Son of God would be such a treat. What would it be like to listen to Jesus
answer His critics or explain more accurately a misapplied passage? There
are a couple of things I can say about desiring to see Jesus. First, He would
live up to our expectations if we are thinking of Jesus as our Savior. He was
perfect in all He did so we would not be able to pick at His faults for there
are none. Second, we can meet the man in the Bible every time we pick it up. By
reading His words and the words of the inspired writers in the New Testament we
are meeting Him. His words are powerful and life changing if we are wiling to
listen. We can be zealous for good works, growing together, seeking the lost,
and serving Him faithfully if we will just follow His words. Are
you ready to be the Christian Jesus desires you to be? – Dennis Tucker |