Recieving Jesus: "The point of the scriptures"
John 5:39-40 “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.”
There are a couple of things that strike me about this verse today. The first is the issue of eternal life. Jesus talks of eternal life as something that is not only to come but is a present reality in the life of one who believes in Jesus. The other is the suggestion that the scriptures are only useful in their ability to point to Jesus. The scriptures are a tool to bring people to faith in Jesus. Here Jesus addresses some jewish leaders and exposes their unfaithful reading of the scriptures. Jesus exposes that these religious leaders read the scriptures because they think the words themselves bring eternal life and at the same time these religious leaders refuse to come to Jesus and reject the eternal life that is offered in the scriptures by them pointing to Jesus.
I wonder how often this happens in our lives. I wonder how often God uses the scriptures, worship, people, sermons, etc to invite us to come to Him and yet we refuse to come. The point of the scriptures, worship, sermons, study, and other acts are for us to come to Jesus and when we do all “these” things but yet don’t come to Jesus we are in fact rejecting eternal life. This rejecting of eternal life is not rejecting of this “pie in the sky” idea but rejecting the eternal life that Jesus is offering us today. I desire to receive this eternal life today and have full assurance that the scriptures are leading me to Jesus and in Jesus I receive this life today and for all eternity.
Lord, give me the grace today to not just do all these “religious acts” and they be nothing but empty ritual. But may you use these disciplines to bring me to you. Protect me from making these practices the focus but may these practices continue to help make you the focus of my life. I pray that these practices would empower me to receive you and that in receiving you I may experience eternal life today in You. Amen.
The scriptures lead me to Jesus and in Jesus I experience eternal life.
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