John 5:39
You search the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them. They testify about me!
Dear Lord Jesus,
In Your standoff with the Jewish leaders, they were troubled with You healing the people on the Sabbath day. They emphasized actions and not faith; they were critical of the most significant healing when You healed souls, You declaring the forgiveness of sins.
The religious leaders searched the scriptures to save themselves by keeping the Old Testament laws properly; however, their faith was in their actions of being good people without changing their hearts. So they added laws as a hedge around Your word so that by keeping those laws, people would undoubtedly keep Your law. However, the additional laws only burdened the people; the religious leaders missed the point of love. They could not see You as being the Messiah sent from God, so they plotted to kill You.
In Your death, The Old Testament was fulfilled; it testified about You and the promise that You would overcome the world’s sins by being the perfect sacrifice on the cross. So faith in you results in salvation and eternal life.
The world continues to miss the point of love, attempting to legislate away sin and simultaneously rejecting You. It creates more laws to remove bias and all the “ism” words away, yet fails to acknowledge the root problem—sin. We are all sinful, and You have given us the answer to the world’s root problem, and that is faith in You. By trusting in You and what You did on the cross to restore us, hearts are changed. Love for You drives people to want to do what is right and proper, that we honor You above all other things, and care for our neighbor as we care for ourselves.
May there be a renewed desire by all people to know You; may we share the good news about Your grace and mercy with all the people we come in contact with; let this change of hearts happen to those close to us so that they, too, will know, believe, and trust in You and be gifted salvation and eternal life by faith in You. Amen.
Written through Pastor Roger Emmons
The world is a sinful place, and the only way to correct it is by love, but that only comes through faith in the One who gave his life as a ransom price for all so that those who believe in Jesus have eternal life.