Highlighted New Testament Bible

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Friday, November 20, 2015

St. Matthew, Chapter 20, verse:22c, We Can.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The mother of James and John) Part 7. 

Wherever the Gospel is written this paragraph shall be included, the paragraph of the mother of James and John.  What must have been her faith?  What must have been her trust?  What must have been her belief in Christ that he was the one who would change all things?  She came to him.  She worshipped him.  She spoke to him about her beloved sons.  They were all she had. They were her future and her past and her present.  And they were the ones who would become his disciples for all eternity.

Little did she know what would happen.  Little did she know what they would become.  Little did she know what they would suffer.  For they were to drink of the same cup of suffering with Christ.  They were to be teachers the same as Christ.  They were to be miracle workers the same as Christ.  And they would be the twelve disciples, apostles, for all eternity.  Did they believe?  Did they know?  Did they understand what would happen.  Did they know the battle that they would face with evil?  Could they stand with Christ and become the sacrificial lambs?  Could they drink of the same cup?  They said to him, "We can." 

Can we drink of the same cup?  Can we follow in the footsteps as Christ and become sacrificial lambs?  Or are we more about ourselves and our own desires?  It is a tall question to ask and an even greater one to answer.  Just to think of the ramifications of that answer brings shudders to the mind and the body.  Just to reflect on the pain and the suffering that he endured makes one think of turning away.  Yet he willingly entered into the sacrifice, he willingly became the innocent lamb, he willingly accepted the pain and suffering, the humiliation and mockery, the beatings and the hatred of those who would do him harm.  He allowed himself to be brutally beaten and crucified by the doers of evil.

Can we do the same?  Can we accept such punishment today?  Because he suffered for us then, we do not have to suffer that today.  Christ became the sacrifice for all.  He accepted the sins for all; past, present, and future.  And because of his sacrifice we are redeemed, we are saved, we are born anew.  Because he could endure, because he accepted, because he was the lamb, we are reborn anew.  Once again we have life.  Once again we are acceptable to God.  Once again we are his children. 

James and John believed that they could.  James and John knew that they could.  James and John walked in his presence and trusted that they would do the same as he did.  What was their prize?  What was their motivation?  What did they see, what did they know, what did they believe that allowed them to drink of that cup?  There must have been something greatly motivating that gave them the courage to continue.  There must have been something more than we know that allowed them to be who they were.  Can we discover what that something else was?  Can we know what motivated them, that it might motivate us today?  What will strengthen us to do the same?  What will give us the power to accept?  What force will guide us to be like Christ, to follow in his footsteps, to know his love?  What must we do to discover that which is ours to know?  He has given us the key.  He has opened the door.  He awaits our footsteps that he might guide us to his presence.  The choice is ours to make.  All we have to do is ask. 

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ.   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.