BIBLE READING FOR THE DAY: 37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”
41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.”
Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” 43Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.
-John 7:37-44
THOUGHT: In this passage Jesus is extending an invitation. Though his invitation is met with many different reactions and assumptions, his invitation still stands. Jesus called people to himself then, and he still does now. The Pharisees (Jewish religious leaders) and others in the crowd did not have the Bible to see the full story of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. Luckily, we do!
In my journey of faith I recently noticed how little I have studied and meditated on the whole life of Jesus. I have talked much about Jesus, and studied isolated passages and parables, but there is something to be said about picking one of the accounts of Jesus' life (a.k.a. the "Gospels") and reading it in it's entirety. What new themes and ideas could I find that will affect the way I understand God and the way he works?
CHALLENGE: Read through one of the Gospels (Mathew, Mark, Luke, or John). Ask God to show you something new about Jesus. Pay attention to any thoughts, ideas, or themes that are new and spend some time thinking and/or journaling about those things. If you have never done this before, a good book to start with could be Mark. May a fuller understanding of the life of Christ bring you to a fuller understanding of his love for you!
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