Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Bible Characters’ Category

God opens eyes

Posted in Hagar, Repent, See, tagged , , , on June 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; – Genesis 21:19

Hagar, banished to the desert with only a bottle of water, thought she and her son were going to die.

Of interest is the Bible’s unique description of God’s response. It did NOT say God made a well for her or led her to it; God just opened her eyes, the well was already there. Without that eye opening she would have died of thirst with unlimited water right before her.

How many other essentials are, like Hagar’s well, awaiting our eyes to be opened?!

God’s kingdom is one! When Jesus preached, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 1, he wasn’t saying it was soon coming from afar off but that it was already here and experienced by “repenting”; a term literally meaning “turning around” and facing it.

Again, when Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”2, the emphases was on seeing (or not) something already there.

Not just for newbies, Paul tells us looking at the unseen is an ongoing experience for believers.

“we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. – 2nd Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)

Jesus, open my eyes to perceive what you have already provided that I, like Hagar, may be refreshed and grow.

-fritz.
Matthew 4:17
2 John 3:3

Read Full Post »

Hung up on the small stuff

Posted in Christ, Jesus, resurrection, tagged on January 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »

And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst….And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. – John 6:35, 40-41 (KJV)

Jesus’ hearers got all bent out of shape about Jesus saying he was the Bread of Heaven (like the Mana in the Old Testament) and one should “eat his flesh” and “drink his blood”, never noticing or addressing the fact that Jesus said on the last day, he would be the one to raise the dead!

Which is most important to notice – a metaphor about bread and water, or realizing whose voice you will hear on that last day?

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts