Thursday, April 14, 2011
Reading: John 19:28-37
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2019&version=NIV
Reflection: Now, I realize that what I am about to say is a secondary lesson from this passage of scripture. However, I do believe this lesson is present...and I also believe that there is a lesson for all of us within it. It is interesting that John begins this section with a phrase highlighting that Jesus, "knew that everything had been finished." Have you ever wondered what it must feel like to reach the end of your life...regardless of how long or short that life might be...and realize that everything God planned for you to do you have now completely fulfilled? It must be an amazing feeling. Now, you might say that there is no way that anyone other than Jesus could ever know what that feels like. However, that is not true. While the Apostle Paul was certainly a great and godly man, he was still just a man. And yet, when he reaches the end of his life, he tells Timothy that he has "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." Wow! I have stood by the bedside of many a person who are fighting back tears as they realize the many opportunities they have allowed to slip past them and the many years they have wasted chasing things that never mattered. That is not a feeling with which either Jesus or Paul wrestled...and I pray one neither you and I will face either. Let us live this day, and every day, as though it is the last one we have been given. Let's be sensative to what God has for us to do, and let's do it. If we do, then no matter when our end comes, we will face it with feelings of fulfilment rather than regret. Let's finish our work here on earth.
My take-aways from recent passages have been different than yours, but I was drawn to the same line this time: "knowing that all was now completed". Thanks for further explaining the idea.
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